Brisbane City Hall

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.

Foundation

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.

Design

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 between 10am and 3pm 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 centre of City Hall features a stunning auditorium, based on the Pantheon, Rome, 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 auditorium. 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.

1960s 1970s

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. Until the opening of the new Brisbane Square in December 2006, the City Hall continued to house the office of the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, which was previously located on the first level of the King George Square side of the building. The Council Chambers (located on the Adelaide Street side of the building), and councillors' offices, remain however in City Hall.

1980s 1990s 2000s

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.

King George Square

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 [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23478002] and [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23208124] — when Albert Square was redeveloped into King George Square, the existing fountain at Albert Square was relocated to Wynnum [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
]

Construction Materials

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 [http://www.jhwagner.com.au/product.htm] 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.

Notable Works

The sculptured Pediment above the portico and entrance, known as the tympanum, was carved by noted Brisbane sculptor Daphne Mayo in the early 1930s. There is some controversy surrounding the theme of the tympanum, which depicts the progress of civilisation in the State of Queensland. 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 and native animals, who are represented by two aboriginal males crouching in the left hand corner, and a fleeing kangaroo. To the right corner one can see a young European male and female, adjoined by a sheep and a row of books and an artist's palette representing the new European nation, agriculture and civilisation.

The bronze Lion sculptures and statue of King George V, 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. Since 2007, the lions, modelled on the bronze lions of Trafalgar Square, London, and the statue, have been removed for renovations to the Square. It is not known if they will be re-incorporated into the new redeveloped King George Square in 2009.

An accompanying bronze work to complement the King George V pediment sculpture, based on the life of the pioneering Brisbane family, the Petrie's (famously of Brisbane's First Mayor John Petrie), known as the Petrie Tableau, also has been removed due to renovations at the square.

Forme del Mito, a collection of large bronze thematic sculptured works by renowned Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, one of the more prominent works of art collected for and displayed at Brisbane's World Expo '88, previously took pride of place in King George Square. Also since 2007 they have been removed for renovations to the Square. The future location of the works is unknown.

2008/2009 Developments

King George Square, in front of the Brisbane City Hall, is currently undergoing refurbishment for a new development to be opened in September 2009, for the 150th Anniversary of Brisbane as State Capital of Queensland, including a new re-modelled public plaza, restaurants, gift shops, and a stage.

It is also the site of the new underground King George Square Busway Station, linking the Queen Street Bus Station with the Roma Street Station and the northern suburbs.

Additional photos of Brisbane City Hall

External links

* [http://pictureaustralia.org/apps/pictureaustralia PictureAustralia] - photos include the laying of the foundation stone for the Brisbane City Hall in July, 1920
* [http://enc.slq.qld.gov.au/logicrouter/servlet/LogicRouter?PAGE=object&OUTPUTXSL=object_enc36ui.xslt&pm_RC=PICTQLD&pm_OI=39571&pm_GT=Y&pm_IAC=Y&api_1=GET_OBJECT_XML&num_result=16 Brisbane Town Hall and the Bank of New South Wales, October 1957] .Image held and digitised by the State Library of Queensland - image 6873-0001-0002
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an23478017 Digital Collections, National Library of Australia] Frank Hurley's photograph of Daphne Mayo's statuary group, framed by the tympanum of Brisbane City Hall
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200411/s1247876.htm ABC News Online] November 2004 article about the Brisbane City Hall tympanum sculpture group
* [http://elibcat.library.brisbane.qld.gov.au/uhtbin/hyperion-image/BCC-T120-94615 Brisbane City Council e-Library Catalogue (elibcat)image BCC-T120-94615] 1994 aerial view of Brisbane City Hall and King George Square looking south along Albert Street.
* [http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/677262/an/0/page/0#677262 Google Earth placemark] showing location of the Camp Mountain granite quarry. ( [http://download3dearth.googlepages.com/english Google Earth] is needed to view this placemark.)