The State Office Block was a landmark modernist skyscraper complex on a block bounded by

Phillip Street Phillip Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. While the street runs from King Street in the south to Circular Quay in the north, the present street is effectively in two sections, separ ...

, Bent Street and Macquarie Street in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...

of Sydney. Completed in 1965 and designed in the modernist International style by

Ken Woolley Kenneth Frank Charles Woolley, AM B Arch, Hon DSc Arch Sydney LFRAIA, FTSE, Architect, (29 May 1933 – 25 November 2015) was an Australian architect. In a career spanning 60 years, he is best known for his contributions to project housing wit ...

from the NSW Government Architect's Office, the 128-metre-high building (known colloquially as the "Black Stump") took the title of the tallest building in Australia from the nearby AMP Building until 1967, when

Harry Seidler Harry Seidler (25 June 19239 March 2006) was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauh ...

's 170m

Australia Square Australia Square Tower is an office and retail complex in the central business district of Sydney. Its main address is 264 George Street, and the Square is bounded on the northern side by Bond Street, eastern side by Pitt Street and southern s ...

tower was completed. Designed to hold offices of the NSW Government, including the cabinet and the Premier's office, the State Office Block was demolished in 1997 to make way for

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ...

Aurora Place Aurora Place is a commercial skyscraper and residential block on Phillip Street in Sydney, Australia. Designed by Renzo Piano, the 41-storey building stands at a height of high to the top of the spire and to the roof. The building has an u ...

development.

History

The State Government Office Block was the culmination of a much grander and ambitious plan by the NSW Government of

Bob Heffron Robert James Heffron (10 September 189027 July 1978), also known as Bob Heffron or R. J. Heffron, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, union organiser and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1959 to 1964. Born in New Zealand ...

to remodel and redevelop Macquarie Street and Parliament House into a grand modernist-style government precinct, including several new office towers for the state government. This however, never eventuated, and by early 1961 this scheme had been substantially reduced to comprise the State Office Block on the Bent Street/Macquarie Street block occupied by the government-owned 1870s Government Printing Office building and the 1820s

Australian Subscription Library The Australian Subscription Library was the first library to exist outside of private collections in Australia. Started in 1826 as the 'Sydney Australian Subscription Library and Reading Room' it shortened its name to the 'Australian Subscription ...

, with a final design at 400-feet-high approved by the Height of Buildings Committee in January 1961. In 1962 the government called for tenders for the new office block to hold government offices, on the block bounded by

, Bent Street and Macquarie Street. This contract was subsequently won in November 1962 by Perini Australia to a cost of £5,761,266, being the largest architectural contract entered into by the Department of Public Works at the time. The NSW Government Architect's Office's

designed a 38-floor tower of composite concrete and steel with deep window recesses clad in black granite. Woolley's design accounted for the sun-exposure for such a tall building by including measures such as floor slabs projecting beyond the window line to make sunhoods, which were clad in bronze sheeting. Woolley also designed the interiors which were influenced by Scandinavian modernism exemplified by the use of modular furniture. The lift lobby leading for the Premier's office floor was decorated by a double-sided oxidised bronze

Coat of Arms of New South Wales A coat typically is an outer garment for the upper body as worn by either gender for warmth or fashion. Coats typically have long sleeves and are open down the front and closing by means of buttons, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, toggles, a ...

by sculptor

Bert Flugelman Herbert Flugelman (28 January 1923 – 26 February 2013), usually known as Bert, was a prominent Australian visual artist, primarily a sculptor, who had many of his works publicly displayed. He is known for his stainless steel geometric public ...

. The building was completed at a total cost of over

A£ The pound (Sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. As with other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s ...

7 million. The office of the Premier moved into the building from the old

Treasury Building A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be State ownership, state or royal property, churc ...

, and State Cabinet meetings were held in the top-floor cabinet room. The State Office Block was the first major office building erected for the NSW Public Service since 1927 and provided accommodation for six departments: the Premiers Department, The Treasury and the departments of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-lo ...

