Architecture of Australia has generally been consistent with architectural trends in the wider Western world, with some special adaptations to compensate for distinctive Australian climatic and cultural factors. Indigenous Australians produced a wide range of structures and places prior to colonisation. Contemporary Indigenous practitioners are active in a broad range of built environment fields. During Australia's early Western history, it was a collection of British colonies in which architectural styles were strongly influenced by British designs. However, the unique climate of Australia necessitated adaptations, and 20th-century trends reflected the increasing influence of American urban designs and a diversification of the cultural tastes and requirements of an increasingly multicultural Australian society.
Towards the Federation of Australia there was a concerted movements to create a distinctively Australian styles along with the Australian nationalism movement, some of which incorporated decorative Australiana. While these attempts were largely unsuccessful due in part to cultural cringe, distinctively Australian styles of architecture had already evolved organically. Notable Australian architectural adaptations include the Queenslander and Federation styles of residential architecture.
History
A 19th-century engraving of an indigenous Australian encampment, representing the Indigenous mode of life in the cooler parts of Australia before the arrival of Europeans
In the period before European settlement of Australia, there were diverse forms of Indigenous architecture across Australia. The rich architecture traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples generally went unrecognised, and when it was recognised generally downplayed by the European Settlers.[1] However, many early colonists and explorers including Sir Thomas Mitchell and Charles Sturt recorded many Indigenous building styles including stone houses and houses grouped in villages.[1] As a British colony, the first European buildings were derivative of the European fashions of the time. As most of the colonialists where from England the first buildings reflected English ideas.[2]
Another European style to gain favour in 19th century Australia, particularly in churches, was Gothic Revival architecture. Pointed arches, turrets, battlements and gothic ornaments could also be found on bank, insurance offices, university buildings and homes.[2] One of the best examples of this style can be seen at the lower end of Collins Street in Melbourne.
Australian cities suffered from lax or nonexistent heritage preservation and protection, resulting in widespread loss of prominent early architectural styles–for example, Melbourne's Queen Anne styleAPA Building, built in 1889, was one of the world's tallest buildings in the 1890s but was demolished in the contemporary-conscious early 1980s.
With the Australian gold rushes of the mid-19th-century major buildings, largely in Melbourne and Sydney and to a lesser extent in regional capitals such as Ballarat and Bendigo were built in the style of Victorian architecture.[citation needed] From about 1850 to 1893 Italianate architecture was also popular as it allowed greater displays of prosperity through rich and ornate decorate features such as cast iron lace work and slate roofs.[2] Towards the end of the century the style was pushed to an extreme by some architects. Buildings became over-burdened with excess columns, balustrades, exaggerated entrances and other lavish decorations. Medley Hall in Carlton is an example of this style which became known as the Boom Style from 1880 to 1893.[2]
One of the most significant architectural movements in Australian architecture was the Federation architecture style of the turn of the 20th century, where Australia began to play with the idea of a "style of our own", and the modern styles of the late 20th century which sought to reject historicism.
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect who, with fellow architect Marion Mahony Griffin, played a key role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city. A legacy of their unique architecture remains in a small number of Melbourne buildings and the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag. Castlecrag was planned by the Griffins and also features a number of houses designed in the organic Modernist style they developed after the Prairie School architecture that marked his earlier career in the United States. The simple, flat-roofed cottages that the Griffins designed in Canberra used their innovative, patented techniques for concrete construction.
One of the most important local introduction to Australian architecture was the verandah.[2] As pastoralists took up land and built solid, single story dwellings the addition of verandahs proved popular as they provided shade and looked attractive. They were often integrated into the symmetry of Georgian style homes.[2]
Like elsewhere in the world, socio-political factors have played their roles in shaping Australian architecture. During the early 20th century, cities across Australia had placed building height limits, typically 150 feet (45 m), thus hampering the development of American-style skyscrapers until the limits were lifted in the late 1950s. Likewise the popular notion of the "Australian Dream", in which families seek to own their free-standing houses with backyards, meant that high-density housings were rare in Australia until the end of the 20th century. The design of housing in Australia after World War II, which was mostly undertaken by builders, has been described as poor aesthetically and environmentally.[4]
Significant concern was raised during the 1960s, with green bans and heritage concerns responding to the destruction of earlier buildings and the skyscraper boom, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, but affecting other major cities including Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. Green bans helped to protect historic 18th-century buildings in The Rocks from being demolished to make way for office towers, and prevented the Royal Botanic Gardens from being turned into a carpark for the Sydney Opera House. In Melbourne a battle was fought to preserve historic Carlton, Victoria from slum reclamation for public housing, while gentrification played a big part in the suburb's salvation. In Melbourne's city centre, the destruction was particularly profound: Whelan the Wrecker was a family owned and operated demolition company that operated from 1892 until 1992, which became well known through the 1950s, 70s and 80s when signs stating that "Whelan the Wrecker is Here" appeared on many of the grand Victorian era buildings of Marvellous Melbourne. One of the most lamented losses in Melbourne was the Federal Coffee Palace on Collins Street and the APA Building (inspired by Chicago's early skyscrapers) at 49 Elizabeth Street. Many of the destruction occurred after the International Modernism style arrived in Australia, making Australians particularly conscious about Victorian architecture they felt was "dated".[5]
In the 21st century, many Australian architects have taken a more avant-garde approach to design, and many buildings have emerged that are truly unique and reflective of Australia's culture and values. As a result, many Australian practices are beginning to expand their influence overseas rather than the reverse which was often the case. Melbourne is seen as the city at the forefront of design ideas. Sydney is focusing on the humanist approach tending towards minimalism and architecture in Queensland is interested in outdoor rooms and the filtering of light.[4] Furthermore, greater appreciation for Australia's historic architecture has led to increased heritage protection for many buildings in Australia's cities, though not all buildings are protected, and some allow for façadism if the interior is unsustainable or unsafe.
