Parliament House Vista Extension Portal Buildings, Anzac Parade, Parkes, ACT
Anzac Park East original entrance.
Source: Department of Finance, date unknown.
Finance ID
Number
DFD-61005 (East)
Commonwealth
Heritage List
(CHL) Place ID
Number
105474
Current Status
(including CHL
Place ID Number)
The Portal buildings, as an Extension of the Parliamentary Vista, are a listed
place on the Commonwealth Heritage List. The place ID is: 105474.
Ownership
The Portal Buildings are managed by the Department of Finance on behalf of the
Commonwealth.
Location
The Portal Buildings are isolated free standing buildings located adjacent to the
north side of Lake Burley Griffin, flanking ANZAC Parade between Constitution
Avenue and Parkes Way, Parkes and are included in the Parliamentary Triangle,
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
DFD-61006 (West)
Record last updated 15 January 2015
1
Anzac Park East is Block 1 Section 4, Parkes ACT and
ANZAC Park West is Block 7 Section 3, Parkes ACT.
Source: Google maps
Description
The Portal Buildings are almost mirror images in plan, scale, form and site layout
with the original primary entrances and addresses to Anzac Parade. A major
characteristic is their symmetry to the land axis. Both buildings sit in a park-like
landscape at the southern end of Anzac Parade and make an important
contribution to the vista along Anzac Parade. The buildings clearly articulate the
major junction of Anzac Parade and Parkes Avenue and illustrate the planned
concepts of Canberra of placing monumental buildings in a park-like landscape.
Each of the Portal Buildings were executed in the International Style of the early
1960s and reflect the Stripped Classical style employed in other urban
complexes at this time in Canberra.
Each building consists of two simple rectangular forms, Blocks 1 & 2, arranged
on a T-plan. Block(s) 2 is parallel to Constitution Avenue and Block(s) 1 is
parallel to Anzac Parade. The entrances are glazed lobbies set flush with the
facade with access via a granite faced concrete staircase protected by a concrete
canopy.
Each building comprises a combination of 5 (Constitution Avenue) and 6 (Anzac
Parade) standard floors above a partially excavated basement plinth and is
capped by a screened parapet level at the roof. Structural bays are modelled by
the vertical emphasis given to the columns. The first floor perimeter beam, roof
slab perimeter beam, parapet beam and all columns are clad with sandstone
slabs.
Above the first floor perimeter beam terrazzo, infill frames articulate the
window openings. Precast exposed aggregate spandrel panels and extruded
aluminium windows complete the strong rectilinear treatment of wall infill
panels. The basement is clad with grey-black reconstructed granite panels
incorporating ventilation openings. The roof is covered with coated steel
decking fixed to a timber frame mounted on steel legs above the concrete roof
slab.
Record last updated 15 January 2015
2
L to R: Anzac Park West redevelopment; and the view of the Monumental Vista from Mt Ainslie
with ANZAC Park East under construction (photograph circa 1962).
Source: Department of Finance, date unknown; Woodhead 2012.
Landscape Setting
The Portal Buildings are located adjacent to the north side of Lake Burley Griffin,
flanking Anzac Parade between Constitution Avenue and Parkes Way, Parkes
and are included in the Parliamentary Zone.
The urban landscape setting of the Portal Buildings comprises views to and from
Anzac Parade, Parkes Way and Constitution Avenue. The settings of the East and
West Portal Buildings have wide mown grassed verges dominated by three
staggered rows of evenly spaced Eucalyptus bicostata (Blue Gum). Native
plantings from 1965 onwards have predominated with the only formality in
their placement being on the Anzac Parade side of each building. The trees are of
a height that mostly screens the buildings when viewed from a distance.
The western Portal Building includes the West Portal Cafeteria in its landscape
setting. Please refer to the West Portal Cafeteria Heritage Register entry for more
information.
The Portal Buildings and their setting have undergone a gradual process of
change over time. The gradual change includes the physical and visual
characteristics of the land axis and is visible particularly from Mount Ainslie. The
originally prominent Portal Buildings have been obscured by the landscape
associated with Parkes Way, Commonwealth Park and Anzac Parade. The vista to
the War Memorial has a dramatically narrower focus, accentuating the apparent
distance to the primary object. However, the Portal Buildings remain an integral
part of the vista from Mt Ainslie towards the new (1988) Parliament House as
they mark approximately the halfway point and give scale to the Land Axis.
