In 1900, shortly before his death, he returned to New Zealand from a self-imposed, ten-year exile to re-establish his name, but his sudden demise prevented a full rehabilitation of his reputation.

[2] At the age of 21, Lawson armed only with a letter of introduction to one of brother's friend residing in Melbourne he boarded the ship Tongataboo on 15 July 1854, arriving in the city on 1 November in that same year.

[3][4] Like other new arrivals in Australia, he tried many new occupations over the next two years on various goldfields tried goldmining before eventually settling in the town of Steiglitz where as well as remaining involved in gold mining activities he became the agent for the Melbourne newspaper The Argus and for whom it is believed he also acted as its local correspondent.

[3] As Lawson came to realise the low probability of success in the gold rush and the precariousness of and by the end of 1861 had moved to Melbourne with the intention of resuming a full-time career in architecture.

In 1876 Lawson was involved in the formation of the Dunedin institute of Civil engineers and Architects, which was intended to counter the competition from employees of the Otago Provincial Council eventually went out of existence by the early 1880s.

By the late 1870s following on from the booms bought by the goldfields and then the Vogel Public Works Scheme New Zealand entered a severe economic recession (precipitated by the collapse of the City Bank of Glasgow in 1878) which lasted into the early 1890s and came to be known as the "long depression".

His peers were also affected by the lack of work with his Dunedin based rival David Ross as well as Frederick Burrell in Invercargill both departing for Australia.

Once the council was abolished in 1876 responsibility for the complex passed to the Public Works Department, who had a policy that for any building of magnitude a private architect should be employed.

Despite the problems at Seacliff, from the reports in various newspapers many Dunedin people disagreed with the commission's finding and Lawson's reputation among his fellow citizens was intact, though diminished.

[13] As both he and his wife were members of the congregation and Lawson an elder of the Presbytery of Otago and Southland these failings of his most prestigious commission must have felt highly embarrassing.

It has been thought that perhaps the house was begun before Lawson arrived, but he departed Dunedin on 8 May 1890,[15] and the foundation stone was laid on 16 August 1890,[16] so there was enough time to be appointed and design the mansion.

Commercial buildings which survive from Lawson's Melbourne years include the Moran and Cato warehouse in Fitzroy and the College Church in Parkville, which were completed in 1897.

[20][21] A number of commercial and residential buildings were erected under their joint names, including the brick house known as "Threave" built for Watson Shennan at 367 High Street.

In 1902 at the age of 69 Lawson died suddenly while on a visit to his half-sister Jean Page Gardiner (nee Marshall) and her husband Robert at their farm Ludeum near Pleasant Point, in South Canterbury, on 3 December.

[citation needed] Dunedin had in fact been founded, only thirteen years before Lawson's arrival, by the Free Church of Scotland, a denomination not known for its love of ornament and decoration, and certainly not the architecture of the more Catholic countries.

[citation needed] The expense of the building was not without criticism as some members of the Presbyterian synod felt the metropolitan church should not have been so privileged over the country districts where congregants had no purpose designed places of worship or only modest ones.

[citation needed] The building is constructed of Oamaru stone, set on foundations of basalt breccia from Port Chalmers, with details carved by Louis Godfrey, who also did much of the woodcarving in the interior.

The main facade resembles a small, castellated tower house, with the characteristic rubble masonry, turrets and battlements, present at Abbotsford, an exemplar of the style.

The building has long been regarded as one of the finest examples of architecture in Dunedin,[29] built of stone with many window embrasures and corners of lighter quoins.

The school's many turrets and towers led to the architect Nathaniel Wales describing it in 1890 as "a semi-ecclesiastical building" in the "Domestic Tudor style of medieval architecture".

[citation needed] Here, as in Dunedin itself, Lawson built in the local Oamaru stone, a hard limestone that is ideal for building purposes, especially where ornate moulding is required.

[citation needed] Built in 1883, located right next to his earlier National Bank, this is also Neoclassical in design, its limestone facade dominated by a great six-columned, unpedimented portico.

The columns in the Corinthian order support a divided entablature; the lower section or architrave bears the inscription "Bank of New South Wales", while above the frieze remains undecorated.

Forsaking Palladian-influenced temple-like columns and porticos, he initially took as his inspiration the mannerist palazzi, which were a reaction to the more ornate high renaissance style of architecture popular in early 16th century Italy.

[citation needed] Since the Star and Garter's completion, many of its windows have either been blocked or enlarged, changes that have been detrimental to the architectural effect Lawson created.

[citation needed] Local stone and wood were particular favourites of his, especially the good quality limestone of Oamaru, and these were often used in preference to the excellent bricks equally available.

In his ecclesiastical commissions, Lawson worked exclusively for the Protestant denominations and thus never received the opportunity to build a great church in the classical style.

[citation needed] The designs still standing (which include all of the works described in detail above) have ensured that Lawson's reputation has fully recovered from the condemnation he received following the Seacliff enquiry.

His father-in-law, George Hepburn, was at the time the second session clerk of First Church, as well as a successful business man and politician with excellent credentials in early Dunedin.

[1] The couple had the following children:[31] Lawson was am amateur singer and performed in the odd concerts and also painted which lead to him being a member of the Fine Arts Exhibition Committee.