The Alexander Mackintosh Archive

Join Mel Flyte, Collections Discovery Assistant at Museums of History NSW, for a special viewing of the Alexander Mackintosh Archive.

The archive includes more than 270 architectural drawings and specification documents relating to the work of master builder Alexander Mackintosh (1859–1937). Emigrating to Australia in 1885 as a journeyman joiner, Mackintosh went on to become a successful building contractor, working with many of Sydney’s leading architects of the early 20th century.

After Mackintosh’s death in 1937, the archive was forgotten in the roof space of the house he had built for himself and his daughters. The family home was sold in 1981, but it was only in the 1990s that the rolled documents were found. Stained and damaged from their long sojourn under the roof, they are nevertheless a remarkable surviving record that details the work of well-known Sydney architects such as W Hardy Wilson, B J Waterhouse, John Burcham Clamp and James Peddle.

Join us in the Caroline Simpson Library to view some of the beautifully hand-drawn plans, detail drawings, and specification documents from the archive, along with pictorial material relating to many of the same houses from the collection of the Caroline Simpson Library.

This event is part of the Australian Heritage Festival 2025 and the Museums of History NSW Collections Series.