Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Architect, of Belfast, Derry, Melbourne and Sydney.   Alfred Arthur Forman, the son of a Dundee shipmaster, was born at sea 'three days sail' from Yokohama' on 31 December 1865, his birth being subsequently registered at the British consulate in Yokohama.   He spent his early years living on board his father's ships until his family settled in Whittlesea, near Melbourne, Australia, in 1874.  From 1883 to 1887 he was articled to the Melbourne architect William Pitt and in 1890 he opened his own office in Melbourne. 

From 1894 to 1906 Forman travelled the world, working and studying in South Africa, the United States, England, and Scotland(1) but spending the longest period in Northern Ireland, where he had arrived by 1897.   In that year he formed a partnership with -- Aston. practising in Belfast as FORMAN & FORMAN & amp; ASTON  ASTON until 1899.(2) He then worked in Derry for about five years. He appears in the 1901 census as a bachelor lodger in a house in Hawkins Street, Derry.  In the return he is described as architect and 'A.R.I.V.A' (Associate of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects) and a Seventh Day Adventist.  By December 1905 he had taken JAMES POTTS IRVINE  JAMES POTTS IRVINE into partnership.

Forman appears to have left Derry for Canada in the winter of 1905-6 and to have returned to Melbourne by March 1906.  The last twenty years or so of his architectural career were spent in Sydney.  He eventually retired to England, dying in Lewisham, London, in September 1937.  He had married Louisa Wilhelmina Gerloff in Melbourne on 18 April 1906.  There were two sons of the marriage, which ended in divorce in 1925.

Addresses: Queen's Buildings, Belfast, 1898 (as Forman & Aston);(3) 5 Castle Street, Derry, 1899-1900;(4) Central Chambers, The Diamond, Derry, 1901;  Beethoven Buildings, Shipquay Street, Derry,1905.

See WORKS, for Irish work only.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for was supplied by Forman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.


(1)   He claimed in his application for fellowship of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in 1904 that he had been connected with the design of the North British Hotel, Edinburgh (1895-1902); perhaps he was an entrant in the competition for the design of the hotel, which was won by William Beattie in 1895, or, more probably, he might have worked in Beattie's office at the time the competition was held.
(2) 'Aston' may have been Taggart Aston, who appears in the 1901 census as a civil engineer living in Co. Donegal.
(3) Building News 75, 16 Dec 1898, xiii.
(4) IB 41, 15 Sep 1899, 130; 42, 15 Aug 1900, 458.


15 work entries listed in chronological order for FORMAN, ALFRED ARTHUR


Sort by date | Sort alphabetically


Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, CLOONEY PARK WEST, NO. 002
Date: 1896
Nature: Hipped gables, half timbering & roughcast. (Identified as 3 Clooney Park East byForman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.)
Refs: W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, City of Derry (UAHS, 1970), 52 (no. 163)

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, LISBURN ROAD, NO. 128
Date: 1897
Nature: By Alfred Forman for G.& J. Pillow, confectioners. Queen Anne style shop with living quarters above.
Refs: Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 78

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, LISBURN ROAD, NO. 130
Date: 1897
Nature: Queen Anne Revival house designed as a doctor's house and consulting room on corner of Wellington Park.
Refs: Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 78

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, WELLINGTON PARK (& LISBURN ROAD), HOUSES
Date: 1897
Nature: Terrace of half-timbered houses. By Forman & Aston but 'clearly the work of Alfred Forman'(Larmour)
Refs: Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (1987), 59 (no. 138, illus.); Paul Larmour, The Architectural Heritage of Malone & Stranmillis (UAHS, 1991), 178,181(illus.)

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, ORMEAU ROAD (BALLYNAFEIGH), METHODIST CHURCH
Date: 1897-98
Nature: By Forman & Aston. Completed, apart from spire, in 1899. Builders: Young & Dickson.
Refs: Perspective view in church archives?; Belfast News Letter, 13 Jan 1899; Brett, 50-51(illus. Pl. 70); Paul Larmour, Belfast: an illustrated architectural guide (1987), 59 (no. 137, illus.); 147-8(illus.)

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, WATERLOO PLACE, NORTHERN COUNTIES HOTEL
Date: 1898
Nature: For Mrs Gibson.
Refs: Building News 75, 16 Dec 1898, xiii;  Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979), 398.

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, BUTCHER STREET, NO. 002
Date: 1899
Nature: By Forman & Aston. 3-storey red-brick.
Refs: W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, City of Derry (UAHS, 1970), 24 (no. 41)

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, DIAMOND, DRAPERY PREMISES
Date: 1899
Nature: Extensive alts.
Refs: IB 41, 15 Nov 1899, 185

Building: CO. TYRONE, OMAGH, JOHN STREET, PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (2ND OR TRINITY)
Date: 1900
Nature: Alts. & adds. Builder: W. Allison, Omagh. £850.
Refs: IB 42, 15 Aug 1900, 458

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, CARLISLE ROAD, METHODIST CHURCH & SCHOOLS
Date: 1900-03
Nature: FS laid 1901 by Duchess of Abercorn. Opened 1903.
Refs: IB 41, 15 Sep 1899, 130; 42, 1 Mar 1900, 292; 45, 21 May,16 Jul 1903, 1778,1866,1868(illus.); B 84, 23 May 1903, 542; W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, City of Derry (UAHS, 1970), 30 (no. 58); Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979) 388-9; Simon Walker, Historic Ulster Churches (Institute of Irish Studies, 2000), 151(illus.).

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, FOYLE ROAD, FACTORY (TILLIE & HENDERSON)
Date: 1900ca
Nature: Works at same.
Refs: Information from Forman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.

Building: CO. DONEGAL, BUNCRANA, HOUSE
Date: 1900ca
Nature: New private residence.
Refs: Information from Forman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, CLOONEY ROAD, NO. 009
Date: 1900ca
Nature: New house.
Refs: Information from Forman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.

Building: CO. DERRY, DERRY, BISHOP STREET, NO. 024 (NORTHERN COUNTIES CLUB)
Date: 1902
Nature: Remodelling.
Refs: W.S. Ferguson, A.J. Rowan & J.J. Tracey, City of Derry (UAHS, 1970), 20 (no. 19); Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North West Ulster (1979), 397.

Building: CO. DERRY, PELLIPAR HOUSE (DUNGIVEN)
Date: ?
Nature: Renovation and additions.
Refs: Information from Forman's only grandchild, Mrs Ann Fraser Forman Brown, Wahroonga, Sydney, New South Wales, May 2012.