Australian architectural styles
Internationally, the Sydney Opera House is the most recognised symbol of Sydney
Architectural styles have been basically exotic and derivative. Only recently have climate and environment played a major role.
During the 19th century, Australian architects were inspired by developments in England. From the 1930s on, North American and International influences started to appear.
Buildings were often heavily influenced by the origins of their patrons, hence while the British would like to be reminded of their Gothic churches and Tudoresque cottages of a perfect England, the Dutch, German, Polish, Greek, Italian and other nationalities would also attempt to recreate the architecture of their homelands.
Australian architecture is characterised largely by an international style with moderate alterations, such as the colonial style R.G. Menzies House in Canberra. This is a modern recreation of early American Colonial.
Australia Square in Sydney, emblematic of 1960s modernism, was designed by Harry Seidler.
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith and Leeton, and the Sydney suburb of Castlecrag.
Harry Seidler was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.
Castlecrag is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 8 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Willoughby.
Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. Victorian refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian were used in construction. However, many elements of what is typically termed "Victorian" architecture did not become popular until later in Victoria's reign, roughly from 1850 and later. The styles often included interpretations and eclectic revivals of historic styles (see Historicism). The name represents the British and French custom of naming architectural styles for a reigning monarch. Within this naming and classification scheme, it followed Georgian architecture and later Regency architecture and was succeeded by Edwardian architecture.
The Queen Anne style of British architecture refers to either the English Baroque architecture of the time of Queen Anne or the British Queen Anne Revival form that became popular during the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century. In other English-speaking parts of the world, New World Queen Anne Revival architecture embodies entirely different styles.
Collins Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins Street was named after Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania David Collins who led a group of settlers in establishing a short-lived settlement at Sorrento in 1803.
Marion Mahony Griffin was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in the United States developed and expanded the American Prairie School, and her work in India and Australia reflected Prairie School ideals of indigenous landscape and materials in the newly formed democracies. The scholar Debora Wood stated that Griffin "did the drawings people think of when they think of Frank Lloyd Wright ." According to architecture critic, Reyner Banham, Griffin was "America’s first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men."
Robin Gerard Penleigh Boyd was an Australian architect, writer, teacher and social commentator. He, along with Harry Seidler, stands as one of the foremost proponents for the International Modern Movement in Australian architecture. Boyd is the author of the influential book The Australian Ugliness (1960), a critique on Australian architecture, particularly the state of Australian suburbia and its lack of a uniform architectural goal.
The architecture of Sydney, Australia’s oldest city, is not characterised by any one architectural style, but by an extensive juxtaposition of old and new architecture over the city's 200-year history, from its modest beginnings with local materials and lack of international funding to its present-day modernity with an expansive skyline of high rises and skyscrapers, dotted at street level with remnants of a Victorian era of prosperity.
Australian residential architectural styles have evolved significantly over time, from the early days of structures made from relatively cheap and imported corrugated iron to more sophisticated styles borrowed from other countries, such as the California bungalow from the United States, the Georgian style from Europe and Northern America, and the Victorian style from the United Kingdom. A common feature of the Australian home is the use of fencing in front gardens, also common in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
Australian non-residential architectural styles are a set of Australian architectural styles that apply to buildings used for purposes other than residence and have been around only since the first colonial government buildings of early European settlement of Australia in 1788.
140 William Street is a 41-storey 152m tall steel, concrete and glass building located in the western end of the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Constructed between 1969 and 1972, BHP House was designed by the architectural practice Yuncken Freeman alongside engineers Irwinconsult, with heavy influence of contemporary skyscrapers in Chicago, Illinois. The local architects sought technical advice from Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan, of renowned American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, spending ten weeks at its Chicago office in 1968. At the time, BHP House was known to be the tallest steel-framed building and the first office building in Australia to use a “total energy concept” – the generation of its own electricity using BHP natural gas. The name BHP House came from the building being the national headquarters of BHP. BHP House has been included in the Victorian Heritage Register for significance to the State of Victoria for following three reasons:
Peter Neil Muller AO was an Australian architect with works in New South Wales, Victoria, Adelaide, Bali, and Lombok.
The architecture of Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria and second most populous city in Australia, is characterised by a wide variety of styles in various structures dating from the early years of European settlement to the present day. The city is particularly noted for its mix of Victorian architecture and contemporary buildings, with 74 skyscrapers in the city centre, the most of any city in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Walter Burley Griffin Incinerator is a heritage-listed former incinerator and now art gallery, artists studios and public recreation area at 2 Small Street, Willoughby, City of Willoughby, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed in partnership between Walter Burley Griffin and Eric Nicholls and built from 1933 to 1934 by Reverberatory Incinerator and Engineering Company and Nisson Leonard-Kanevsky. It is also known as Willoughby Municipal Incinerator. The property is owned by the Willoughby City Council. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Duncan House is a heritage-listed residence located at 8 The Barbette, Castlecrag, City of Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Walter Burley Griffin. It is also known as Duncan House Number 2. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
The Fishwick House is a heritage-listed private residence located at 15 The Citadel, Castlecrag, City of Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin and built during 1929. It is also known as The Fishwick House and Fyshwick House. The property is privately owned. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 December 2006.
Buhrich House II is a heritage-listed residence located at 375 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag, City of Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Hugh Buhrich and built during 1972. The property is privately owned by members of the Buhrich family. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 May 2001.
The Glass House is a heritage-listed domestic dwelling at 80 The Bulwark, Castlecrag, City of Willoughby, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Ruth and Bill Lucas. It is also known as Glasshouse or the Lucas House. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 21 October 2016.
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