C. H. E. Blackmann

C. H. E. Blackmann or Carl Heinrich Edmund Blackmann (1835 – c. 1912), a leading Sydney architect and member of the Institute of Architects and Surveyors and the Royal Society, was associated with over 130 buildings in a career of twenty years in Australia.

Blackmann had a spectacular fall from grace in 1886 when he sailed to California with a younger woman, abandoning his wife, seven children and new business partner (Sir) John Sulman. The ensuing notoriety resulted in the marginalisation of his contribution to architecture; his outstanding work was subsequently ascribed to his much younger partner Varney Parkes (Blackmann & Parkes 1880–1885) or to John Sulman (Blackmann & Sulman 1886). Authors have repeated the rumour that he 'fled the country with a barmaid leaving Sulman liable for his tubulars"’.

During his lifetime, Blackmann's contemporaries lauded his skills in mining engineering, drawing, design, project management and architecture. Recent research has shown that Blackmann left Sulman, a recent migrant to Sydney, with an exclusive office suite and a flourishing business with rich bank and insurance clients. Sulman purchased the other half of the partnership in 1889.