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Northbourne Avenue, Canberra’s gateway, is in a state of flux. It looks entirely different than it did 10 years ago as building after building has been toppled to make way for flashy offices or apartments. But look closely and there are still many hidden treasures that tell Canberra’s history, architect Shannon Battisson says. One example is Churchill House, which sits quietly on Northbourne Avenue, often unnoticed, but for Ms Battisson it’s one of the capital’s most important buildings and a place she goes to reflect. Churchill House was one of the first brutalist buildings in Canberra. It is characterised by striking concrete beams and is set around a pond. “It shows brutalist architecture at its absolute best,” Ms Battisson said. “And the play with the pond in the middle… it’s a really wonderful space and it’s a really generous thing to give a commercial building. “It’s somewhere I have walked on numerous occasions to watch the light shift across the facade… they change through the day so the chance to get to walk around it at different times is one I’ll never miss.” Churchill House was finished in 1972 and was built for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia. It was designed by renowned Australian architect Robin Boyd and was his last major commission. Boyd never got to see the building completed as he died in 1971. In recent years it has been used as offices. There was a push to heritage list the building but in 2018 the ACT Heritage Council decided it was not eligible. There have been talks to demolish Churchill House but more recently office space in the building has been advertised for rent, which has sparked hope the building may stick around a bit longer. But the building is not in a good state. The pond, once a centrepiece with waterlilies and eels is now mulch, dirt and overgrowth. Ms Battisson, the Australian Institute of Architects ACT chapter president, said the nation’s capital is losing its history as too many “really special” buildings are being demolished. “As a city we’re losing, in my opinion, too many of those really special buildings that could have been adapted for a new life and at a time where our climate is screaming out for attention we shouldn’t be so quick to demolish buildings,” she said. READ MORE: Ms Battisson has been a vocal critic of the $500 million War Memorial development and was “bitterly disappointed” when the federal government gave its support to the demolition of Anzac Hall. Ms Battisson said it would be good to see Churchill House be re-adapted. “Churchill House, yes it’s on a prime spot but that gives it a really wonderful opportunity to do something special and keep part of that building, consider how it might be re-used in a different way,” she said. “Northbourne Avenue is crying out for more life and more people around it and so I would look for a way that we could get more people and more activation of the site whilst respecting the beauty that is the building itself. “Canberra has this immense architectural legacy and we’re really quick to diminish it and to not heritage list these buildings. I think this one is a real opportunity for us to grow and look at what we have got here before it’s too late.”
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Northbourne Avenue, Canberra’s gateway, is in a state of flux. It looks entirely different than it did 10 years ago as building after building has been toppled to make way for flashy offices or apartments.
But look closely and there are still many hidden treasures that tell Canberra’s history, architect Shannon Battisson says.
One example is Churchill House, which sits quietly on Northbourne Avenue, often unnoticed, but for Ms Battisson it’s one of the capital’s most important buildings and a place she goes to reflect.
Churchill House was one of the first brutalist buildings in Canberra. It is characterised by striking concrete beams and is set around a pond.
“It shows brutalist architecture at its absolute best,” Ms Battisson said.
“And the play with the pond in the middle… it’s a really wonderful space and it’s a really generous thing to give a commercial building.
“It’s somewhere I have walked on numerous occasions to watch the light shift across the facade… they change through the day so the chance to get to walk around it at different times is one I’ll never miss.”
Churchill House was finished in 1972 and was built for the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust of Australia. It was designed by renowned Australian architect Robin Boyd and was his last major commission. Boyd never got to see the building completed as he died in 1971.
In recent years it has been used as offices. There was a push to heritage list the building but in 2018 the ACT Heritage Council decided it was not eligible.
Shannon Battisson said she feared for the building’s future as an attempt to heritage-list the building failed. Picture: Elesa Kurtz
There have been talks to demolish Churchill House but more recently office space in the building has been advertised for rent, which has sparked hope the building may stick around a bit longer.
But the building is not in a good state. The pond, once a centrepiece with waterlilies and eels is now mulch, dirt and overgrowth.
Ms Battisson, the Australian Institute of Architects ACT chapter president, said the nation’s capital is losing its history as too many “really special” buildings are being demolished.
“As a city we’re losing, in my opinion, too many of those really special buildings that could have been adapted for a new life and at a time where our climate is screaming out for attention we shouldn’t be so quick to demolish buildings,” she said.
Ms Battisson said it would be good to see Churchill House be re-adapted.
“Churchill House, yes it’s on a prime spot but that gives it a really wonderful opportunity to do something special and keep part of that building, consider how it might be re-used in a different way,” she said.
“Northbourne Avenue is crying out for more life and more people around it and so I would look for a way that we could get more people and more activation of the site whilst respecting the beauty that is the building itself.
“Canberra has this immense architectural legacy and we’re really quick to diminish it and to not heritage list these buildings. I think this one is a real opportunity for us to grow and look at what we have got here before it’s too late.”
- This article is part of a series that looks at the favourite buildings of Canberra architects.
