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Billson, Edward (Fielder)
(b Melbourne, 1892; d 17 April 1986). Australian architect. He was the first recipient of Melbourne University’s diploma in architecture, which had been instituted in 1906 but not brought immediately into operation: he completed the course in 1913 and the diploma was granted two years later. In 1916 he entered the office of American architect Walter Burley Griffin, as his first Australian assistant. While with him, Billson designed his own father’s house (1918) in Toorak in a chunky manner reminiscent of Griffin’s American work and much influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright; and the Margaret Armstrong house (1919), Caulfield. A year later Billson and a fellow employee, Roy Lippincott, were successful in the competition for the Arts building (completed 1926; for illustration see AUCKLAND), University of Auckland, New Zealand. Lippincott left for New Zealand late in 1921, and Billson resigned from Griffin’s office in 1922 but remained in Melbourne. In 1922 Billson and Lippincott received an honourable mention for their entry in the Chicago Tribune Tower Competition.
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