Colin Crisp
Colin Crisp
(1928 - 1991)
Colin Crisp was an engineer and a building conservationist with an extraordinarily well developed sense of the beautiful, the elegant and the significant in the buildings, engineering monuments and structures throughout Australia. He had an empathy with the built environment which was ahead of its time.
He was always able to incorporate the latest discovery in engineering and architectural science in the restoration of buildings of stone, timber and brickwork which dated to the earliest days of the colony.
Colin was born and educated in Adelaide where he graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1953 and the South Australian School of Mines in 1954. He was a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce, and a member of a number of professional societies. It wasn't his style to be just a member and he became an Office Bearer holding the positions of Acting Treasurer, Director, Treasurer and President of the Association of Consulting Engineers of New South Wales as well as many other posts in other societies. He was held in the highest regard by his peers.
One year after graduating he moved to Sydney where he became Senior Structural Engineer with the Cement and Concrete Association working in precast and prestressed concrete. After four years he moved to the architectural and engineering firm of Kevin J Curtin & Partners.
Then, in 1959 he commenced his consulting practice which ran until 1978 when he and Dale McBean established the firm of McBean and Crisp, which was to become one of the most respected consulting structural engineering firms in Sydney.
Colin's breadth of work and the influence of his youth, in the City of Churches, imbued him with a love of the built environment. He became honorary consulting engineer for the National Trust in 1964 advising on the condition and restoration of the Trust's own buildings. But as time went on, his special talents were used by the Trust to determine the structural condition of other buildings whose existence was threatened. In this role he was influential in assisting to preserve parts of our heritage which would otherwise have been lost.
Colin had tremendous structural knowledge which allowed a complete understanding of a building. He saw structure as evolution and put engineering into a human context.
He believed that a building could speak to you. And he and many buildings spoke a language of their own. It was not the language of style or design but that of structure, condition and safety. This led him to prepare policies and procedures which satisfied both engineering and conservation requirements.
He was the first in Australia and one of the first in the world to use reinforced epoxy resin in timber beams damaged by termites. The technique was first used on Hyde Park Barracks on timbers over a hundred and fifty years old and later on Throsby Park, the Oakey Park Colliery head frame and the Corrimal Colliery head frame.
... Colin's most outstanding personal characteristics were his tolerance and humanity.
His most innovative work was the post tensioning of the Sydney GPO Clock Tower. This magnificent tower was re-erected in 1961 after being dismantled in 1942 as a wartime precaution. In recent years the tower, which is a gravity structure relying on its own mass for its stability, had come to be regarded as vulnerable to earthquake. Colin was invited to advise on methods of strengthening the tower. It was decided that post tensioning was the only viable solution and Colin designed and supervised the construction. This technique of post tensioning an existing building is a world first and has raised international interest.
Other buildings and engineering structures on which he has worked included almost the total inventory of significant items throughout the State. Among those that spring immediately to mind are Dundullimal at Dubbo, Juniper Hall, Lyndhurst, Vaucluse. House and Lindesay in Sydney, the road rail bridge at Echuca and the Hebburn Colliery Winding Engine which is to be re erected in Goulburn.
Perhaps Colin's most outstanding personal characteristics were his tolerance and humanity. He was never too busy to take a phone call, never too tired to answer a question and he always made you feel that you were special and worthy of attention.
Colin's ability as an engineer, his understanding of buildings and structures and his willingness to pass on his knowledge made him a great teacher. He could explain the most complex phenomenon in the simplest terms and he has influenced conservation practice throughout Australia for two decades. We will all miss him.
Author: Don Godden
National Trust Quarterly, February 1992, p. 20.
Colin Crisp was awarded the Silver Medallion by the National Trust in 1986 in recognition of his services to the Trust.
An article titled From the Chair - Who was Colin Crisp? is available in the Engineering Heritage Australia Magazine, Vol.1 No.7, pp. 4-5.
