Mid-century modern houses and buildings are always vulnerable when they’re located on valuable land—whether heritage listed or not. And so it is with the Allawah, Bega and Currong flats in Braddon (1954), which sit on land close to Civic estimated to be worth $63 million.

The Canberra Times of 11 April, 2010 reports that the “ABC Flats”, as they’re colloquially known, will be almost entirely demolished to make way for a large scale high density redevelopment. A concept master plan has been commissioned by the ACT Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services and prepared by architects and planners Cox, Humphries, Moss.

Currong and Allawah flats will go, while 5 buildings from the Bega Flats will be kept. In their place will be 1200 high density dwellings including townhouses on the northern side and high-rise apartments on the southern side facing the Canberra Centre.

Currong Flats were decommissioned as public housing in 2004-2005 and are now occupied by students from the ANU, University of Canberra and CIT. It’s being hyped as a ‘new dawn’ for public housing in the ACT, although only 10% of the new development will be set aside for public housing. Those public housing residents occupying the 228 units on Bega and Allawah Flats will mostly be relocated.

The flats are valued by the Australian Institute of Architects as good examples of the post-war international style. Although nominated for listing on the ACT Heritage Register, a study carried out last year found that the they were only of ‘slight to moderate heritage significance’ because of their social and historical values. The study also noted that while the buildings were difficult to maintain and made for inhospitable dwellings, the courtyard layout and landscape of the Allawah flats was worth preserving.

There are 63 million reasons why the heritage value of these flats won’t be talked about too much, so before we say goodbye to another chapter in Canberra’s postwar planning and architectural history, it’s worth briefly noting why they are important and of interest.

The flats were designed in 1954 by Richard Ure and Ian Slater in the Canberra office of the Commonwealth Department of Works. They were Canberra’s first medium density public housing. These post-war international style flats are significant examples of that style of architecture and are also of value for the way they demonstrate the planning and design of Canberra’s first medium density public housing, which was built to cope with the housing shortage as the city emerged from the austerity of the period after World War II.

It’s a rare example of architects and planners being influenced by the designs of English new towns, in the decade prior to the National Capital Development Commission becoming responsible for Canberra’s planning and development. Somewhat ironic, then, that they were built to increase the density of housing near Civic and will be demolished partly for the same reason—to allow for increased housing density near the city.

You can read more on the origins and significance of the Bega and Allawah Flats in this house profile.

Bega & Allawah Flats, on Ainslie Avenue and Ballumbir Street Braddon, are a group of 16 three-storey blocks of 2 bedroom flats designed in 1954 by Richard Ure and Ian Slater in the Canberra office of the Commonwealth Department of Works. These post-war international style flats were Canberra’s first medium density public housing and have similarities to European postwar housing, particularly in English new towns. In 2010, they appear destined for demolition, making way for a large scale redevelopment on this valuable land near Civic.

Significance

The flats have been nominated to the ACT Heritage Register and are listed on the Australian Institute of Architects (AIA) Register of Significant Twentieth Architecture. They are a good example of the post-war international style, with cubiform shapes, large sheets of glass, plain smooth wall surfaces, cantilever and overhang for shade. As a group they exhibit fine proportions and clean detailing. Their low scale and alignment with the street layout combine to make them a coherent and successful design.

The complex is also of value for the way it demonstrates the planning and design of Canberra’s first medium density public housing, built as the city was emerging from the austerity of the immediate post World War II period. It’s also a rare example of architects and planners being influenced by the designs of English new towns, in the decade prior to the National Capital Development Commission becoming responsible for Canberra’s planning and development.

Background and description

The design concept of the Bega, Allawah and Currong Flats was the result of town planner Trevor Gibson recommending to the National Capital Planning and Development Committee in 1952 that new types of housing should be used in Canberra to increase density, comparing Canberra to the English new town of Harlow. Gibson, a Sydney graduate, had been appointed to head the town planning section of the Department of Works and Housing in 1949. In 1950 the section was transferred to the Department of the Interior in Canberra, which then became responsible for developing the city. The timing of the project was a result of the urgent need to reduce the postwar housing shortage prior to the completion of the new Administrative Building in Parkes.

