Brisbane City Hall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the seat of the Brisbane City Council. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the rectangular City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages and entrances in both Ann Street and Adelaide Street. The building is considered one of Brisbane's finest and is registered on the Register of the National Estate since 1978.
The building has been used for royal receptions, pageants, orchestral concerts, civic greetings, flower shows, school graduations and political meetings.
In 2009, it was discovered that the building suffered from severe structural problems. After a three-year restoration, the building was re-opened on 6 April 2013.
The City Hall was once the tallest building in Brisbane (see external links below for image from 1957). The building was designed by the firm Hall and Prentice, in association with four young New South Wales Architects: Bruce Dellit, Peter Kaad, Emil Sodersten and Noel Wilson.
Laying the foundations
The first foundation stone was laid on Saturday 3 February 1917 by Queensland Governor (Major Sir Hamilton J. Goold-Adams) in advance of the building's construction. The stone was placed facing Albert Square (now King George Square). At the time there were no plans for the new building. The stone was hollowed to allow a time capsule to be placed within it. The time capsule was a zinc cylinder; it contained:
copies of the Brisbane daily newspapers
copy of the Proclamation of the Incorporation of the City
a copy of the minutes of the first meeting of the City Council
a copy of the minutes of the meeting at which the council resolved to lay this foundation stone
one of each of the current coins of the realm
a message of good wishes from the Governor
However, it was later found to be out of alignment, and it was removed. In 1935, it was claimed that the stone was in a Brisbane City Council depot in Macrossan Street.[10] However, in 1954, it was claimed that the original foundation stone was lost as it was believed to have been used as part of a building's foundations.
The second (and current) foundation stone was laid on 29 July 1920 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII / Duke of Windsor), with an opal encrusted 18ct gold and trowel, designed by Peter Kaad.
The site was swampy and contained a creek. Pumping was needed to keep the site dry. Construction operations began in 1924. One man died as he was inspecting the construction site.
Opening
Although not complete, the building was occupied from 3 January 1928. The lord mayor William Jolly presented a cheque, paying for his electricity bill, as the first official transaction in the new building.
Brisbane City Hall was opened in 1930 by Queensland Governor (Sir John Goodwin). The building was officially opened on 8 April 1930 by Lord Mayor of Brisbane William Jolly. However it had been partially occupied since 1927. In 1969 the council commenced the acquisition of the properties to the south of the City Hall, and in 1975 opened the Brisbane Administration Centre (or BAC), a 20-floor tower and surrounding plaza. Most of the Council's offices then moved from the City hall to the BAC. The Council Chambers (located on the Adelaide Street side of the building), Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor's offices remain however in City Hall.
In the 1980s work commenced on the full-scale restoration of the building, opening up the side entrance vestibules and restoring a number of the reception rooms to their original design. These reception rooms are named for former local government areas subsumed into Greater Brisbane in 1925, such as the Sherwood Room, or the Ithaca Room. From 2003 the Museum of Brisbane (which has galleries positioned on both sides of the building's entrance from King George Square) has replaced administration offices.
Organ
Design and construction
The building was designed according to the Italian Renaissance style, symmetrical and formal.[14] It has three floors and a partial basement. The total cost of the project including furniture, fitout and furnishing was A£1,000,000. Chariot statues included in the original plans were discarded to save costs.
The columns supporting the tympanum are of the Corinthian order while the columns extending on either side are of the Ionic order.[2][14] Lions heads are found above these columns. Above the main entrance is a bronze awning and the doors are also made of bronze.[1]
Clock tower
Brisbane City Hall has an imposing 70 m clock tower (rising 91 m above ground level), based on the design of the St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy. When it was built, the four clock faces on each side of the tower were the largest in Australia. Each clock face is 5m in diameter, the hour hands are 5f 6in, and the minute hands are 3m long.[citation needed] The clock has Westminster Chimes, which sound on the quarter-hour, and can be heard from the Queen St Mall and, at times, in the surrounding suburbs. Above the clocks is an observation platform, open to the public and accessible by lift between 10:15 am and 4:45 pm seven days a week, free. For many years this afforded spectacular views of Brisbane, but since the relaxation of height limits for surrounding buildings in the late 1960s, the view is now somewhat restricted.
The building is constructed of concrete, brick and steel, with a base of Camp Mountain Granite. The granite was extracted by the first builder, Arthur Midson, from his quarry at Camp Mountain near Samford. This deposit was worked just for the City Hall project. Above Midson's granite base courses, the east, north and west sides are clad in Helidon Freestone, a type of sandstone extracted from Wright's Quarry at Helidon. The sandstone cladding was constructed (together with the rest of the building) by builder Douglas Dunn Carrick. The clock tower has a steel framework, and is clad in the same sandstone. The interior includes two marble columns that support an arch above a ground marble staircase. Granite for the ground floor and basement was sourced from Enoggera.
Date retrieved: 28 May 2017 06:28 UTC
Permanent link: (
visit link)