Katoomba’s Early Architects

Katoomba’s Early Architects reconstructs the architectural foundations of Katoomba and surrounding districts by tracing the careers of Harry Rupert Goyder and Edward Hewlett Hogben, the region’s first resident architects. The book positions their work within the broader transformation of Katoomba from “wild bush… and three bark huts” into a thriving resort town, catalysed by Frederick Charles Goyder’s redevelopment of the Great Western Hotel into the Carrington.

Through meticulous examination of newspapers, gazettes and surviving structures, the study identifies more than 160 projects—cottages, guesthouses, shops, churches, civic buildings and landmark residences—that collectively established the architectural style we now recognise as central to the Blue Mountains’ heritage. Goyder’s early designs, including Twickenham Villa, Mullany’s façade and the Hotel Wentworth additions, provided the first coherent architectural language for the township. Hogben’s later works—Leuralla, the Niagara Building, Le Gobelet, and numerous Leura residences—expanded this language into a mature regional style.

The book, illustrated by 46 photographs, emphasises that many of these buildings endure, forming a continuous thread between nineteenthcentury settlement and contemporary heritage identity. Their work, as the book notes, “continues to influence the look and feel of the Upper Mountains”, making Goyder and Hogben foundational figures in the cultural landscape of the Blue Mountains.