The emergence of the modern movement was the most significant architectural development during the years between the two World Wars. However, the ideas of mainstream modernism were too radical to appeal to a wide cross section of the public. The inter-war Art Deco style also celebrated the exciting, dynamic aspects of the machine age, but in a more toned down, easy to approach way that appealed to a larger group of people on an emotional level, with the use of graphic decorative elements and modern, eye-catching materials.

So while not strictly a style of modernism, there are similarities in influence that make this a style worth including here: a faith in modern technology and the representation of dynamic progress, with a forward looking image. Buildings in this style are also some of the few built in Canberra during the inter-war period, by architects like E H Henderson and Cuthbert Whitley, who also produced work in the inter-war functionalist style.

The inter-war Art Deco style came to be favoured for two distinctively twentieth century building types: the cinema and the skyscraper. In Australia, the style was also frequently used in commercial and residential interiors and shopfronts. In Canberra there were no skyscrapers, but a small number of public buildings were constructed in this style during the inter-war years. Public building in Canberra during the inter-war period was limited, and those few examples that remain are important—and precious.

Features

• Suggestion of arrested vertical or horizontal motion
• Symmetry
• Stepped skyline or silhouette
• Decorative elements concentrated on the upper part of the building
• Three dimensional quality in massing and detailing
• Vertical and horizontal fins, zigzags, streamlined effects
• Geometric curves, stylised effects
• Materials include polished granite, Vitrolite, sandstone and textured face brickwork
• Chrome plated steel used for shopfronts and commercial interiors
• Metal framed windows
• Use of stylised typefaces

Canberra examples

• Manuka Swimming Pool, E. H. Henderson, 1930-31.
• Canberra School of Art, Cuthbert Whitley, 1939 (pictured above).
• Ainslie Primary School, E. H. Henderson & Cuthbert Whitley, 1938.
• Australian War Memorial. J. Crust & Emil Sodersten, 1934-41.

Other Australian examples

• Anzac Memorial, Hyde Park, Sydney. C. Bruce Dellit, 1934.
• Birtley Towers, Birtley Place, Elizabeth Bay, Sydney. Emil Sodersten, 1934.
• ACA Building, Queen Street, Melbourne. Hennessy & Hennessy, 1936.
• Former City Mutual Building, Hunter & Bligh Streets, Sydney. Emil Sodersten, 1934-1936.

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

I’ve prepared a new house profile for another little known late twentieth century organic style house, this time in Aranda. The Andrews House was the first designed in Canberra by Laurie Virr in 1969 and is based on a triangular module.

The image here shows the kitchen module of the house, a sticking point during the approval process. When building approval was first sought, a permit was denied by the Department of the Interior on the grounds that the design ‘did not look like a house’. The Department’s resident architect was particularly troubled by the location of the kitchen: an internal module with no windows, but lit from above by a skylight. Kitchens must have external windows, it’s written in the tablets. Country Women’s Association guidelines, on which Departmental policy was based, stipulated that kitchens must have external windows to allow wives to have a pleasant outlook while preparing meals and washing the dishes. Depending on one’s outlook, that’s either quaint, hilarious or infuriating. Nonetheless, approval was ultimately given and the house went ahead as per plan.

The conservatism of the Department of the Interior during the 1960s made life very difficult for architects trying to do something a bit different, or that didn’t match the narrow template laid down by government. It forced some of them out of Canberra and curtailed the careers of others.

The Andrews House is in original condition and still occupied by the client 40 years after construction. The house is next door to Enrico Taglietti’s Paterson House, arguably his most important residential work. An interesting side note: the commission for 7 Juad Place was originally offered to Laurie Virr, but the Patersons changed their mind and went with Enrico Taglietti. The end result is two fine, original mid-century organic houses next to each other in a bushland setting.

Read the profile.

The house at 5 Juad Place, Aranda was designed by Laurie Virr in 1969. It is an unusual Canberra example of the late twentieth century organic style of architecture based on a triangular module. The house was Laurie’s first commission in Canberra and displays the themes he would explore in his residential projects over the next three decades: the use of massing, geometric forms and deep roof overhangs in an energy efficient, solar house.

Description

This house was the first significant commission offered to Laurie Virr in the two-and-a-half years after his graduation, although he had designed and built houses during the eighteen months he lived in the U.S.A. during 1963-64. Laurie’s practice, as with most other architects, started with some small local commissions for alterations and additions. The clients for the house at 5 Juad Place were the Andrews family.

The site is a 1774 square metre lot, on the side of a hill sloping to the west. One of the requirements of the brief was that all trees on the block were to be preserved. Prior to construction there were seventy-three trees on the property, and although it was necessary to remove one before construction commenced, the retention of these native trees has contributed to the strong native bush quality of the site.

The desire on the part of the clients to preserve the trees dictated the form of the house, the triangular module furnishing more flexibility than was possible with a rectangular grid. The brief for the house called for a living/dining area, a kitchen, two bathrooms (one associated with the main bedroom), two additional bedrooms, a laundry/utility space, and a room for Mr Andrews’ mother, with basic kitchen and dining facilities together with sleeping and closet space.

The living and dining area of 5 Juad Place, showing the custom made furniture.

Construction is of custom made concrete masonry units, with western red cedar French doors and sash, and pine ceilings. The floor is an integrally colored and reinforced concrete slab, which is waxed and polished, and scored on the lines of the module with a grooving tool. The roof is covered with fiber-cement shingles. All glazing is 6 mm float glass.

When first submitted for building approval a permit was denied by the resident architect of the Department of the Interior on the grounds that the design ‘did not look like a house’. Of particular concern was the internally located kitchen, lit from above by a skylight but having no external windows. Country Women’s Association guidelines, on which Departmental policy was based, stipulated that kitchens must have external windows to allow wives to have a pleasant outlook while preparing meals and washing the dishes. On appeal, a wiser head prevailed, construction commenced and was completed without further incident.

— Laurie Virr

In 1972, drawings and photographs of the completed house were chosen to form part of the Australian exhibition at the Commonwealth Institute in London, U.K.

Further reading

• Short biography of Laurie Virr
• The late twentieth century organic style of architecture
• Images of the house under construction taken by architecture photographer Peter Wille can be found at the State Library of Victoria.