Issue No 85. November I, 1959.

The RVIA held an Extraordinary General Meeting, its first for 36 years, to discuss the National Gallery & Cultural Centre situation (C-S Sep). Kelvin Hall was packed, smoke-filled, and never without a speaker during 2 hours of keen discussion. The meeting, with only 2 dissenters, backed the Institute's Council in pressing, even so late, for a competition. It was also al- most unanimous that the open invitation for photos and credentials is unsatisfactory, and directed Council to discuss better arrangements, even to consider asking all architects not to respond to the Gallery's invitation. Six days later the Federal, RAIA, Council (following Chapter Council decisions) also took the step, of suggesting to members not to respond, or to withdraw their submissions. But many submitted. ¶ Just after the Woollahra Flats case (C-S Sep '59) was finally settled, & the owners of the Yarranabbe This new hotel, the Brighton, at Brighton-le-Sands Gardens project were attempting to purchase neigh- looks east over Botany Bay & the Pacific. Sympathetic bouring land in order to comply with the floor-site use of trees, a little gay colour (the grille is copper & ratio (and being "held to ransom" in the process), brick), a fine simple building. (H H Smith & Syd City C decided to go ahead with their own flats Assoc'tes, arch'ts; R J Green & Lloyd Ltd, bldrs; schemes at Camperdown & Glebe (C-S Oct) despite £185,000) the fact that the floor areas proposed there exceed gland Licensing Com'n approved initial sketches for the permissible. an eight-storied extension to the Carlton Hotel. The extension, a new block fronting onto Elizabeth-St, will comprise basement car-parking, ground floor shopping arcade, theatrette and bar, one floor devoted to stor- age rooms and mechanical equipment, one floor (with possibly a second floor) of banqueting rooms and ball room, and four floors of bedrooms, all air con- ditioned and windowless. (Colin P Trapp, arch'ts) ¶ NSW Premier Cahill, shortly before his death, said he hoped to open the Opera House, free of debt, on Australia Day 1963. ¶ An 8-ft ceiling height minimum became law in Vic, arriving unheralded, without controversy, about the quickest achievement of its kind in that State's history. Simultaneously, Sth Aust brought its minimum ceiling down from 9 feet to 8 ft 6 ins.

This, Sundeck Chalet, for 48 guests, was opened, in Perisher Valley, Mt Kosciusko. (Brown, Brewer & Gregory, arch'ts; Architon Constr'n Co) 's Centenary celebrations are in full swing, but +here are few thoughtful decorations. There appears to have been no organised decorations scheme by private firms nor by community groups, and strings of coloured lights thrown haphazardly over commercial buildings are considered "the thing to do". The 's (by Depart- ment of Electricity) are relatively outstanding. , outlined in evenly spaced incandescent lamps; Bridge, flooded in red; Coronation Drive, floodlit frees and coloured lamps; and the City Hall, This is the Pitt Wood Home for Aged Ladies, a t flooded in amber. Ashfield, NSW, run by the Presbyterian Church, Social ¶ St Malo, 112-year old Joubert home at Hunter's Services Dept. The Victorian mansion accommodates Hill, near Syd, and Lucerne Farm, 117-year old Wills 35 sick members, the new extension has single rooms home in Alphington, near Melb, are both threatened for 52 who can walk, and lounges, kitchen, laundry and by highway schemes. The national Trust in each State physiotherapy room. (McConnell, Smith & Johnson, is striving to save these historic places. arch'ts; Jones Bros, bldrs). C Property in GAlirrt

