Herbert Jory

Gartrell Memorial Church in Rose Park, Adelaide

Jory was a partner in the leading firm of Woods, Bagot & Jory from 1913, after 1915 Woods, Bagot, Jory & Laybourne Smith,[5] consisting of Bagot, Edward John Woods and Louis Laybourne-Smith, until 30 September 1930, before establishing his own practice.[3][6] During this time he designed the Gartrell Memorial Church in the inner-eastern Adelaide suburb of Rose Park (2014–2015), which is now state-heritage-listed.[3]

St Saviours, Hindmarsh, at its opening in 1924

Also while in the joint practice, Jory designed the pulpit for the St Francis Xavier's Cathedral (1922) which is regarded as an important example of church furniture.[7] It was erected as a memorial to Roman Catholic soldiers who had died in World War I and was dedicated on 8 March 1931, by the Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, R. W. Spence. Its intricate and detailed decoration was carved out of Australian blackwood.[8]

Woods, Bagot, Jory & Laybourne Smith were regarded as the dominant designers of Catholic Romanesque in South Australia, with Jory being the major designer in this style.[9] He was the supervising architect for St Saviour's,[10] in the inner-western suburb of Hindmarsh, in 1924,[11][12] which in 1950 was renamed the Sacred Heart Catholic Church.[13][9][14] Jory also designed St Joan of Arc Catholic Church at Victor Harbor in 1920–21,[15][16][17] and St Joseph's Catholic Church at Penola (1924), to which a later large extension was added.[9]

After setting up his own practice in 1930, known as H. H. Jory, he designed many buildings for the Roman Catholic church around Adelaide suburbs and in regional South Australia. He was responsible for designing the state-heritage-listed Fennescey House in Gothic Revival style in 1940 at 31-33 Wakefield Street, which now houses the Adelaide Holocaust Museum.[3][18]

Jory designed several churches in the Romanesque Revival (also known as Lombardic) style. Jory took Stanley Pointer into his practice in 1935, as economic conditions slowly improved after the Great Depression, and they co-designed several churches. In several of his church designs, he combined this traditional style with elements of Modernism, including Our Lady of the Rosary at Prospect, which he co-designed with Pointer and for which Jory designed the high altar, 1936-37[19] The St Rose of Lima Catholic Church at Kapunda (1938),[20] designed by Jory alone, has been described as "perhaps Jory's Romanesque masterpiece".[9] The Sydney-based magazine Builder commented that "the long narrow window openings, infilled with cast cement grilles, the design of which has an Eastern flavour, are an interesting innovation".[21] Another church in this group (combining Modernism with Romanesque) is St Monica's Catholic Church at Walkerville (1952–1953).[9]

Jory and Pointer co-designed St Canice's Catholic Church in Snowtown (1935–1936) and the St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Naracoorte (1937), the latter in a more Norman Romanesque style.[9]

As part of Australia's war effort during World War Two, Jory was engaged by the Commonwealth Government's Department of Munitions to oversee the construction of the Salisbury Explosives Factory from November 1941, which was built to ensure supplies of components to the Small Arms Ammunition Factories. At its peak, 3000 labourers and tradesmen were employed seven days a week, and the project was completed within a year. This was a remarkable effort, largely due to Jory's diligence, and it took its toll on Jory's health.[3]

From 1940 until 1953, Jory partnered with T.A. McAdam, with the practice named Jory and McAdam.[3]

The Architects Board of South Australia was established in 1940 in order to allow registration of architects under the Architects Act 1939.[22][23] Three men were appointed by the Governor of South Australia: Guy St John Makin as inaugural chairman, Leonard Ewens as registrar, and Norman Fisher. Jory was one of six architects elected by their peers to this board;[3][23] others may have included W. Lindsay (?); Dean Berry, Jack Cheesman, Louis Laybourne Smith, Frank Kenneth Milne and E. H. McMichael.[24]