Robert Bell Hamilton

Robert Bell Hamilton (20 October 1892 – 15 May 1948) was a notable Australian architect and also Member of the Legislative Assembly for the State electoral district of Toorak in Victoria.^[1]

Robert Bell Hamilton began his architectural career articled to RB Whitaker, and then moved to Klingender & Alsop. After serving in WW1, he studied further in London, then worked in India. Returning in 1921, he formed a partnership with Klingender, which lasted util 1925, then set up on his own.^[2] By about 1930 he was a successful designer of houses in the wealthier suburbs in and around Toorak, and then expanded into shops and especially blocks of flats as well. He was Victoria's foremost practitioner of the inter-war Old English/Tudor Revival style during the 1930s.^[3][4][5] Hamilton aided in the design, along with the firm Prevost Synnot and Rewald, of the heritage-listed 1926 Bruce Manor in Frankston, for then Australian Prime Minister Stanley Bruce.^[6] For his contribution to Victorian architecture Hamilton was appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in 1931.^[7]

Hamilton served as a Councillor on Prahran City Council for Toorak Ward^[8] and then Mornington Shire Council. He later served as President of Mornington Shire Council,^[9] and subsequently became the Member for Toorak for the Liberal and Country Party in the November 1945 election^[10] that saw the Labor Party win a small majority over their coalition counterparts. During his short time in Parliament, Hamilton sat on the Public Works Committee and the Library Committee.^[10]

Hamilton died in 1948 at Mornington Nursing Hospital before serving a full-term in office.^[11] In an obituary published in The Standard, the then President of Mornington Shire Council wrote:

His work and his planning for the future of Mornington have put us in his debt, and his name will be remembered because his energy and his ideas have been given for the future and the advancement of our district...I pay homage to Robert Bell Hamilton, a citizen with true public spirit and a man who discharged all obligations of friendship.^[12]

The by-election triggered by his death, held in June 1948, saw the re-election of a Liberal and Country Party member, Edward Reynolds.

1. Robert Hamilton's own first house, later known as Telgai, 4 Struan Street, Toorak 1925. House greatly expanded by Bell for a new owner in 1932^[13][14]
2. House, 13 Myamyn Street, Armadale built 1926^[15]
3. Wiltondale, 25 Heyington Place, Toorak 1929^[16]
4. House, 12 Macquarie Rd, Toorak built 1930^[14]
5. Haddon Hall flats, at 405 Toorak Road, Toorak 1932^[17]
6. William Ford Chemist, 476 Toorak Road, Toorak built 1932^[18]
7. Sunleigh Lodge, at 5 Russell St, Toorak built 1933
8. Burnham Flats, 14 Grange Road, Toorak built 1933^[19]
9. Moore Abbey Flats, Marne Street, South Yarra 1933^[20]
10. House, 61 St Georges Road Toorak c1933^[21]
11. Mayfield Flats, Murphy Street, South Yarra 1934^[22]
12. Stonehaven Flats, at 692 Orrong Road, Toorak built c1935^[23]
13. High Clere, 2 Bays Crescent, (was 447 Esplanade), Mt Martha c1935^[24] Robert Hamilton family holiday house.
14. Taunton Flats, at 520 Toorak Road, Toorak built 1936^[25]
15. Denby Dale flats, 420-426 Glenferrie Road, Kooyong built 1937-8^[26]
16. House, 9 Henderson Avenue, Malvern, 1930^[27]
17. Langham Court Flats, cnr Domain Road and Walsh Street, South Yarra, 1936^[28]
18. Gowrie Court maisonettes, at 716 Orrong Road, Toorak built 1940^[29]