ANZAC Park East and West and their settings have been maintained by the
Commonwealth.
Heritage Objects
and Collections
The Portal Buildings do not have any significant objects or collections.
History and
Summary of Uses
Anzac Parade officially opened on 25 April 1965 to coincide with the 50th
anniversary of Gallipoli. The two portal buildings, Anzac Park East completed in
1965 and Anzac Park West completed by 1966, flanked the vista from the War
Memorial to the Provisional Parliament House. Until 1997, the Bureau of Mineral
Resources occupied Anzac Park East. The Department of Defence continues to
occupy Anzac Park West.
Record last updated 15 January 2015
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The early 1960s was a period of massive construction work for the National
Capital Development Commission. The lake edge construction was substantially
completed by the end of the 1962-63 financial year, and Lake Burley Griffin was
filled and opened by the then Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1964. At that
time, major government buildings completed or partially completed for
occupancy included the Law Courts of the ACT, the Royal Australian Mint, the
Commonwealth Avenue Offices, the National Library, the Russell Offices, the
Canberra Theatre and ANZAC Park East and West.
The future sites of the Portal Buildings were defined on Walter Burley Griffin’s
plans of 1911, 1912 and 1913 at the intersection of the municipal and land axes,
with massive buildings accentuating and framing the transition from land to
water. Griffin’s plan found expression under the Federal Capital Advisory
Committee and the Federal Capital Commission in the years to 1930 with the
new Provisional Parliament House opening in 1927.
As the Australian nation and its economy grew and began to flourish from the
mid 1950s, the Menzies government initiated a period of accelerated growth and
development in Canberra. This process was to continue and expand during the
1960s and 1970s under successive governments. It is in this period and context
that the Portal Buildings, and later the West Portal Cafeteria were designed and
constructed, and during which their landscape settings were developed.
In 1957, the Government set up the National Capital Development Commission
with full responsibility for the planning, development and construction of the
National Capital. Sir John Overall was selected as Commissioner and Prime
Minister Menzies commissioned eminent London Planner, Sir William Holford to
advise and report on the future direction of the planning of Canberra. The
Canberra Plan was submitted by Sir William Holford in 1958 and stressed the
need for Canberra to become a unified city with a bold design. Holford advised
on the adaptation of the Griffin plan to progress the development of Canberra.
This plan is a significant milestone in the development of the National Capital.
The National Capital Development Commission's acceptance of Holford’s vision
of a lakeside Parliament House dominating the centre of the Parliamentary Zone,
and it's subsequent endorsement by Parliament, set the context for the design of
the Portal Buildings. ANZAC Park East and West were conceived as landmarks on
the opposite bank of the lake and a portal gateway to the long vista up Anzac
Parade to the War Memorial. The Portal concept had even greater impact in
framing the vista of Parliament House seen from the War Memorial and Mount
Ainslie.
The Portal Buildings were designed and constructed by the Commonwealth to
accommodate government departments being relocated at the time to the
National Capital. The contract was let in June 1963 to Concrete Constructions Pty
Ltd to construct the two buildings, with ANZAC Park East scheduled for
completion first in the 1964-65 financial year, and ANZAC Park West to follow
and be complete in the 1966-67. Landscaping of the site was commenced in the
spring of 1965.
The removal of the new Parliament from the lakeside site originally intended by
Holford and the National Capital Development Commission to its site well to the
far side of Old Parliament House, has considerably extended the horizontal
dimensions and scale of the vistas to and from the primary vista nodes of the
Parliament, and the War Memorial. The affect of these changes has been to
Record last updated 15 January 2015
4
increase the capability and importance of the Portal Buildings to perform their
originally intended urban design functions. Combined with the change due to the
maturing landscape, the visual significance of the Portal Buildings has remained
important if more complex. Whilst the ‘portal’ concept remains entirely valid, it
is also appropriate to regard Anzac Park East and West as buildings that serve to
mark the junction of the Land Axis with the Water Axis and as background
elements of importance to the urban form on the north shore of the lake.
