Building: the magazine for the architect, builder, property owner and merchant, 1907-1942
Printed periodical
690.5/2; 720/B; T0405570
Billed as the ‘magazine for the man (&
woman) who thinks’, within 12 months of its launch in 1907, Building was proclaimed as ‘the high
watermark of Australian Magazines’. Priced at a shilling, Building promoted urban planning ideas and kept readers informed
about local and international construction methods.
With digitisation of Building magazine completed, there are 73,000 pages available via
Trove.
Florence Taylor
By Margot Riley
Florence Mary Taylor CBE OBE (1879-1969) was Australia's
first qualified woman architect, structural engineer and civil engineer. On 3
April 1907, she married architect-engineer- craftsman and pioneer aviator
George Augustine Taylor (1872-1928). After their marriage the Taylors
established the Building Publishing Company. They developed a successful stable
of industry publications, largely written by the Taylors, and spearheaded by
Building magazine (1907-1972).
Targeting the Australian building community, the editors of
Building promised their readers impartially. Declaring that ‘no puffing will be
found in its reading matter’, the journal’s intention was clearly stated in its
first issue in September 1907:
To record their doings, study their requirements, watch
legislative and other movements that may affect their interests, lay before
them the cream of the world’s research in their various lines, and study for
them fluctuations in property and building materials.
The magazine offered ‘influential commentary on the built
environment in Australia’ for the next half century. Florence Taylor wrote a
regular column which highlighted women in architecture and, following the death
of her husband in 1928, took over as editor and producer of Building until her
retirement in 1961. An official journal of the Master Builders' Federation of
Australia, the nation’s oldest industry association, Building continued to
publish up-to-date information of interest to tradespeople, suppliers,
professional and home builders alike into the 1970s.