George McRae
George McRae (10 September 1857 – 16 June 1923) was a Scottish-Australian architect who migrated from his native Edinburgh to Sydney, where he became Government Architect of New South Wales and designed some of Sydney's best-known buildings, including completion of the Sydney Town Hall, the Queen Victoria Building, and the lower entrance to Taronga Zoo. Life George McRae was born in Edinburgh in 1857. The register of his birth records his father as Duncan (joiner journeyman) and his mother as Mary. He arrived in Sydney in 1884 and was appointed Assistant Architect in the City Architect's office. He became City Architect and City Building Surveyor in 1889. He held this position until 1897, when he was appointed Principal Assistant Architect to Walter Liberty Vernon in the Government Architect's Branch. In 1912 he succeeded Vernon as New South Wales Government Architect and held the position until he died in 1923. McRae married Katie Prescott in St Mark's, Darling Point on 8 May 1895. Career George McRae was responsible for the design of many buildings in Sydney and other places, several of which still survive, some of which are listed on various heritage registers. Works undertaken by McRae during his term as