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Two new Aust'n magazines appeared which may interest arch'ts and builders: Building & Decorating Materials ¶ An observatory for the astronomy club at Scotch (Syd) and Modern Art News (Melb). Those events College, Melb, will be built with a fibre-glass dome, prompted C-S to produce the above pictorial summary light enough to be rotated by hand. (J F D Scar- of the periodical literature of Aust'n arch'ture. The borough, arch't) ones pictured are received at Melb Univ, & might be reasonably grouped as: Scientific, Pictorial, Profes- ¶ Cat & Fiddle Square will be the name for a new, sional, Business Guides and Advertising Pamphlets 2,000 sq ft piazza in Hobart. Charles Davis Ltd plans (which includes the new Build & Decorating Materials, to create it at one end of Elizabeth-lane, with shops though thinly disguised). Six of them started during surrounding it ,their upper storeys overhanging to form the past year, one has been going since 1895. Two of a covered perimeter; a £4m project. The name comes 's newspapers could also be included, with weekly from a tavern which was established, nearby, about features devoting several pages to building (the press 1820. (Philp, Lighton, Floyd & Beattie, arch'ts) elsewhere features houses, & projects which are un- ¶ At Queenbeyan (NSW) a branch of the Rural Bank likely to be built). This side of the world still lacks of NSW was built, set back at the end of a short, broad a top-quality journal which is both analytical & walk lined with shops. The group was designed by staff technically conscious; +hose showing visible signs of arch'ts of the RB, built by W W Beavan of Tumut. aiming for such status are "Sinkentiku" (Japan), IT 8 Sth Yarra & Toorak houses, of arch'I or social "Design" (India), and "Architecture in Australia" but interest, were opened for inspection, in aid of Melb the Aust'n one is tied to a professional institute. Univ's building fund appeal. At '£I for 4 houses, Melb arch't Robin Boyd was one of 3 non- £1,500 was raised. Amongst them were the houses American guest speakers at a Pacific Rim Conference of arch'ts Race Godfrey & Robin Boyd. of architects in Honolulu. ¶ A 3-storey community centre, The Marillac, in East The Federation of Asian & Western-Pacific Contrac- Syd, was opened. It has a common room for elderly on the ground floor, meeting hall above, kindergarten tors' Associations filled 5 days with meeting & eating in Melb, an elaborate convention enjoying its first at the top. Children have access by ramps, their playground is on the roof. (Arch'ts Branch, Syd C C). assembly in Australia. ¶ Anthony Hordern & Sons plan to build into their Brickfield Hill store a 400-vehicle car park, costing £300,000. They anticipate 1200 cars a day in it, hope to boost sales considerably. ¶ A £200,000 hotel with a spreading, single-storey layout, for High-rd, Riverton, WA, was approved by Canning Road Board. Accommodation will, a+ firs+, be only 10 motel-type units, but there will be a dining hall for 200, garden lounge 70 ft by 40 ft, and elaborate landscaping of 50-acre grounds, with swim ming pool, stables, golf course, bowls & croquet green, tennis & badminton courts, trout stream, bird sanc- tuary, two practice-cricket-wickets. .(Forbes & Fitzhardinge, arch'ts)/American Motor Courts Ltd, Syd, applied for approval to build a 106-ft high "motel" above Roslyn Gardens, Rushcutters Bay. Local residents protested. ¶ A £115,000 Christian Centre in Beaufort-st, Perth, is being built, with auditorium for 1100, chapel for 200, 2 youth halls & a suite of offices for the Churches of Christ. Windows on 3 sides are arranged to form crosses, 50 feet high. (Milton J Boyce, honorary arch't; J Hawkins & Sons, bldrs) ¶ A portion of Gawler-place, , will be widened by 23 ft 6 ins after compulsory acquisition A series of internal courts, whose landscaping has of property belonging to G & R Wills & Co./Widening been thoughtfully planned, is the outstanding asset 16 chains of Hay-st, Perth, by 24 ft will cost Perth C C of the Lyell McEwin Hospital, at Elizabeth, SA. Such £37,000. Owners of Hay-st bldgs between Barrack.st pleasant emphasis upon human feelings could be very & Pier-st, and William-st & George-st, will be required welcome in larger, famous-for.efficiency, hospitals. to set back their ground floors by 16 feet, to produce (Sth Aust'n Housing Trust, arch'ts) colonnaded footpaths. Once again, the attempts to get Melb's old market sites redeveloped, provided news & argument, after the only lingering tenderer for the Western Market, Underhill Property Investments, persuaded Taylor Woodrow group, London, to acquire its option & to construct the £6m project, but this was negotiated on condition that the 60-year lease be extended to 99 years. Outspoken critics denounced the Council for even toying with the idea of changing the lease conditions without reopening public tendering, but Lord Mayor Evans maintains that only Underhill- Taylor-Woodrow are seriously interested, and that such high-principled formalities would be fruitlessly time & cost consuming, might even lead to missing out altogether. Two parties used the occasion for impressive diversions: the inevitable "syndicate of Hong Kong businessmen" offering to take over, on a 66-year basis, to build flats instead of offices, and the Herald, running a front-page campaign to revive the (not unreasonable) idea of having no building at all, but an open square. Meanwhile the option over the Eastern Market, held by PAA, was quietly extended to December 31. ¶ A new bulk wool store at Nth Geelong was com- pleted. It is 400 ft by 700 ft, its long walls consisting entirely of sliding doors. (Buchan, Laird & Buchan, arch'ts) If The main contract for the I8-storey Royal Auto Club premises, Melb, was let to Lewis Constr'n Co. (Bates, Smart & McCutcheon, arch'ts) The latest of a number of gas works, of this character, this is at Orange, NSW. The design is basically determined by West's Gas Improvement Co, UK, which supplies the plant, and out of its exposed steel frame, unglazed ventilating grilles, an exemplary piece of functional design emerges. NSW arch'ts Brown, Brewer & Gregory were responsible for cladding and supervising the building. Mr Desmond Sands, pres WA chapter of RAIA, was elected chairman of the committee to supervise arrangements at the Empire Village, to be built in Perth suburbs of Floreet Park.