In 2006, the West Portal building, Anzac Park West was quite extensively
refurbished and modified. ANZAC Park West has been extensively refurbished
internally and re-fitted for a new Defence occupant as of February 2012.
ANZAC Park East during construction – April 1964.
Source: Woodhead, 2012
ANZAC Park East - The first Portal Building to be completed. Photograph – June 1965 from the Parkes
Way roundabout. ANZAC Park East was occupied by the Bureau of Mineral Resources until 1997.
Source: Woodhead, 2012
Statutory Heritage Values
Gazetted
Statement of
Significance Commonwealth
Heritage List
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
Record last updated 15 January 2015
5
unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expression of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC) which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues. (Criterion A.4 and criterion H.1)
(Themes: 4.2 Supplying urban services, 5.4 Working in offices, 7.5 Developing
administrative structures and authorities)
As symbols of government, the monumental Portal Buildings are located on
Walter Burley Griffin's land axis, Anzac Parade, and the municipal axis,
Consitution Avenue, which defines the northern side of the Parliamentary
Triangle area in the heart of Canberra, and frame the Parliamentary vista at its
transition from land to lake. The Portal Buildings exhibit a monumental
character through strongly modelled structural bays, emphasised by the vertical
emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone cladding to the structural
elements of the elevations, and are important elements of Civic Design in the
urban setting of Canberra. (Criterion E.1)
Designed by NCDC architect Gareth Roberts in conjunction with the
Commonwealth Department of Works Chief Design Architect Richard Ure, the
buildings clearly illustrate NCDC policy in the form and scale of the building
envelopes which were determined by the NCDC architect, with the architectural
expression developed by the consultant architect. The two buildings are
important examples of this design process and the prevailing use in Canberra
during the 1960s of the stripped classical interpretation of the International
Style of architecture. (Criterion D.2)
Criterion A Processes
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expresssion of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues.
Attributes
The building's use as public service offices, their monumental character and
their relationship to ANZAC Parade and the Land Axis.
Criterion B –
Rarity
The Portal Buildings do not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion C –
Research
The Portal Buildings do not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion D –
Characteristic
Value
Designed by NCDC architect Gareth Roberts in conjunction with the
Commonwealth Department of Works Chief Design Architect Richard Ure, the
buildings clearly illustrate NCDC policy in the form and scale of the building
Record last updated 15 January 2015
6
envelopes which were determined by the NCDC architect, with the architectural
expression developed by the consultant architect. The two buildings are
important examples of this design process and the prevailing use in Canberra
during the 1960s of the stripped classical interpretation of the International
Style of architecture.
Attributes
The buildings' stripped classical interpretation of the International Style of
architecture, plus their form and scale.
Criterion E –
Aesthetic
characteristics
As symbols of government, the monumental Portal Buildings are located on
Walter Burley Griffin's land axis, Anzac Parade, and the municipal axis,
Constitution Avenue, which defines the northern side of the Parliamentary
Triangle area in the heart of Canberra, and frame the Parliamentary vista at its
transition from land to lake. The Portal Buildings exhibit a monumental
character through strongly modelled structural bays, emphasised by the vertical
emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone cladding to the structural
elements of the elevations, and are important elements of Civic Design in the
urban setting of Canberra.
Attributes
The aesthetic values of the individual buildings evident in strongly modelled
structural bays, the vertical emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone
cladding, plus their paired relationship and framing of the Parliamentary Vista
evident in their monumental character either side of the land axis.
Criterion F –
Technical
achievement
The Portal Buildings do not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion G – Social The Portal Buildings do not fulfil this criterion.
Value
Criterion H –
Significant people
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
unity. In this respect, the Portal buildings are an expression of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC) which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues.
Attributes
Their role as public service offices, their monumental character, their massing
and their axial location within the Parliamentary Vista's formal landscape
composition.
Criterion I Indigenous
The Portal Buildings do not fulfil this criterion.
