Daniel Thomas : Newspaper writings

"TELEGRAPH" 6 ir11kr1071 Sydney, N.S.W. Sydney-the fun city THE best news in years is the Sydney City Council's decision to preserve the Queen Victoria Building. Now we have something to keep the Opera House good company-that is. if the Queen Victoria Build- ing is handed over to users who generate crowds, animation and fun. The interne: use would match the external appear- anoe. In external appearance it Is undeniably a jolly giant of a building. I sup- poseit is because of all those domes. Hardly any building in the world has so many domes, large and small. A generosity of domes always seems to inspire affectionate merriment. The Prince Regent's sea- side Pavilion at Brighton, England, was put in its place as "St. Paul's Cathedral, gone to the water to pup." Well, it the imagery associated with the build- ing's style is richness, abundance, fertility - a mother with comforting breasts and too many children-what mule be more oheerful:7 suitable for the building i Alo-uses, or more detnecratically welcoming for its more serious uses. It will apparently house some of the city's welfare services, and I think earthy good humor will be the perfect setting for advice and help to the distressed and to the poor. When I say it will be good cocimany for the Opera House I mean that the Opera House also is a near-unique ins age of gaiety in architecture. Architecture s el d o m achieves the condition of art, just as very few paint- ings ever achieve the con- dition of art. Art uplift When architecture achieves the condition of art, it is able to refresh or uplift or starve or define or do any of these things, that painting or music or literature are more com- monly used for. Of necessity art -archi- tecture is inclined to be solemn, as in churches or lawcourts. It often seems that the best architecture is au establishment symbol of power and oppression. Yet there have been other less elevated bond- ing types, practically folk - architecture, which have a genuine spirit of gaiety. Paddington's jerry-built terrace houses have it. Circus tents have It. When Paddington's °heap terrace houses were built I'm sure nobody expected them to last for long. It is only great emu fortune that they were neglected, untouched, until they were uppreciaLed for their uniquely satisfactory relation with their street plan and their lull -slopes. And circus tents, of course, are throwaway architecture f r o ni the start. What is quite extra- ordinary is that Sydney's two most ambitious and most expensive works of architecture, the Queen Victoria Building in the 1890s, the Opera House in the 1950s (and 1960s and 1970s, are both monu- ments to communal happi- ness. Thankfully our Parlia- ment House doesn't try to browbeat us architecturally. It Ls quiet and friendly (It is, by the way, one of the oldest Parliament build- ings in use anywhere in the world, and thus of great added interest.) Sydney's Town Hall is much more exuberant than tisane in other cities. Sydney's Anzac Memor- ial is quite extraordinary, jazz-modern monument, when Melbourne's was yet another Greek temple. Sydney really must be a fun-city. Certainly the rest of Australia thinks so (bus trips by the thousand to see "Hair"), and so does New Zealand. Our own nest aspiring efforts in at .ltecture con- firm the image that others have of Sydney. If we're not fun -city whet are we? Certainly not culture, or learning, or width, or dignity. Better stick to the image sf surf end sun- shine, crowds, and fun. Already foresniers who once would never have dreamt of visiting Aus- tralia now stop off in Sydney for no other rea- ART by denial them s son than to see the Opera House. It is gropingly understood to be not only a great work of architecture but also a dramatic image of what Sydney Is. These visitors sometimes discover Paddington while they're here, and are en- chanted. Let's hope they will soon be able to add the Queen Victoria Building to these surprise enchantments. It would complete the act of imagination if the west side of George Street could be treated as a uni- fied whole, for not only is the Queen Victoria a unique building hi isola- tion, it IS also part of a stunning group of high - Victorian building which define the city's very heart. Flanks left The Town Hall is its centre. St. Andrew's Cath- edral flanks it to the left, tire Queen Victoria Build- ing to the right. And two small buildings putestuate it, and perfect it; the Bank of N.S.W. at the corner of Bathurst and George Streets, and the Gresham Hotel at the corner of Drrdtt and Yeek Streets. When all these splendid buildings on the wort side of George Street are pre- served, why not demolish all the mat side of George Street, through to Pitt Street, so that we can ad- mire the splendc,-.1r on the west. Everythi ig on the east side, from Market Street to Bathurst Street, is ugly.