, mines and public works. The building was topped out in 1965 and was officially opened on 18 September 1967 by Premier

Bob Askin Sir Robert William Askin, GCMG (4 April 1907 – 9 September 1981), was an Australian politician and the 32nd Premier of New South Wales from 1965 to 1975, the first representing the Liberal Party. He was born in 1907 as Robin William Askin, but ...

Demolition

By the late 1980s the office block remained in use, but discussion over its future began when government policy shifted to leasing rather than owning office space. In 1987 Premier

Barrie Unsworth Barrie John Unsworth (born 16 April 1934) is a former Australian politician, representing the Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988. Early years Unswort ...

raised the potential of state-owned CBD buildings being sold and converted to hotels to increase tourist accommodation in the city and dismissed suggestions that the State Office Block be retained, saying: "We will always retain the heritage buildings but there is no real reason why we should retain the State Office Block". The State Office Block nevertheless survived into the 1990s, with heated discussion continuing over its future, but it was "considered old enough to be outdated, yet too young to be of heritage value" and was sold to

Lendlease Lendlease is a globally integrated real estate company that creates and invests in communities, workplaces, retail, and infrastructure projects, headquartered in Barangaroo, New South Wales, Australia. History Founding The company was estab ...

for demolition in 1996, to be replaced by the

-designed

. Lendlease noted that the government sold the complex in full knowledge of company's desire to demolish and that the State Office Block was full of asbestos, was not energy efficient and the air conditioning system was outdated and required extensive replacing. Ken Woolley, who had led a bid to have the existing building converted into a hotel, advocated in vain for its conservation, noting in a letter to the '' Sydney Morning Herald'' in August 1996: In a similar vein, prominent heritage architect

Clive Lucas Clive Leslie Lucas (born 14 November 1943) is an Australian restoration architect and was once the principal and founding partner of the firm Clive Lucas, Stapleton & Partners – Architects and Heritage Consultants now known as Lucas Stapleton ...

decried the "tragedy" that "quality development seems only to take place where excellence already exists. The State Office is a building of great distinction and it is not really satisfactory to justify its demise by getting an international architect to design a better building for the site." By contrast, the ''Herald's'' architecture critic, Anne Susskind, praised the choice of Piano expressing that his appointment was "a welcome break from the awful sameness in design to which Sydney has been subject." On the opening of Aurora Place in November 2000, an article in the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' recognised the contention over the State Office Block's demolition, noting that many architects deplored its demolition and quoting architecture Professor

James Weirick Professor James Weirick is an Australian academic who was the Director of the Master of Urban Development and Design (MUDD) program at the University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, i ...

lamenting that it was "very unfortunate they demolished the State Office Block, which was a very fine building of the 1960s, one of the great achievements of the Government Architect's office." However a later review a few years later observed that while "there were murmurings in architectural circles" against its demolition, there was "little discernible public disquiet at the loss of the 'Black Stump'". A sculpture by

Margel Hinder Margel Ina Harris Hinder (4 January 1906, Brooklyn, New York – 29 May 1995, Roseville, New South Wales) was an Australian-American modernist sculptor, noted for her kinetic and public sculptural works. Her sculptures are found outside the Aus ...

, "Growth Forms" (1959), that had been placed in the forecourt of the Office Block in 1980 when its original site was demolished, was again moved as a result of demolition, and is now on display in the

UTS Tower UTS Building 1, also known as the UTS Tower, is prominent landmark on Broadway at the southern gateway to Sydney's central business district. Many of the administrative units of the University of Technology, Sydney are located across the buildin ...

following acquisition by the university and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

References

External links

{{coord, -33.8650, 151.2121, type:landmark_region:AU-NSW, display=title Skyscrapers in Sydney Government buildings completed in 1965 Office buildings completed in 1965 Office buildings in Sydney Skyscraper office buildings in Australia 1965 establishments in Australia Modernist architecture in Australia International Style (architecture) Buildings and structures demolished in 1997 Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney Former buildings and structures in Sydney Former skyscrapers

History

Demolition

See also

References

External links