Ultimo TAFE NSW€¦ · Ultimo TAFE, Sydney. Close to 100 carvings adorn the facade. Incorporated within the imposts and finials, the carvings largely depict Australian flora and

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SANDSTONE CARVINGS RECORDING

ULTIMO TAFE NSW

SANDSTONE CARVINGS RECORDING

ULTIMO TAFE NSW

CONTENTS

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 9

OVERVIEW 11

PART 2 PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDING 17

PART 3 CONCISE REPORT 227

PART 1

INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

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INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND This document presents a photographic record of sandstone carvings which adorn Buildings A, B & C,

Ultimo TAFE, Sydney. Close to 100 carvings adorn the facade. Incorporated within the imposts and

finials, the carvings largely depict Australian flora and fauna motifs. Funding was provided by the NSW

Public Works Minister’s Stonework Program. Included is an inventory which identifies the principle

features on each unique carving and an investigation into the history, context and significance of the

carvings. Photography was undertaken in 2012-13 from scaffold constructed for façade repairs. No

repairs were carried out on the carvings at this time.

Recording significant carvings is an important aspect of stone conservation. It provides a record of the

current condition of the stone, documentary evidence which can help determine the rate of deterioration

when compared with future condition. Photographs record information for future generations, should

they choose to re-carve due to loss of all recognisable detail. Recording also provides public access to

and appreciation of these skilfully executed and unique carving located high on the façade.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report was prepared by the Government Architect’s Office. Joy Singh and Katie Hicks co-ordinated

and compiled the report, graphic design by Marietta Buikema and drawings by Milena Crawford. The

history, context and significance were researched and written by Margaret Betteridge of MuseCape and

Photography by Michael Nicholson.

LOCATION Buildings A, B and C are located on the corner of Harris Street and Mary Ann Streets, on land which

was once part of the Ultimo House estate, previously owned by former Mayor of Sydney, John Harris.

Building A, facing Mary Ann Street, was completed in 1891 as the Sydney Technical College and

housed classrooms; Building C, the Technological Museum fronting Harris Street was completed in

1893. