Guyon Purchas was born on 6 September 1862 in his father's mansion in Fitzwilliam Street, ,
Melbourne, and he spent his childhood in suburbs of Kew and Hawthorn. After private secondary schooling, he sat for the matriculation examination of the
University of Melbourne in February 1882, where he studied civil engineering and concurrent with this he commenced articles in his father's office. He reportedly failed a number of subjects during the second year, the reason said to be receiving his first big commission. His father however deemed one year of architectural experience to be worth three years of study. The ward blocks were in a similar plain red brick style to Endion, while the entry block was in an unusual interpretation of
Queen Anne style. In 1889 he married Mary Teague, a widow whose son Eric Teague would later become his partner in his firm Purchas & Teague. In 1891-2 he built a mansion for himself and his family called Tay Creggan on a steep riverside site in . but by late 1894 he is noted as the architect of extensions for the Women's Hospital in Carlton. At the end of 1896 Guyon went into partnership with William Shields. Their first project was a new hotel In the late 1890s he contributed many articles to the local journal
Arts & Crafts, and ran a course in Applied Art at the National Gallery School, He was then engaged for his first project adding to and extending a large homestead in Victoria's rural
Western District, then undergoing a period of growth. Many homesteads were rebuilt or greatly altered and extended at this time, with many notable examples in the new Arts & Crafts style. Purchas' design for Coragulac near Colac in 1897 involved a large addition to the earlier formal bluestone house, in matching bluestone, but as a picturesque compositions including a semi-circular bay with conical roof. The interiors included extensive use of plasterwork in the new Art Nouveau style, and a large timber fireplace with carved dragons on the corners, as seen at Tay Greggan. Coragulac was for the Robertson family, and this was followed by the work for which Purchas is best known, the extensive alterations to Purrumbete, with its multiple gables and lofty great hall, compete with minstrel's gallery with an elaborate Art Nouveau carved screen and integral artworks. This was for W T Manifold, a member of one of the most prominent Western District families, and was followed a few years later by work at the adjacent Wiridgil, for his brother Edward Manifold. Another large project continued in many stages was the rebuilding of the Children's Hospital in Carlton, beginning with a simply designed outpatients wing opened in 1899. The next stage was the far more prominent Princess May Pavilion on the corner of Drummond and Pelham Streets, completed in 1902. A tall design in red brick with lofty elaborate Dutch gables sporting oriel windows on three sides, and much plainer brick arched western elevation with inset verandahs. A nurses home was added in 1907, in a similar though less elaborate style facing
Nicholson Street, though this, and the even plainer Edward Wilson wing facing Pelham Street built in 1913, are recorded as by William Shields alone. By 1906 William Shields then left to establish his own practice, and Purchas took his stepson on as a partner forming Purchas & Teague, who designed a range of warehouses and office buildings in the Melbourne's CBD in the next 10 years. In 1913 they designed a new Wool Exchange in King Street in a very early example of the revival of the Neoclassical, complete with engaged columns and pediment, but still in Edwardian red brick. It is also noted for its early use of reinforced concrete. In 1923 he retired from practice, and moved to the
Blue Mountains in 1927. He returned to Victoria to in 1940, dying there the same year. == Notable projects ==