City Centre, Australian Capital Territory

Infobox Australian Place | type = suburb
name = City Centre
state = act
city = Canberra


caption = Civic from Mt Ainslie with Black Mountain in the background. The height of buildings in the City Centre is deliberately restricted
lga = North Canberra
postcode = 2601
est = 1928
propval = $320,000
pop = 1,413 (2001 census)
ACTgov = Molonglo
fedgov = Fraser
near-nw = Turner
near-n = Braddon
near-ne = Braddon
near-e = Acton
near-w = Reid
near-sw = Yarralumla
near-s = "Lake Burley Griffin"
near-se = Parkes

City Centre or Civic (postcode: 2601) is the central business district of Canberra, Australia's capital city. The city centre was officially established in 1927. It was meant to be called Civic Centre from Walter Burley Griffin's plan with a corresponding "Market Centre" located at what is now Russell, but Prime Minister Stanley Bruce vetoed the idea and it became officially known as City Centre, and the idea of the "Market Centre" was abandoned. However, City Centre is still most commonly referred to as "Civic". The population of Civic on census night 2001 was 1,413 people.

Overview

Some of the earliest buildings constructed in Canberra were the Sydney and Melbourne buildings which flank Northbourne Avenue, the main road through Civic and the main entrance road into Canberra. The buildings house many shops, bars and restaurants, including Mooseheads on London Circuit, which is the longest established bar and night club in Civic, having opened in 1990. Fletcher Jones, a famous Australian clothing company, has operated its Canberra store in the Sydney building since 1962.

Civic has a three-storey shopping mall, the Canberra Centre, with David Jones, Myer and Target department stores located within it. Nearby is Glebe Park, a picturesque park near the centre of the city with elm trees and oaks from early European settlement before the city was founded. Civic also is home to the Canberra Theatre, Casino Canberra, Canberra Museum and Gallery, and the National Convention Centre.

Garema Place and City Walk are open areas of Civic for pedestrian traffic with many outdoor cafes. One of the longest running cafes in Civic is Gus's Cafe on Bunda Street.

Civic has a large bus terminal for ACTION, the ACT government-owned bus company. On the western side of Northbourne Avenue is the Jolimont Centre, which is the bus terminal for Greyhound Australia, Murrays and other national bus lines.

Unlike many cities, Canberra has very strict planning rules including height limits on buildings: the maximum height of the office tower blocks in Civic is 13 floors, giving Canberra a "small town feel" to many visitors.

History

Before the development of the city of Canberra, there was no clear commercial centre for the area, other than nearby Queanbeyan. Murray's store, considered the area's first retail store, operated from a house built in 1874 on the of St John the Baptist Church, within the present boundaries of Commonwealth Park, to the east of what is now Nerang Pool. It burnt down in 1923.

Griffin's plan separated the national centre, the administrative centre of the city, now the Parliamentary Triangle, from the civic centre, the principal commercial area. The commercial centre was planned to be on what Griffin described as the Municipal Axis which was projected to run north-west from Mount Pleasant. Variations from Griffin's plan that affect the city centre include the abandonment of a city railway and a reduction in the widths of some streets, including of London Circuit which was planned to be 200 feet and was reduced to 100 feet. Griffin's civic focus on Vernon Knoll, now known as City Hill, has not materialised mainly because of the way city building has progressed.cite book | | last = King | first = H.W.| editor = Edited by H.L. White | title = Canberra: A Nation's Capital | year = 1954 | publisher = Angus and Robertson, Sydney | pages = pages 209-220
chapter =Factors of Site and Plan ]

The first major buildings planned for the commercial centre were the Melbourne and Sydney Buildings. Construction began in 1926 [cite news
title=Building of Civic Centre
publisher=The Canberra Times
url=http://ndpbeta.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/1206913
date=1926-09-10
accessdate=2008-08-24] and they were finally completed in 1946. Up until the 1960s, Canberra shoppers found the retail environment frustrating. Many did their weekly shopping in Queanbyan, where the central business district was more compact. Major purchases were made in Sydney.cite web | last = Green | first = Stephanie | url = http://www.gormanhouse.com.au/info/history.php | title = Gorman House history | publisher = Gorman House Arts Centre | accessdate = 2006-05-16] In 1963, the Monaro Mall opened. It included a branch of the David Jones department store.Immediately after World War II, the Melbourne and Sydney buildings still comprised the main part of Civic and the Blue Moon Cafe was the only place to go for a meal apart from the Hotel Canberra and the Hotel Civic.

Notable buildings and urban spaces

Sydney and Melbourne Buildings

The Melbourne and Sydney buildings were based on design principles set by John Sulman in sketch form. The design work was finalised by J H Kirkpatrick. The buildings were the model which establish the colonnade principle, an important design element throughout Civic.cite web | url = http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/12980/heritageregister20032.pdf | title = 20032. Melbourne and Sydney Buildings | format = pdf | work = Entry to the ACT Heritage Register; Heritage Act 2004 | publisher = ACT Heritage Council | accessdate = 2006-05-16] From 1921 to 1924 Sulman was chairman of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee, and in that role was involved in the planning of Canberra and refining Griffin's plan.

