A message written by Dr Bruce Herriot.
It is with sadness that I inform you of the death of John CR Evans on 24 August 2023 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
John studied Architecture in London (University of Westminster). After his 3rd year, John spent a year in Italy, working in Venice and Genova. He then spent a further year working in London, before returning to complete the final two years of his architectural studies. John worked in London, and his first housing scheme received an Architectural Award.
In 1970 John and his wife Pamela, moved to Chicago. John had been offered a position with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
John worked on the design of the Sears Tower (at the time the world’s tallest building) and the headquarters buildings for Baxter Laboratories.
They relocated to Sydney, Australia to work with Don Gazzard on the new TAA Terminal at Mascot Airport.
John then worked with McConnel, Smith & Johnson Architects (MSJ); and renowned Lawrence Nield, specialising in hospital design and health planning. This experience led to a project for a 1400 Bed Teaching Hospital in Hong Kong (1977) with Stephenson and Turner.
In 1979 John was asked to relocate to Cairns, Australia to work as the Project Architect for the redevelopment of the Calvary Hospital (now Cairns Private).
Following the completion of the project, John set up his own Architectural Practice in Cairns.
John CR Evans + Associates became an international and national award-winning Architectural Practice which specialised in governmental, commercial, and environment design buildings, remote health and housing.
John designed the Headquarters of The Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Indonesia.
In the 1990s he was instrumental in the architectural design and development of social housing and health facilities for NAHS (National Aboriginal Health Strategy). John worked extensively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities.
He had a keen interest in Heritage Buildings and his practice designed the redevelopment of the Mulgrave Shire Council maintaining the Burra Charter.
John’s architecture embraced tropical living and its beautiful environment. His own home which overlooks the city of Cairns received Royal Australian Institute of Architects awards.
John CR Evans, who was the Maître of the French Wine Club in Cairns and a competitive yachtsman, will be greatly missed in the local Cairns area.
