User:Regions2013/sandbox/Frank Costello

Frank Gibson Costello was born in the 1st of February 1903 in the Sydney suburb of Willoughby.

Education
Costello left North Sydney High School after graduating in 1920. After school he enrolled and got accepted into an Architectural Diploma at the Sydney Technical College, which consisted of attending one evening of study per week for five years. Students were expected to gain experience in Architectural firms or in the building industry for the remainder of the week. During his diploma he obtained a job at the NSW Public Service as a Cadet Draftsman. While at College, he was the President of the Architectural Students Association for two years. Towards the end of his degree, Costello decided to take extra classes in clay modeling and Sanitary Engineering at the East Sydney Technical College. After gaining his qualification in 1927, he studied design and construction at the Sydney University Atelier with Leslie Wilkinson and Alfred Hook. Frank Costello became a registered Architect on the 13th of June 1927. Costello finished his studies in 1928 and was awarded a Special Training Scholarship of £100 by the NSW board of Architects.

Time Abroad
After coming second two years in a row in the Sydney Technical College diploma course in 1928, the Board of Architects of NSW gave Costello a £100 special travelling scholarship on the grounds that he must return to Sydney in 1931. Due to the great depression, Costello did not return to Sydney for eight years. Whilst in Europe, he took on multiple architectural jobs. These included working with Gordon Jeeves, C.L. Churchill, Oliver Bernard, and H.T.P Barnard on the design and interior decoration of Housing in Lyon (JD n.d), Cumberland Hotels in London and Strand Palace. During this time, he also took on further studies in Architectural Planning and enrolled for a term at the Architectural Association. Costello then decided to travel through France, Holland, Germany and Northern Spain whilst making extensive notes and drawings. Dutch architects like Willem Marinus Dudok made a significant impression. Once back in England, Costello studied at the University College London and graduated with a Diploma in Planning in 1931. The Royal Institute of British Architects awarded Costello with the Hunt Bursary for Housing and Town Planning. To follow his passion in town planning, he then travelled to Rome to study its new town plane, the Piano Regolatore.

Sydney, 1936-1941
Costello arrived back in Sydney on the 30th July 1936. The obligation to the Board of Architects was settled with the submission of a thesis on colour. The Board kept nine of his travel drawings and a Bronze Medallion and 50pounds was awarded to him “as a mark of appreciation of the excellent use made… of his opportunities abroad”. Costello then wrote often for the journal Architecture. In 1937, the Sydney Technical College gave Costello the part-time Head Teacher of Architectural Design position. Costello later continued to become a lecturer for the subject Planning in 1939-1941. During his time in Sydney he worked for Henry Budden and Mackey until 1939. He also worked for the Housing Improvement Board of NSW when he was given the job of Supervising Architect and Consultant Planner on the Erskineville Housing Scheme. In 1937, Costello became a member of the new Town and Country Planning Institute of NSW. He then was elected into the Council of the Institute of Architects in 1939 and became involved in planning, Community housing and school research for the Modern Architectural Research Society. In Early 1940, Costello took over the practice of J.A Kethel.

Brisbane, 1941-1987
Due to the great things Costello was doing in Sydney’s city planning, The Brisbane City Council gave Costello a job as a City Planner for Brisbane in 1941. During his time with the Council, he was a designer and planner. Due to the war, Costello designed air-raid shelters that could be repurposed and transformed into bus stations and shelters after the war. He also designed electricity substations, public toilets, and playgrounds. One of the projects that is still controversial in his career is the Green Belt proposal. In 1952, due to a defeated administration Costello lost his job with the Council, and unfortunately many of the maps, plans, and perspective drawings were destroyed.

After the Council, Costello then moved on to make a partnership with Harold Cook and Walter Kerrison in 1952. In 1958, Costello took a job as a Designing Architect in the Architectural Branch of the Public Works. Later in the year, he was made Senior Architect and in 1964, Costello was made Supervising Architect of the Architectural Branch. Majority of his responsibilities involve the design of educational buildings. Costello did not officially leave the Public Works until 1969.

While with the office of Public Works, Costello took on a part-time job of being a teacher and lecturer at the Central Technical College. As he worked less at the Public Works, he began to work full-time at what became the Queensland Institute of Technology (QIT). Subjects he taught include; Architectural Building Construction, Town Planning for Architects, as well as three other architectural courses. He then continued to help restructure the entire architecture and building diplomas.

Frank Costello officially retired in 1975, and passed away on the 19th of June, 1987.