Figures 1-3: Own Photography
The St Leonards Centre Crows Nest
“[B]eauty belongs to the sphere of the simple, the ordinary, whilst ugliness is something extraordinary, and there is no question but that every ardent imagination prefers in lubricity, the extraordinary to the commonplace.”1 On the corner of Clarke and Oxley Streets in Crows Nest, sits one of the most striking – and possibly one of the most forgotten – examples of Brutalism in Sydney. The St Leonards Centre, or what is now known as the Oxley Centre, is located within a kilometer of St Leonards station, on the outskirts of Crows Nest town centre. In recent years, the area has seen a massive boom in multi-storey commercial and residential development that has drastically altered the area. The building, however, sits in an area relatively untouched by the recent expansion of development on the Lower North Shore, and is surrounded by other buildings from its time. To this day, The St Leonards Centre remains as one of the most striking outstanding examples of Brutalism in Sydney; its emphasis on functionality is part of its success as an office and commercial space. As one of the most influential and defining architectural movements of the twentieth century, the New Brutalist movement (or simply ‘Brutalism’) has had a lasting impact upon Sydney. The height of the New Brutalist movement coincided with a massive expansion of the Australian economy that saw Universities playing a larger role in society, as well as an emergence of the service sector as one of the nations largest employers. The movement ‘emerged in a post-war society that saw the need for “social” infrastructure’, and has had a 1 Marquis de Sade, 120 Days of Sodom, (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, 2008), 34.
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large impact on university campuses such as Macquarie University, Sydney 2 University’s Darlington Campus, and the University of Technology. During the 1960s, Sydney was undergoing a post-war boom that led to denser development in the Central Business District along with soaring property prices. The comparatively low land prices on the Lower North Shore encouraged many companies to locate or relocate their head offices to the burgeon3 ing commercial districts of North Sydney and St Leonards-Crows Nest. The development of the Lower North Shore, and North Sydney in particular, as an alternative business and commercial district to Sydney’s CBD was reinforced by Sydney Region Outline Plan of 1968. The plan was designed to address the postwar growth that Sydney had already experienced up until the late sixties, that was ‘double that predicted by the [earlier] County of Cumberland Plan’, as well as the exponential growth that Sydney was to face in the following 30 4 years. The plan highlighted the need to reinforce existing suburban commercial centres such as North Sydney and Parramatta as well as the need to estab5 lish new centres such as St Leonards and Hornsby. St Leonards is now the location of a large number of global technology brands regional head offices such as IBM and Akai. The area now plays a major role as both a commercial 6 and residential vicinity in Sydney’s global corridor. The thirty years following the end of the second world were an incredibly transformational period for Australia. In this time Australia’s population of 7.5 million increased to 13 million as a large number of refuges and migrants came to call Australia home. 7 In the decade between 1960 and 1970, the population of Sydney alone increased from 3.8 million to 4.5 million 8, largely due to an increase in immigration. 9 The nation was also experiencing a massive expansion of the economy with the highest ever GDP growth of 9% occurring in 2 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture: a critical history, 3rd ed. (London: Thames and Hudson, 1992), 265. 3 Leone Masson, “North Sydney”, Dictionary of Sydney. Accessed 18 October 2015. http://dictionaryofsydney.org/
entry/north_sydney. 4 Lachlan Abercrombie, Metropolitan Planning for Sydney 1948-1988: Looking to the Past to Learn for the Future (Sydney: Faculty of the Built Environment UNSW, 2008): 58. 5 Lachlan Abercrombie, Metropolitan Planning for Sydney 1948-1988: 67. 6 Australia.gov.au, “The Changing Face of Australia – 1950s to 1970s”, Australia.gov.au. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/changing-face-of-modern-australia-1950s-to-1970s. 7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, “1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 2012: Population Size and Growth”, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0~2012~Main%20Features~Population%20size%20and%20growth~47 8 Australia’s average migration program intake was 140, 300 in the 1960s and 95, 311 in the 1970s Elsa Koleth, “Population Issues for Sydney and NSW: Policy Frameworks and Responses”, New South Wales Parliamentary Research Service, 5/2011 (2011): 9. 9 Trading Economics, “Australia GDP Annual Growth Rate: 1960 – 2015”, Trading Economics. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/gdp-growth-annual.
