Art Deco Canberra
Australia's national Capital is not typically associated with Art Deco architecture, nonetheless this planned city of around 300,000 inhabitants which was designed by Walter Burley Griffin and built commencing in the 1920s does possess some noteworthy examples of the style.
Foremost amongst these is the Byzantine and Egyptian-influenced Australian War Memorial. Designed by Sydney architects Emil Sodersten and John Crust in 1927 it is an expression of the stripped-back classicist style of modernism often favoured for public buildings of the period.
The form and massing of the central Hall of Memory is certainly a precursor to C. Bruce Dellit's 1932 ANZAC War Memorial in Sydney, although here the building's cruciform footprint is significantly extended in scale to create a peristyle arcade and several large wings housing an extensive museum, gallery and research facility.
M. Napier Waller designed the emphatically Deco stained glass windows and the 6-million tile floor-to-ceiling glass mosaic which adorn the interior of the Hall of Memory.
A good number of other Art Deco influenced government buildings, public facilities and places of worship were also constructed in Canberra during the 1930s and 40s, and we will be progressively making available images of these on this page in the coming months.
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Australian War Memorial - Anzac Parade, Campbell
Patents Office - National Circuit, Barton
Patents Office - National Circuit, Barton
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