Miles Lewis - AM, FAHA, FRSA, BArch(Hons), BA, PhD.
miles lewis

Architectural historian; emeritus professor in the Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning at the University of Melbourne; editor and principal author of Architectura (London and New York 2008); author of Victorian Primitive, Don John of Balaclava, The Essential Maldon, Two Hundred Years of Concrete in Australia, Victorian Churches, Melbourne the City's History, Suburban Backlash, and numerous articles and papers on architectural and building history, urban conservation, urban renewal and housing policy; honorary life member of the Comité International d'Architecture Vernaculaire.

Curriculum Vitae

Born England 1943; arrived Australia 1947, educated Melbourne Grammar School and Melbourne University; finalist, Rome Scholarship 1966; University of Melbourne Special Award 1966-1969; full-time appointment at Melbourne University from 1970. Elected to fellowship of the Australian Academy of Humanities, 1988. Part time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Victoria, 1988-90. Visiting Scholar in Historical Archaeology and Architecture, University of Sydney 1990-1991. Participant in the Tianjin Urban Conservation Study, China, 1991-4; Honorary Research Associate in Historic & Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Sydney, 1993-7; Auckland University Foundation Fellow for 1996.

Joint recipient of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Robin Boyd Environment Award, 1973, Walter Burley Griffin Award, 1982, and merit awards 1979 and 1983; Certificate of Town Planning Achievement of the Town and Country Planning Association 1977; Royal Australian Planning Institute [Victoria] Award for Excellence, 1994; RAPI [Victoria] Honourable Mention, 1995; Royal Australian Planning Institute [National] Occasional Special Award, 1995; Australian Institute of Architects Neville Quarry Award, 2014; Member of the Order of Australia, 2002; Centenary Medal 2003; Honorary Life Member of the Comité International d'Architecture Vernaculaire, 2005.

Citation for Member of the Order of Australia: For service to architectural history, heritage protection and urban planning, particularly through policy development and professional organisations.

Citation for Centenary Medal: For service to Australian society and the humanities in the study of architectural history.

The Miles Lewis Fellowship and Oration

The Miles Lewis Fellowship was established at the University of Melbourne in 2018, with funding provided by the Vera Moore Foundation. Its purpose is to bring distinguished scholars in the history of architecture to the University annually or biennially, to deliver an oration and to engage in other research and/or teaching activities. It is fully funded with a professorial salary, travel and living costs &c.

The APTI Scanning Project

The Association for Preservation Technology International, based in the USA, maintains an on-line Building Heritage Technology Library which contains and makes publicly accessible nearly ten thousand digitised publications. These are so far mainly of American origin, but the APT has identified in the Miles Lewis library collection approximately 600 publications which have not been scanned elsewhere in the world, and these are now being digitised. They contain some additional US material, as well as Australian, British and French and other items. This is the first international project of the Library, and it is funded by the Vera Moore Foundation, and conducted under the aegis the APT Australasian chapter.

Collecting Architectural Drawings

For the Australaian Chapter of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums, Miles Lewis prepared he book Architectural Drawings as a manual for curators of architectural collections . Its purpose is twofold. Curators commonly have library or other training but no experience in dealing with architectural drawings. They need information on the purposes of drawings, how to interpret them, the materials used for them, how to select and organise them in a collection, and many other matters. The book receivef the Australian Institute of Architects Bates Smart Award for Architecture in Media for 2021.

Other Appointments, Activities And Memberships

Major Addresses

Miles Lewis E-mail: miles@mblewis.net
34 Napier Street Fitzroy 3065
Victoria Australia
Phone: +61 3 9419 6030 Mobile: 0412 368 992