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1968. 10 As one of Australia’s largest banks, the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney (CBC) took the opportunity to invest in emerging computer technology to relieve ‘man of repetitious and tedious tasks’ such as ‘checking and rechecking, and the storing of massive records.’ 11 The St Leonards Centre, designed by Geoff Malone of Kerr & Smith Architects in 1973, represents the culmination of an idea that defined both the exterior and the interior of the building. The St Leonards centre was designed, in what was referred to as ‘clerical revolution’, where the growing demand for banking services and all the related tasks, such as filing and paper work, would have a large impact on the bank’s, and on their investor’s, ability to make a profit. Designed to incorporate a state-of-the-art computer system, and all of the related technology to maintain that system, The St Leonards Centre represents a vision into the future through the lens of one of Australia’s largest and most successful banks. 12 The St Leonards Centre was designed to accommodate a computer system that would revolutionise internal operations and customer service in the branch as well as a network of over 100 branches in the first eighteen months. The computer system would allow staff to retrieve and update a customer’s records almost instantaneously, lessening the need to employ staff to maintain extensive filing systems. Each level of the building was designed specifically for its purpose: the ground level (level 5) was designed to accommodate the provision CBC services for their customers; the proofs department, in charge of sorting collateral such as cheques and entering the information into the computer system, was located on level 6; the systems division was located on level 7; level 8 was the location of the heavily guarded computer room and associated services as well as some offices; levels 9 and 10 were for services dedicated to controlling the climate of the computer room and other services in the building. Level 9 also contained ‘staff amenities’ such as a ‘dining room and lounge, executive dining room, kitchen, landscaped courtyard’ and a bubbling pool ‘to provide an area for relaxation from the hectic pace of the working day’.13 10 CBC Officers Club Inc, “Automation”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.cbcbank.com.au/images/Matters%20of%20Interest/Automation/automation.htm. 11 As of the 31/03/82, CBC had a total of 533 branches and almost 7000 employees. CBC Officers Club Inc, “Branches”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.cbcbank.com.au/images/Branches/branches.htm. 12 CBC Officers Club Inc, “Automation”. 13 N.S.W. Office of Planning & Environment, “St Leonards Centre”, N.S.W. Office of Planning & Environment, Accessed 15 October 2015, http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2181335.
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The St Leonards Centre, now heritage listed, is a striking, but challenging, example of Brutalism. 14 The New Brutalist movement is often portrayed as a reaction to a ‘landscape laid waste by war, decay and disease’ where materials are scarce and there is a desire among architects to be truthful to their materials. 15 Australian Brutalism, although influenced by the New Brutalist movement in the United Kingdom, focused more on ‘methodologies and styles, rather than Smithson-inspired philosophical expressions’. 15 Australian Brutalism went beyond the standard influence from the United Kingdom to ‘encompass Le Corbusier and the Japanese Metabolist movement’.16 The design of the St Leonards Centre encompasses both ideas and ideals based around its function as both a branch and the home to CBCs computer system. The building also reflects an enthusiasm for architecture’s role in a technology and service-based society. Although the architectural expressions used to design and construct the St Leonards Centre were not widely used, they Figure 4: View from Cnr Clarke and Albany Streets. were not unique to the building. The building resembles a home constructed in the same year by the same architect, Geoff Malone. Malone House in Castlecrag features fluted columns and formal axial plains, similar to those used in the St Leonards Centre, used to house the building’s functions and services. Both the St Leonards Centre and Malone House earned Malone Australian Institute of Architecture Merit Awards in 1973.17 Currently, St Leonards Centre, or what is known as ‘Oxley Centre’, is used as by a variety of tenants requiring a variety of different functions. The open plan nature of the building has allowed the floor plans to be altered regularly, suiting 14 Frampton, p. 265. 15 Michael Bogle, “Beauty of the Beast”, Architecture Bulletin Mar-Apr (2012): 10. 16 Glenn Harper, “Concrete Poetry”, Architecture Bulletin Mar-Apr (2012): 12 17 The St Leonards Centre won a Category A award for its ‘intriguing presence’, and Malone House won a Category B award for its ‘boldness of expression’. Royal Australian Institute of Architects, ‘Architecture in Australia’, Vol. 62, No. 6 (1973), 92-94
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Figure 5: Computer room, 1973.
the needs of changing tenants. According to a current tenant, ‘the upper levels are light and spacious, well equipped for the open plan studio arrangement’ that many offices and firms are seeking in the twenty-first century. The building’s location and floor space will ensure that it meets the needs of businesses in the St Leonards-Crows Nest area well into the future. In my personal opinion, the building is a remnant of an era fascinated with the role of technology in society. As one of the most striking examples of Brutalism in Sydney, measures must be made to ensure that the integrity of the building is maintained well into the future. The St Leonards Centre is among the most intriguing, absurd and undervalued buildings in Sydney, if not Australia as a whole. It captures both an era fascinated both by new technology and its implications on everyday life, but also the emergence of Australia both as an independent and economically competitive nation on the global stage. The Commercial Banking Company of Sydney’s role in the design of the building shows a great concern for their investment in technology, innovative and interesting architecture, and their workforce. Although the building only functioned as it was designed for eight years, the decision to remove services from the core of the building, opening up floor space and maximising light, has contributed to the building’s success as both office and commercial space in the twenty-first century.
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Figure 6: St Leonards Centre, viewed from Oxley Street.
Figure 7: Cover of pamphlet designed for the opening of the St Leonards Centre.
