Australian Hall

150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 1 Australian Hall 150-2 Elizabeth St Sydney 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY HISTORY Knights of the Southern Cross, a Statement of Significance Catholic fraternal lay group linked with the Catholic Right and, The Australian Hall holds social William Ferguson ultimately with the split in the significance for at least three Tom Foster Labor Party in the 1950s. groups of people. Pearl Gibbs The building was initially built to Helen Grosvenor Firstly, the building holds social be used as a meeting place for Jack Johnson significance for the Aboriginal cultural and social activities and People for its role in the 1938 Jack Kinchela was continuously used for these "Day of Mourning" meeting. Bert Marr events including cinema and Pastor Doug Nicholls theatre. It is a rare example of a This event was the first protest by Henry Noble purpose built building in Sydney Aboriginal people for equal Jack Patten continuously used for its initial opportunities within Australian Tom Pecham purpose. Society. It was attended by Frank Roberts approximately 100 people of Margaret Tucker The building holds architectural Aboriginal Blood and was the significance as it still contains beginning of the contemporary Secondly, it holds significance for some examples of original Aboriginal Political Movement. the German and Greek-Cypriot architecture. It is a good example Among those who contributed communities in Sydney as it of the Federation Romanesque significantly to the movement allowed visitors and migrants to style. The interior also contains generally and particularly to the enjoy cultural and social events. examples of certain features that event in the Australian Hall were: The building also has an could date from the original Mrs Ardler association with Australian construction and also has features J Connelly national and political history in its from each of the renovations William Cooper ownership (1920-79) by the since. 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 2 The Nithsdale Street Facade alterations, some wall sections walling is rendered and painted. appear to be original. The two windows at the second floor have segmental arched face Ground Floor brick heads. Two windows behind the Mandolin cinema screen and The main entry to the former part of the opening which was Cyprus-Hellene Club opens into a probably a fire exit or receiving foyer and reception office. The dock have been bricked up. major part of the ground floor is occupied by a large bar/club with The roof is corrugated asbestos games area and a above the western part of the restaurant/auditorium with a small Description building and corrugated iron stage and dance floor. Also above the hall. located on this floor is a kitchen, Designer/Maker: G.L. Grant cool room, toilets, storeroom and Builder/Maker: J. Ptolemy Interior an exit passage to Nithsdale Street. Construction Year: 1912 The basement extends for half the The club premises were Exterior depth of the building. The ground completely refitted in the mid- along the northern and southern 1980s and most of the finishes The building was constructed on site boundaries is un-excavated at date from this latest alteration. the full site area, with three basement level. Original elements include the storeys above ground plus a plastered and painted side walls, basement. It has facades to The ground and first floors extend recessed alcoves and original Elizabeth Street and Nithsdale the full depth of the site with the ceiling panels. Street. former Australian Hall occupying the rear half of the first floor. The main spaces on the ground The Elizabeth Street facade has a Main access to the hall is from floor have carpeted floors while suspended steel awning with its Elizabeth Street. The second floor the cinema entrance foyer features fabric still intact. The facade has extends for half the depth of the black and white lino tile flooring, the characteristics of Federation site. papered wall and a decorative Free Style architecture. In plastered ceiling with cornice and consistency with the style, it Two isolated stairs and one lift brackets. features two contrasting materials, provide access to all levels of the face brick and rusticated building. The lift dates from the First Floor 1960s alteration. The stair has sandstone. The sandstone has all terrazzo steps. The other fire stair, been painted and the brick left The front part of the first floor located in the former light-well, unpainted. comprises the board room, was constructed in the mid-1980s snooker room, bar area, a small and has tiled steps. There are three entrances. The kitchen and toilets. Original cinema entrance has marble steps elements include the surviving and timber floors which are Basement timber floor structure, the arched glazed. The club entrance has and square timber windows