Record last updated 15 January 2015
7
tradition
Department of Finance’s (Finance) updated heritage assessment
Finance’s updated
Statement of
Significance for
Commonwealth
Heritage values
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expression of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC) which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues. (Criterion A.4 and criterion H.1)
(Themes: 4.2 Supplying urban services, 5.4 Working in offices, 7.5 Developing
administrative structures and authorities)
As symbols of government, the monumental Portal Buildings are located on
Walter Burley Griffin's land axis, Anzac Parade, and the municipal axis,
Constitution Avenue, which defines the northern side of the Parliamentary
Triangle area in the heart of Canberra, and frame the Parliamentary vista at its
transition from land to lake. The Portal Buildings exhibit a monumental character
through strongly modelled structural bays, emphasised by the vertical emphasis
of the columns and the use of sandstone cladding to the structural elements of
the elevations, and are important elements of Civic Design in the urban setting of
Canberra. (Criterion E.1)
Designed by NCDC architect Gareth Roberts in conjunction with the
Commonwealth Department of Works Chief Design Architect Richard Ure, the
buildings clearly illustrate NCDC policy in the form and scale of the building
envelopes which were determined by the NCDC architect, with the architectural
expression developed by the consultant architect. The two buildings are
important examples of this design process and the prevailing use in Canberra
during the 1960s of the stripped classical and International Style of architecture.
(Criterion D.2).
Source: Woodhead, 2012
Criterion A Processes
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expression of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues.
Attributes
The building's use as public service offices, their monumental character and
Record last updated 15 January 2015
8
their relationship to ANZAC Parade and the Land Axis.
Criterion B –
Rarity
The Portal Buildings does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion C –
Research
The Portal Buildings does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion D –
Characteristic
Value
Designed by NCDC architect Gareth Roberts in conjunction with the
Commonwealth Department of Works Chief Design Architect Richard Ure, the
buildings clearly illustrate NCDC policy in the form and scale of the building
envelopes which were determined by the NCDC architect, with the architectural
expression developed by the consultant architect. The two buildings are
important examples of this design process and the prevailing use in Canberra
during the 1960s of various ‘Late Modern’ styles of architecture including Late
20th Century Stripped Classical and International Style.
Attributes
The buildings’ architectural style, plus their monumental form and their
generous scale.
Criterion E –
Aesthetic
characteristics
As symbols of government, the monumental Portal Buildings are located on
Walter Burley Griffin's land axis, Anzac Parade, and the municipal axis,
Constitution Avenue, which defines the northern side of the Parliamentary
Triangle area in the heart of Canberra, and frame the Parliamentary vista at its
transition from land to lake. The Portal Buildings exhibit a monumental
character through strongly modelled structural bays, emphasised by the vertical
emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone cladding to the structural
elements of the elevations, and are important elements of Civic Design in the
urban setting of Canberra.
Attributes
The aesthetic values of the individual buildings evident in strongly modelled
structural bays, the vertical emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone
cladding, plus their paired relationship and framing of the Parliamentary Vista
evident in their monumental character either side of the land axis.
Criterion F –
Technical
achievement
The Portal Buildings does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion G – Social The Portal Buildings does not fulfil this criterion.
Value
Criterion H –
Significant people
The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer
public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal
Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association
with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select
Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings
in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian
unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expression of the National
Capital Development Commission (NCDC) which adopted the views of Holford
and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of
Record last updated 15 January 2015
9
Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality
and avenues.
Attributes
Their role as public service offices, their monumental character, their massing
and their axial location within the Parliamentary Vista's formal landscape
composition.
Criterion I Indigenous
tradition
The Portal Buildings does not fulfil this criterion.
Source: Woodhead 2012
Non-Statutory Listings
Register of the
National Estate
Register of the National Estate: Place ID 101058. In February 2012, the Register
of the National Estate became a non-statutory archive.
Additional information
Property Access
The Portal Buildings, Anzac Park East and West (the Portal Buildings) are not
open to the public.
Consultation
Department of Finance consulted with Registered Aboriginal Organisations,
internal Finance stakeholders and contractors.
Any additional consultation with other interested parties should include the
Compliance, Environment and Heritage team, Department of Finance.
Conservation
Documents/
References
Australian Construction Services (1994), Conservation Plan for the Portal
Buildings, Anzac Park East and West, AEM.
More information
For further information regarding the Portal Buildings, please contact the
Department of Finance.
Woodhead (2012), Anzac Park East and Anzac Park West (the Portal Buildings)
Heritage Management Plan, Department of Finance.
Record last updated 15 January 2015
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