This is the Church of St Bernadette, in Carlton, Syd: hexagonal building, with a folded zinc-sheeted roof, aluminium fleche. It seats 400, cost £32,000 (Kevin J Curtin, arch't; James Zemancheff Ltd, bldrs)

Bluestone walls, matt black tiled columns, red mosaic spandrels and aluminium sun-breakers: entrance fo new Melb offices & 16,000 sq ft warehouse of Westeels Industries, in Dandenong-rd, Carnegie. (Leith & Bart- lett, Ltd, arch'ts; H F Yuncken Ltd, bldrs) ¶ Over 70 selected Sydney housewives will take par+ in a Seminar on housing next week. Arranged by the Sydney Building Information Centre, the Seminar seeks housewives' opinion on the design of domestic This is a new chapel at St Patrick's College, Prospect kitchens, bathrooms and laundries. Vale, near Launceston, Tas. It seats 200, in a square, IT The problem of lack of space in Australian Univer- cost £18,000. Internal walls are face brickwork, with sities will be subject of discussion by British stations of the Cross of baked enamel on cast architect-town planner Lionel Brett (Planner Hatfield, aluminium. (Cooper & Vincent, arch'ts; A V Jennings Herts — pop 25,000) here on a two months' lecture Constr'n, Tas, bldrs) tour sponsored by British Council. A SUPER MARKET OF OVER 1700 YEARS AGO

It has been devoured by water, demolished by wars and deprived by vandalism, yet, walk today through the fabulous Forum of Trajan, built in 212 A.D., and you get a clear and eerie picture of life in that stupendous past. Incredibly you step into the market hall and tread where noisy, jostling early Romans once bargained for foods — sampled wines and sweetmeats. Such was the original supermarket. Here millions have trampled for over seventeen centuries — and are still walking today. Far be it from us to claim that Dunlop flooring will pass such a test of time. But Dunlop, Australian leaders in the flooring field, have the experience and quality materials to supply and install the floorings and wall tiles guaranteed to withstand the hazards of modern conditions in business and domestic premises. A 'phone call to our `Flooring Sales' connects you to authorities whose business is to help architects solve their flooring or wall problems. Dunlop supply and install Vinyl tiles, rubber flooring, lino or lino tiles, link mats, stair treads, and fleximer underlays — products which pass today's test of time.

Dunlop celebrates its Diamond Jubilee in Australia

MELBOURNE: Dunlop Flooring Pty. Ltd., 96 Flinders Street, Phone MF 0371. SYDNEY: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., Wentworth Avenue, Phone B 0969. BRISBANE: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., Centenary Place, Phone 31-0271. ADELAIDE: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 131 Pirie Street, Phone W 1647. PERTH: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 424 Murray Street, Phone 21-8141. HOBART: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., 27 Argyle Street, Phone 2-6581. LAUNCESTON: Dunlop Rubber Australia Ltd., IS Paterson Street, Phone 2-2067. pF/A302

Library Digitised Collections

Title: Cross-Section [1959]

Date: 1959

Persistent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24053

File Description: Cross-Section, Nov 1959 (no. 85)