The principal architect for the project was Richard Ure, who had won the competition for the design of the Australian-American Memorial in 1950. Ian Slater was responsible for documenting the working drawings. Slater was later the project architect for the Canberra Olympic Pool, which won the Sulman Award in 1956.

The flats comprise 6 blocks of 18 flats along Ballumbir Street raised on columns over car parks (pictured) with laundries under 2 blocks, and 10 blocks of 12 flats on the ground forming rectangular courts behind them. Their proportions and detailing along with their siting continuing the street pattern made them more successful than the 3 eight-storey blocks of flats along Currong Street, which completed the development.

Each flat has a passage opening into a living room with a balcony, a kitchen, two bedrooms with built-in wardrobes and a bathroom. Construction is of face brick end walls, incised-patterned rendered brick front and rear walls, concrete floors and balconies and flat metal-deck roofs without parapets. Each stairwell has a fully glazed wall and each flat has full-height glazing the width of the living room and balcony. The flats were considered to be well appointed accommodation for their time.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects draft RSTCA Citation
• Canberra: An Architectural Guide to Australia’s Capital, RAIA, 1982
• The post-war international style

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 Federal Government spent over $40 million refitting Anzac Park West for the Australian Federal Police but found it was too small, so it sits empty. The AFP now plans to spend $115 million fitting out the heritage listed Edmund Barton building.

Penelope Seidler and Peter Hirst (Seidler and Associates) have written to the Parliamentary Public Works Committee seeking more information about the protection of the building’s heritage values, voicing their concern about how the proposed security measures and changes to the ground level will affect the external appearance of the building. Seidler and Associates were initially advised by Stocklands that they would cooperate to ensure that the integrity and heritage values of the building were not compromised.

Why is it important? The post-war international Edmund Barton building is one of Seidler’s most important public buildings and arguably his best non-tower office block. The contrast between rectilinear and curved forms was an important and recurring theme throughout Seidler’s career and is fundamental to the idea of this building. The open ground floor accommodates quadrant shaped glass lobbies for the three entries, while the circular cores form the corner of the building and conceal the vertical services.

We have made various suggestions on preliminary designs for this work but have not seen any drawings for some time.

— Seidler and Associates

To viewers in the offices above, the quadrant shaped conference hall expresses its theatre seating and acoustic form and the cafeteria shows its long span shell-shaped roof elements. This theme of visual tension and contrast between the rectilinear and curved elements is reinforced by the courtyard paving pattern and in the two sculptures by Norman Carlberg, one in each courtyard. A fountain had the same effect, but it was filled in some years ago and replaced by landscaping. Underpinning this is the clearly expressed resolution of the two major parts of the structural system: 22.5m I-shaped spandrel beams and 15.8m T-beams of the spanning floor systems.

The building is also a rare example of Seidler’s work in Canberra, being the most significant of the two intact Seidler office buildings here. A quick overview of Seidler’s Canberra work:

• 12 Yapunyah Street O’Connor (1956): demolished
• Garran Group Housing (1968): demolished in the late 1990s
• 11 Northcote Crescent, Deakin (1951-52): extended twice, no heritage protection
• Canberra South Bowling Club (1959): extensively modified
• Campbell Group Housing (1964): intact, but no heritage protection
• Ethos House (1970): intact
• Macgregor townhouses (1980): intact
• Lakeview townhouses in Yarralumla (1982): intact
• The Edmund Barton building (1973): intact—for now

I think that statements being made by the AFP about the nature of the modifications (reported in the Sydney Morning Herald) are of concern.

Mr Keelty told the committee security measures would include a ‘transparent perimeter barrier’ to control pedestrian access to internal courtyards and bollards to stop unauthorised vehicles from approaching the building. Federal police executives said heritage values would be enhanced by reintroducing some of Mr Seidler’s original concepts by making the internal courtyards more welcoming for staff.