to terrazzo steps with an aluminium The basement comprises of store Elizabeth Street and joinery such edge strip. The club doors are of rooms, cool rooms and toilets. as frames, shashes, architraves and solid timber. The fire exit, Cool rooms and store rooms have surviving skirtings. constructed during the 1980s, has cement floors and cement white terrazzo steps and a standard rendered walls. Although the The rear part of the first floor is fire door. spatial arrangement and much of occupied by the Mandolin the visible fabric date from later Cinema, the former Australian 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 3 Hall. The cinema is accessible by building with twelve rooms and a a narrow foyer which is adjacent slate roof. to the northern wall of the building. The property was sold to William Chandler Eldridge in March 1885. The first floor cinema foyer and amenities retained much of their The property was purchased by original features such as the representatives of the German original floor structure, marble Concordia Club on 14 June 1905. stair and billboard frames. The The block bounded by Elizabeth, ceiling, cornice frieze and ceiling Nithsdale, Goulburn and roses appear to be original too. History Liverpool streets was the focus of the German Community in The former dance hall, which was The land was originally part of Sydney. The Concordia Club adapted to the use as a theatre in two grants. The Elizabeth Street (founded in 1883) was one of a 1961 and to the cinema use in end of the present property was number of German cultural and 1974, retains much of its original issued to John Wylde on 30 June social organisations that emerged fabrics. These are the wall fabric 1823 and the Nithsdale Street as German immigration and to the external walls, the surviving portion was part of a grant to economic activity expanded. original wall detailing such as the Thomas McVitie on 19 October blind arches and remaining wall 1831. 1905 saw the erection of a hall and decoration, hidden behind false club premises. The foundation walling and the suspended ceiling. First Occupancy: stone now located at 231 Other original elements include Stanmore Rd, Stanmore carries the the timber floor structure, date 29 July 1905. windows in the rear wall, Western Portion, Fronting mouldings, skirtings and Elizabeth Street With the outbreak of the plague in architraves. However, nothing The Rocks in 1900 there were remains of the original stage. Wylde built a house on his land calls for reform in Sydney. In facing what is today Liverpool St. 1908 there was the appointment of Second Floor The land was sold in 1829 to the a Royal Commission for the improvement of the City of Sergerson brothers and then re- Sydney and its Suburbs. The The second floor is occupied by a sold it to John Watson on 18 commission recommended the large function room, toilets at the September 1858. widening of Elizabeth Street. rear, a kitchen and an unused board room along the northern In 1856 a map of Sydney sketched Prior to the necessary demolition, boundary wall. Surviving original by Edward Burrow shows only a Milton Kent took photographs of fabric includes the timber floor fence around a property and no the property. Plans were prepared structure, original wall surfaces sign of the original house built by by G.L. Grant for the replacement along the southern and northern Wylde. of the German Club Concordia walls, timber windows, window and they were approved on 5 joinery, architraves and skirtings. An 1865 Trigonometrical Survey December 1910. The acoustic tiled suspended map shows a building and ceiling above the board room is outhouses on this portion of the ruined. Similarly to the first floor, site. The house was probably built Eastern Portion, Fronting the finishes and fit out of the around 1865 - because the name of Nithsdale Street toilets dates from an earlier John Watson first appears in the (1970s) alteration. Sands Directory in 1866. The Thomas McVitie arrived in house was described in the rates Australia in 1816. When he died assessment books as 3-storey in 1833 his property was 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 4 subdivided but only sold once his It is assumed that this second stage radio broadcasts from radio station widow died in 1875. was completed based on mutual 2UE. Also, the state lotteries were trust between the State and drawn each weekday morning in Two houses were built on this Concordia. This building would be Australian hall between 1933 and particular grant in the early years. known as Australian Hall. the 1940s. A three-storey mansion fronted Hyde Park and was probably built The club was influential to the 26th January 1938 - in the early 1830s. The other large German community in house was built on the southern Sydney and was the focal point for "Day of Mourning" half of the grant. Nithsdale St is local and visiting Germans.

Load more