Month: December 2018

Adaptive Re-use · Aesthetics · Anzac · Architecture · Art · Attachment to place · Community identity · Convicts · Cultural Heritage · Cultural icon · Electricity · First World War · Heritage · Historical thinking · History · Interwar · Memorials · Memory · Modernism · Monuments · Newcastle · Place making · Second World War · Sense of place · Streetscapes · Town planning · Urban Planning · Urbanism · War

Newcastle modernism delights

camdenhistorynotes

Delights of Newcastle modernism

The CHN blogger has been out and about recently looking around the Civic Park precinct of  Newcastle in the Laman and Auckland Street quarters.

Newcastle is a city of contrasts starting out as a penal settlement in 1801 known as King’s Town  and now  a thriving port with one of the world’s largest coal loaders, located in one of the world’s busiest coal loading ports.

Yet hidden amongst former warehouses and port facilities are some architectural delights in the city centre. Just to prove that what is old is new again in Hunter Street, the city centre’s main roadway spine, that are trams again after an absence of over 60 years.

The city has escaped the high-rise buildings which are the way of Sydney and Melbourne so far because former coal mines undermine the city centre and have provided challenges for modern development.

The city of Newcastle has a number of buildings that are influenced by modernism, some from the interwar period while there others from the mid-20th century.

The CHN blogger’s eyes by capture by a number of  architectural gems starting with the War Memorial Cultural Centre which houses the city library, then NESCA House,  Northumberland House and the façade of the former Salvation Army Men’s Hostel building at the corner Auckland and Gibson Streets, all now part of the University of Newcastle.

 

War Memorial Cultural Centre

Newcastle War Memorial Cultural Centre Library 2018
The image shows the front of the Newcastle War Memorial Cultural Centre opened in 1957 and  originally home to the city’s library, art gallery and conservatorium of music. The facade is influenced by post-war functionalism and is part of mid-20th century modernism. Designed by NEWMEC consortium of Newcastle architects and built by F Doran and Sons. The centre was part of the post-war vision for a civic square adjacent to the town hall precinct. A number of mature fig trees were removed in Laman Street in early 2000s to public protests. It is currently occupied by the Newcastle Public Library. (I Willis, 2018)

 

NESCA House

Newcastle Nesca House 2018
This is the front entrance of the 1939 Art Deco style NESCA House. The building was the head office of the Newcastle Electric Supply Council Authority which supplied electricity to the Newcastle town area. Designed by eminent Sydney architect Emil Sodersteen – who also designed the Australian War Memorial – and fellow architect John Crust. Sodersteen and Crust were influenced by the ‘new streamlined functionalism’ of European architects. The building was purchased by the University of Newcastle in 1992 and is now known as University House. (I Willis, 2018)

 

 

Northumberland House

Newcastle Northumberland House 2018
This images shows the front of Northumberland House in Auckland Street Newcastle. This is a classical-style entrance portico of a building that is part of architectural style of the mid-20th century modernism. Built in 1951 by prominent Newcastle building JC Davis & Sons and designed by F.G.D. Stone (Chief County Planner)/Rodd and Hay. The building was the head office for the 1948 town planning scheme for the Northumberland County Council modelled on British town planning principles. The building is now part of the University of Newcastle Watt Space Gallery. (I Willis, 2018)

 

Salvation Army Men’s Hostel Facade

Newcastle Conservatorium Rear Facade 2018
This image shows the rear facade of the building at the corner of Auckland and Gibson Street Newcastle. The building was the former Salvation Army Men’s Hostel or People’s Palace which opened in 1928 replacing Lucerna’s terraced gardens. Lucerna was a gentleman’s town residence for Thomas Cook, a wealthy Upper Hunter squatter of Turanville. This site is now the rear of the University of Newcastle Conservatorium of music building. (I Willis, 2018)