— Sydney Morning Herald

The idea that it was Seidler’s intention to close off the courtyards so as to make them more accessible for staff simply doesn’t ring true. These courtyards were designed as spaces for staff and pedestrians, with the fountain (long since filled in), works of public art, a cafeteria and a theatrette. The building bears all the hallmarks of a Seidler building—maximizing public open space at the ground floor. The sculptures and the buildings in the courtyard are positioned to control the open areas and make them more intelligible to the pedestrian as well as office workers who look down into the courtyards from the windows above. Closing this courtyard off to the public contradicts this aim and will not enhance the heritage values of the building.

A related concern, but thus far not mentioned, is future public access to the works of art. Closing the area off for security reasons and restricting access will deprive the city of two important works of public art by Norman Carlberg, the internationally acclaimed American sculptor who worked in the modular constructivist style and studied under Joseph Albers at Yale in the late 1950s. Black Widow is the free standing black painted steel form standing 4.8m high in the west courtyard. Concrete Form is the 7.3m high precast concrete sculpture in the east courtyard. These two important works were installed in 1975.

While unrestricted access to public art can be a grey area when such works are located inside commercial buildings and schools, for example, I would be interested to see some kind of statement about how these sculptures will remain accessible to the public once and if these alterations are made.

More recent activity at the ACT Heritage Unit, as several places have been provisionally registered under the Heritage Act 2004. Among buildings included in the latest batch are works by Frederick Romberg, Enrico Taglietti, Ken Woolley and John Andrews.

The latest provisional registrations are for:

• Ken Woolley’s Woden Library and Phillip Health Centre (1977)
• Frederick Romberg’s Lutheran Church in Turner (1961)
• Enrico Taglietti’s Dickson Library (1969)
• The UC Student Residences designed by John Andrews (1973)

Recently included in Canberra’s Top Twenty, the UC Residences are the only houses among the latest additions. They have been provisionally registered for their significance as relatively rare examples of 1970s student accommodation constructed of off-form in situ concrete and for their association with the development of tertiary education in Canberra during the Whitlam years, with the establishment of the Canberra College of Advanced Education—now the University of Canberra.

They are also regarded as important examples of work by the internationally recognised architect John Andrews and are significant examples of brutalist architecture, with their strong, boldly composed shapes, expressed reinforced-concrete and large areas of blank wall. The way the residences are stepped down the sloping site is also a characteristic of the Sydney regional style of architecture.

The design also represented a new type of student residential planning called studenentheim, where modules comprising six student rooms were linked with a separate sitting room, kitchen area and shared toilet facilities. This was an ideal use for John Andrews’ additive style of architecture, where the basic building element of the student rooms is grouped around the shared facilities. The success of this studenentheim was such that the ANU then built Toad Hall following these principles, also with John Andrews as the architect.

This housing group is unusual, since there are very few residential examples of the brutalist style in Canberra or, indeed, Australia. The contrasting textures and patterns formed by the arrangement of the modules makes for a group of residences that are still quite startling in appearance, thirty-five years after their design.

So, Canberrans, if you haven’t seen these fine examples of late twentieth century brutalism, I highly recommend a trip over to Bruce, where the group can be viewed from Aikman Drive.

Further reading

• Canberra’s Top Twenty
• Brutalist architecture
• Sydney regional style architecture

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 list is arbitrary, it is substantially based on significance according to the Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture and nomination to or listing on the ACT Heritage Register. It is open to debate, of course, and a colleague has already taken me to task for initially including Robin Boyd’s last Canberra house at 12 Marawa Place ahead of Noel Potter’s house at 3 Arkana Street, Yarralumla.

Looking at the tour, it’s interesting to see the geographic spread of the houses around Canberra. While many are located in the inner south and date from the 1930s to the 1960s—modernism’s golden age if you like—there are examples in some of the newer suburbs, or areas developed since the late 1960s. It finishes around the mid 1970s, in line with the general feeling that heritage has to be older than 30 years to qualify as such.

It also highlights how few of Canberra’s houses are of heritage significance. When one talks about heritage listing (and more importantly) preserving houses, it’s not as though we’re talking about locking away vast tracts of valuable land from developers. Of Canberra’s total housing stock we’re only talking about protecting and conserving a tiny handful of houses from the mid twentieth century. And if we’re unable to do that it reflects badly on us as a community.

So, download this KML file and view Canberra’s Top Twenty in Google Earth. Let me know what you think.