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Miles Lewis - AM, FAHA, FRSA, BArch(Hons), BA, PhD.
miles lewis

Welcome to my internet location:

Architectural historian; Professor in the Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning at the University of Melbourne; Editor of Architectura (London and New York 2008); author of Victorian Primitive, Don John of Balaclava, The Essential Maldon, Two Hundred Years of Concrete in Australia, Victorian Churches, Melbourne the City's History, Suburban Backlash, and numerous articles and papers on architectural and building history, urban conservation, urban renewal and housing policy; Vice-President of the Comité International d'Architecture Vernaculaire.

Curriculum Vitae

Born England 1943; arrived Australia 1947, educated Melbourne Grammar School and Melbourne University; finalist, Rome Scholarship 1966; University of Melbourne Special Award 1966-1969; full-time appointment at Melbourne University from 1970. Elected to fellowship of the Australian Academy of Humanities, 1988. Part time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Victoria, 1988-90. Visiting Scholar in Historical Archaeology and Architecture, University of Sydney 1990-1991. Participant in the Tianjin Urban Conservation Study, China, 1991-4; Honorary Research Associate in Historic & Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Sydney, 1993-7; Auckland University Foundation Fellow for 1996.

Joint recipient of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Robin Boyd Environment Award, 1973, Walter Burley Griffin Award, 1982, and merit awards 1979 and 1983; Certificate of Town Planning Achievement of the Town and Country Planning Association 1977; Royal Australian Planning Institute [Victoria] Award for Excellence, 1994; RAPI [Victoria] Honourable Mention, 1995; Royal Australian Planning Institute [National] Occasional Special Award, 1995; Member of the Order of Australia, 2002; Centenary Medal 2003; Honorary Life Member of the Comité International d'Architecture Vernaculaire, 2005.

Citation for Member of the Order of Australia: For service to architectural history, heritage protection and urban planning, particularly through policy development and professional organisations.

Citation for Centenary Medal: For service to Australian society and the humanities in the study of architectural history.

Other Appointments, Activities And Memberships

  • International Council on Monuments and Sites: founding member of the Australian National Committee, from 1976, Chairman 1982-1983; leader of the Australian Delegation at the Vth General Assembly, Moscow and Suzdal, 1978.
  • Comité International d'Architecture Vernaculaire: Honorary Life Member.
  • Royal Institute of Architects: Fellow, International Advisory Council.
  • Council for the Historic Environment: founding member 1976; President 1980-1984.
  • Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand: foundation member; President 1991-3.
  • Other memberships: Society of Architectural Historians (USA), Association for Preservation Technology (USA/Canada), Royal Victorian Historical Society, Construction History Group (UK), Vernacular Architecture Forum (USA).
  • Referee for Getty Grant Program, Australian Heritage Commission, Australian Research Council &c.
  • Peer reviewer for the APT Bulletin (USA).
  • National Trust of Australia (Victoria): at different times member of Council, member of Executive, founding Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee, Maldon Committee, Chairman of the Churches Committee, and member of a number of other committees.
  • Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Victorian Chapter: member of various committees and Chairman of the Public Services Board of the Chapter 1976-78.
  • Commonwealth Government: consultant to the Department of Housing and Construction on a survey of accommodation of aged persons, 1974; member of the Project Co-ordinating Committee on Historical Archaeology 1975-1978; member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Australian Heritage Commission from 1978.
  • Victorian Government: member and sometime acting chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Preservation of Places of Historic Interest (Town and Country Planning Board) 1971-1980; member of the Committee on Conservation Areas (Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works) from 1975; Chairman, Matthew Flinders Measured Drawing Competition (Premier's Department), 1975-1981; member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (Planning Division), 1988-91.
  • Consultancies, direct or as a sub-consultant to firms of architects and planners, have included the Tianjin Urban & Regional Design Institute; Commonwealth Department of Housing and Construction; Australian Heritage Commission; the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Tasmania; the State Planning Commission, Western Australia; the City of Adelaide; the Victorian Ministry for Planning, Historic Buildings Council, Government Buildings Advisory Council, Land Conservation Council, Docklands Authority, State Electricity Commission, and Major Projects Division; the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works, and the Municipalities of Ballarat, Chewton, Coburg, Daylesford & Glenlyon, Fitzroy, Hawthorn, Melbourne, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Sandringham, South Melbourne, Werribee and Yackandandah.

Major Addresses

  • 'The Evolution of the Timber Frame/Entremado en Madera, Su Evolution'. University of Chile, Santiago, 2007.
  • Keynote address: 'The Citizen versus the Planner'. Royal Australian Planning Institute Conference, Perth, November 2000.
  • Langford Oration: 'Health and the City'. Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators, Melbourne 1997.
  • David Saunders Memorial Keynote Address: 'The Tasman Connection'. Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand, Christchurch 1991.
  • George Hondros Memorial Lecture: 'Reinforced Concrete in Australia'. Faculty of Engineering, University of Western Australia 1991.
  • Public lecture: 'The Culture of Australian Building'. Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney 1990.
Professor Miles Lewis E-mail: milesbl@unimelb.edu.au
Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia
Phone: +61 3 8344 6402 Fax: +61 3 8344 5532
After hours phone: +61 3 9419 6030 Mobile: 0412 368 992
For details about this page contact Miles Lewis