Sulman's concept of arcaded loggias was derived from Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) and the cloisters of the 15th century Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze. The Mediterranean influence was maintained by Kirkpatrick with Roman roof tiles and cast embellishments such as roundels. The buildings were originally constructed with open first floor verandahs which have since largely been glazed in.

The Melbourne Building was sold sequentially as independent parcels from 1927 until 1946. The corner of West Row and London Circuit was built specifically for the Bank of New South Wales (now the Westpac Banking Corporation). The manager lived above the bank. Much of the Melbourne Building facing West Row was completed by the Commonwealth Government in 1946 and used as the location of the Commonwealth Employment Service. From 1944 to 1953, the Canberra University College was housed in the Melbourne building. On 11 April, 1953 the Melbourne Building was severely damaged by fire and the college relocated (it eventually became the Australian National University).

Hotel Civic

The Hotel Civic opened in 1935. It was constructed in an Art Deco style from Canberra Cream bricks. It was demolished in late 1984 through early 1985. [cite web | url = http://www.basis.act.gov.au/DUSLibrary/ImagesACT.nsf/3506a89b45287c52ca256abc000c49a8/3619baae734d515c4a256bcd001d76b4!OpenDocument | title = 60 tonne capacity excavator demolishes the Hotel Civic; photograph taken 30 January 1985 | Work = Image Library | publisher = ACT Heritage Library | accessdate = 2006-05-16] The hotel was on the corner of Alinga Street and the eastern side of Northbourne Avenue.

In 1965, the Hotel Civic was the scene of a protest about the segregation of women in the hotel:

... a protest where a number of us [including the interviewee Helen Jarvis] chained ourselves to the bar in the Hotel Civic. Women weren't allowed to be served in the public bar -- that was the law in both NSW and the ACT. We had to use the saloon bar or the ladies' bar, where prices were higher, or to huddle out the back around the old kegs. They were also morose places, at least at the Civic, which was the only pub near the university. The public bar had all the spirit. We chained ourselves to the public bar. The bartender wouldn't serve us, but there were some sympathetic men who bought drinks for us. The newspapers trivialised it, of course: they wrote it up with the headline, “Women breast the bar”. cite web | last = Cheng | first = Eva | year = | url = http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/1995/184/184p11.htm | title = Vietnam and the women's liberation movement | publisher = Green Left Weekly | accessdate = 2006-05-16]

Civic Square

Civic Square houses the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, Canberra Museum and Canberra Theatre, as well as many local cultural organisations, including the Canberra division of the National Trust of Australia.

Civic Square was designed by Yuncken and Freeman architects and completed in 1961. Fact|date=February 2008 Civic Square is sited within a primary axis of Griffin's design for Canberra which links City Hill and Mt Ainslie. Griffin intended that the square be the ‘heart of the city’. Civic Square is listed on the register of the National Estate. Fact|date=February 2008

The Canberra Theatre was opened in June 1965 with the Australian Ballet’s production of "Swan Lake". The old Playhouse, also from 1965, was demolished and rebuilt in 1998. As at 2007, the link between the theatre and the playhouse is being redeveloped. Fact|date=February 2008 The link will house the Civic library and theatre administration.

A sculpture of "Ethos" by Tom Bass was commissioned by the National Capital Development Commission in 1959 and unveiled in 1961. "The NCDC intended that the work would emphasize that Canberra is the non-political centre, the locale of commerce and of private enterprise in its best sense." The sculpture was designed to represent the spirit of the community. Bass interpreted this in the figure which he intended "the love which Canberra people have for their city to be identified with her...I want them to be conscious of her first as an image from a distance...then comes the moment when they become personally involved with her... they feel her looking at them, reflecting their love for the place".

The form of the work is highly symbolic. The figure is robed in a fabric richly embossed with emblems and figures representing the Community. The shallow saucer on which the figure stands represents Canberra's nick-name "Frosty Hollow". The saucer is 6 sided because the plan for Civic square is itself hexagonal. The surface of the saucer bears a relief map of Canberra and the rolling countryside around it. At the feet of Ethos are indentations that represent the lake that was later to fill the space between the Civic Centre and the administrative part of the city. The bursting sun she holds aloft is symbolic of culture and enlightenment which the presence of Canberra's University, its research organisations and the Diplomatic Corps and so on give to the city.

Bass regarded the work as his most important civic work. During the 1960s and 70s, pictures of the sculpture were frequently used in Canberra tourism images. [cite web | url = http://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/13669/heritageregister10007.pdf | title = 10007. Ethos statue | format = pdf | work = Entry to the ACT Heritage Register; Heritage Act 2004 | publisher = ACT Heritage Council | accessdate = 2006-05-16]

Canberra Centre

:"Main article: Canberra CentreCivic's major shopping mall is the Canberra Centre. Opened as the Monaro Mall in 1963, it was the first Australian three-storey, fully enclosed and air conditioned shopping centre. It was opened by the Prime Minister Robert Menzies. In 1989 it was substantially redeveloped and renamed the Canberra Centre. The revamp of the Canberra Centre was completed by late 2007, substantially adding to the diversity of retailers within it.

References

External links