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LETTABLE AREA PLAN FOR LEVEL 7, 28 CLARKE STREET, CROWS NEST, NSW
INT
INT
G/L
FIRE STAIRS
G/L
INT
INT
INT
DUCT 0.9 m² (EXCLUDED)
EXT
CORRIDOR 20.0 m² (EXCLUDED)
INT INT
LIFT LOBBY
SCHEDULE OF AREAS
G/L
INT
INT
EXT
INT
INT
G/L
SUITE 7.01 SUITE 7.02 TOTAL AREA
PLANT
PLANT
INT
SUITE 7.01
SUITE 7.02
INT
METHOD OF MEASUREMENT
C/L
INT
LETTABLE AREA
OFFICE 351.8 m²
OFFICE 202.0 m²
351.8 m² 202.0 m² 553.8 m²
AREAS HAVE BEEN CALCULATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPERTY COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA (PCA) METHOD OF MEASUREMENT FOR LETTABLE AREA (MARCH 1997)
NET LETTABLE AREA
PLANT
PLANT
(SURVEY DATE 17/09/2012)
GUIDELINES USED
EXT
EXT
CORRIDOR 46.0 m² (EXCLUDED)
INT
INT
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FEMALE
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MALE
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- INTERNAL FACE - EXTERNAL FACE - CENTRELINE WALL - GLASS LINE
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SCALE 1 : 150
PLAN PREPARED FOR:
NAPIER & BLAKELY SYDNEY
LETTABLE AREA PLAN LEVEL 7, 28 CLARKE STREET, CROWS NEST, NSW
DATE: 17/09/2012 REF: DRAWN:
42552 BB
SCALE: 1:150
@ A3
sydney REV: SHEET:
canberra
melbourne
brisbane
A
CHECKED:
7 of 9
adelaide
perth
P 02 9629 9377 F 02 9475 5050
CL
Real Estate Plans & Surveys
www.realserve.com.au
Figure 8: Current floor plans of level 7.
Figure 9: Floor Plan of Malone House
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Figure 10: Various rooms and interiors.
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References Abercrombie, Lachlan, Metropolitan Planning for Sydney 1948-1988: Looking
to the Past to Learn for the Future (Sydney: Faculty of the Built
Environment UNSW, 2008).
Australia.gov.au, “The Changing Face of Australia – 1950s to 1970s”,
Australia.gov.au. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.australia.gov.
au/about-australia/australian-story/changing-face-of-modern-australia- 1950s-to-1970s.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, “1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 2012:
Population Size and Growth”, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed
15 October 2015. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/
by%20Subject/1301.0~2012~Main%20Features~Population%20
size%20and%20growth~47. Bogle, Michael, “Beauty of the Beast”, Architecture Bulletin Mar-Apr (2012): 10.
CBC Officers Club Inc, “Automation”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing
Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney
Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.cbcbank.com.au/ images/Matters%20of%20Interest/Automation/automation.htm. Jarrod Haynes | 440173788
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Frampton, Kenneth, Modern Architecture: a critical history, 3rd ed. (London:
Thames and Hudson, 1992).
Harper, Glenn, “Concrete Poetry”, Architecture Bulletin Mar-Apr (2012): 12.
Koleth, Elsa, “Population Issues for Sydney and NSW: Policy Frameworks and Responses”, New South Wales Parliamentary Research Service, 5/2011
(2011): 9.
Masson, Leone, “North Sydney”, Dictionary of Sydney. Accessed 18 October
2015. http://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/north_sydney.
Royal Australian Institute of Architects, ‘Architecture in Australia’, Vol. 62,
No. 6 (1973).
de Sade, Marquis, 120 Days of Sodom, (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, 2008), 34. Trading Economics, “Australia GDP Annual Growth Rate: 1960 – 2015”,
Trading Economics. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www.trading
economics.com/australia/gdp-growth-annual.
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Images Figures 1 - 4: Own Images. Figure 5: From CBC Officers Club Inc, “S - Suburban”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www. cbcbank.com.au/images/Branches/NSW/Sydney%20Sub%20N-Z/syd ney_sub%20S.htm. Figure 6: Own Image Figure 7: From CBC Officers Club Inc, “S - Suburban”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www. cbcbank.com.au/images/Branches/NSW/Sydney%20Sub%20N-Z/syd ney_sub%20S.htm. Figure 8: Floor plan of St Leonards Centre provided by Dylan Caroll, Property Manager Prosper Group Figure 9: Floor plan of Malone House provided by Dr. Noni Boyd, Heritage Officer Australian Institute of Architects. Figure 10: From CBC Officers Club Inc, “S - Automation”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www. cbcbank.com.au/images/Matters%20of%20Interest/Automation/auto mation.htm. Figure 11: From CBC Officers Club Inc, “S - Suburban”, CBC Officers Club Inc.: representing Officers and families of the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Limited. Accessed 15 October 2015. http://www. cbcbank.com.au/images/Branches/NSW/Sydney%20Sub%20N-Z/syd
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Acknowledgements I would like to express my graditude towards Dr Noni Boyd, Tony Brasill, Dylan Caroll and Vicki van Dijk for assisting me with research into the St Leonards Centre.
Figure 11: Cover of the Commerical Banking Company’s 1973 annual report.
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