Brisbane City Hall

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brisbane City Hall (view from King George Square)
Brisbane City Hall (view from King George Square)

Brisbane City Hall is the seat of the City Council of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages to both Ann Street and Adelaide Street.

The City Hall was once the tallest building in Brisbane (see external links below for image from 1957). The foundation stone was laid in July 1920 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII / Duke of Windsor), and Brisbane City Hall was opened in 1930. An earlier foundation stone had been laid in 1917 by Queensland Governor (Major Sir Hamilton J. Goold-Adams) in advance of the building's construction, however it was later found to be out of alignment, and it was removed. This stone, stored in a Brisbane City Council depot, later disappeared from record.

Brisbane City Hall has an imposing Clock Tower, based on the design of the St Mark's Campanile in Venice, Italy. The four clock faces on each side of the tower are the largest in Australia. The Clock has Westminster Chimes, which sound on the quarter hour.

Above the clocks is an observation platform, open to the public and accessible by lift. 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 City Hall building also contains a large assembly hall located under a central rotunda and several smaller reception rooms.

When originally built it was intended that the building would house most of the Council's administrative offices, Aldermen's (councillors') offices, the Council Chamber, a public library and several reception rooms, in addition to the main assembly hall. As the role of local government increased in the 1950s and 1960s, the reception rooms, hallways and side entrance vestibules (in Adelaide and Ann Streets) were converted to office space. Additional offices were constructed on the roof and in the basement.

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 City Hall continues to house the office of the Lord Mayor of Brisbane (the Lord Mayor's office is located on the King George Square side of the building), the Council meeting Chamber (located on the Adelaide Street side of the building), and councillors' offices.

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. More recently, the Museum of Brisbane (which has galleries positioned on both sides of the building's entrance from King George Square) has replaced administration offices.

The City Hall faces King George Square, named in honour of King George V. Originally this area, between Ann and Adelaide Streets, was much narrower than at present and was called Albert Square. In the late 1960s premises on the square opposite the City Hall were acquired by the City Council, demolished and the area levelled to form a larger square. The creation of the enlarged square was criticised in some quarters as it resulted in the removal of the original imposing flight of stone stairs in front of the building, when the ground level in front of the City Hall was raised to the level of the main entrance. To see photographs of Albert Square, which pre-date King George Square in its present form, check the photos [1] and [2] — when Albert Square was redeveloped into King George Square, the existing fountain at Albert Square was relocated to Wynnum [3]

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 [4] 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 sculptured Pediment above the portico and entrance was carved by noted Brisbane sculptor Daphne Mayo in the early 1930s. There is some controversy surrounding the theme of the sculpture, which depicts the progress of civilisation. The gown-clad female figure in the centre depicts "progress" or "enlightenment", while settlers with their cattle and explorers with their horses, move out from under her protecting arms to claim the land from the indigenous people, who are represented by an aboriginal male crouching in the left hand corner and two aboriginal figures moving away in the right hand corner.

The bronze Lion sculptures, in front of the King George Square façade of Brisbane City Hall, were initially part of the King George V memorial, which was unveiled in 1938 as a tribute to the King from the citizens of Brisbane.

[edit] Trivia

The Brisbane City Hall was the most expensive building in Australia until the completion of the Sydney Opera House in 1971.

[edit] Additional photos of Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane City Hall

An older image of Brisbane City Hall and King George Square

Brisbane City Hall foyer

Foyer and Staircase at the Brisbane City Hall

Museum of Brisbane at Brisbane City Hall

Foyer and Museum of Brisbane at Brisbane City Hall

Statue of King George V at Brisbane City Hall

Statue of King George V and the French Flag on Brisbane City Hall

Lion sculpture at the entrance to the City Hall (Ann Street side)

Lion sculpture at the entrance to the City Hall

Lion sculpture at the entrance to the City Hall (Adelaide Street side)

Pediment above the King George Square entrance portico

Brisbane City Hall's 1920 foundation stone

Brisbane City Hall's 1930 foundation stone

King George Square's bronzes removed during redevelopment work

Brisbane City Hall's facade lit up at night

[edit] External links