Gray Young Morton and Young

Gray Young, Morton and Young was a prolific and award winning Wellington practice that flourished from the 1920s to the 1990s. The practice designed many notable buildings including the Wellesley Club (1925) which was awarded the Gold Medal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1932; the Wellington and Christchurch Railway Stations (1936 and 1954 respectively); Phoenix Assurance Building (1930); and the Australian Mutual Provident Society Chambers (1950). At Victoria University, Wellington, it was responsible for the Stout (1930), Kirk (1938) and Easterfield (1957) buildings, as well as Weir House (1930).

Much of the design work in the practice has been attributed to William Gray Young (1885-1962). Gray Young was born in Oamaru, but moved to Wellington with his family as a child. After leaving school he was articled to the Wellington architectural firm of Crichton and McKay. In 1906 he won a competition for the design of Knox College, Dunedin, and commenced practice on his own account shortly after. He started designing houses at the age of 18 with a home for his father in Kelburn in 1903. His domestic buildings were in various styles including the English domestic revival, Californian bungalow, colonial revival and neo-Georgian. It is for houses in the Georgian style that he is best known. An excellent example is the first he built in this style, the Elliott House, which is still standing at 43 Kent Terrace.

Gray Young was elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects in 1913, served on the executive committee from 1914 to 1935, and was President from 1935 to 1936. He was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Prior to World War I, Gray Young worked in collaboration with Stanley Fearn and Austin Quick, and a formal partnership was formed between Young and Fearn in 1922. In 1923 Fearn left the partnership and Gray Young was joined by his younger brother John Barclay Young, and by Hubert Morton.

John Barclay Young (1887 – 1967) enlisted in the army in 1914 and was a member of the Advance Party NZEF which occupied German Samoa. Hubert Conrad Morton (c.1896 – 1965) was the son of William Morton, the Wellington City Engineer. Hubert was born in Melbourne and moved to New Zealand with his family as a child. He trained in Wellington as an architect and worked in Adelaide before WWI. After service overseas he trained in England and returned to New Zealand to form Gray Young, Morton and Young in 1923.

The Gray Young, Morton and Young partnership lasted until 1951 when they were joined by Ian Calder. In 1959 Michael Fowler joined the partnership and in 1962, when Gray Young died, the firm was known as Gray Young, Morton, Young, Calder and Fowler.

Sources:

Fowler, Michael. “Young, William Gray”, from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 30-Oct-2012
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/4y3/young-william-gray

Mew, Geoff & Adrian Humphris. “Raupo to Deco: Wellington Styles and Architects 1840 – 1940” (Wellington: Steel Roberts Aotearoa, 2014) 

Vorstermans, Robert I. P. “William Gray Young, Architect, 1885-1962,” Victoria University of Wellington, 1982.

WCC Heritage Inventory 2001