Constructing Town Hall House

Angular, geometric, sculptural and soaring, Town Hall House is a statement piece of Brutalist architecture.

It was built in the late 1970s and designed by Ken Woolley from the firm Ancher, Mortlock and Woolley for the City of Sydney Council.

Town Hall House maintains a strong architectural presence in inner Sydney and for many it has become a landmark building. Considered unattractive by some and important by others, the commanding 25 level skyscraper provides an incredible array of uses in 1970s style.

Presented in Town Hall House, this talk by assistant curator Rebecca Anderson will take the audience through the development of the fascinating building, sharing some of the building’s most interesting aspects.

The recently unearthed original architectural model of Town Hall House presented by Ancher, Mortlock and Woolley to the City of Sydney Council in the 1970s will also be shared. This incredible scale model sheds new light on the architect’s vision for the building and its relationship with the grand Victorian Second Empire style of Sydney Town Hall, to which it is connected.

Rebecca Anderson is assistant curator at the City of Sydney. Along with curator Margaret Betteridge, she manages the civic collection of art, furnishings, memorabilia.