Disturbing news report from the Sydney Morning Herald about the fitout of Harry Seidler’s heritage listed Edmund Barton building on Kings Avenue. It seems like the consultation with Seidler and Associates promised by the owners of the building, Stocklands, isn’t working out so well. The … Read More →
Category Archives: Canberra
Canberra’s top twenty modernist houses
Over at my Flickr photostream I’ve put together an image set called Canberra’s Top Twenty—a list of Canberra’s most important modernist houses. The images are geo-tagged, and I’ve created a KML file for you to play in Google Earth. While some may argue that the … Read More →
‘The finest building in the National Capital’ — a bridge
As I drive or ride over Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, I often think of Sir Robert Menzies—no, really. Menzies thought the Bridge was the ‘finest building in the National Capital’. Opened to traffic in November 1963 over the yet to be filled lake, the bridge was … Read More →
Canberra’s growth — a brief overview
The 1930s and 1940s Canberra was little more than a country town during the 1930s, with a population of around 10,000. In 1941 there were as few as 400 privately owned houses, with the vast majority of housing construction government driven. There were probably only … Read More →
Canberra’s heritage nomination backlog beginning to shift
A large backlog of nominations to the ACT Heritage Register has been building up over the past decade. During that time the RAIA has nominated a number of important houses and buildings to the ACT Interim Heritage Places Register. Unfortunately, few of these have ended … Read More →
Timeline
Before World War I 1823: European settlement 1901: Australian Federation 1908: The site for Australia’s capital chosen 1911: Federal Capital Territory (FCT) created 1911: Population of ACT 1,714 1911: Mount Stromlo Observatory established 1912: Walter Burley Griffin wins international design competition 1913: Canberra chosen as … Read More →
Laurie Virr
Laurie Virr is a Canberra-based architect who has designed work in the United States, New South Wales and Victoria, along with a number of houses in Canberra. Throughout a career spanning over fifty years, his primary concerns have been the design of energy efficient, solar … Read More →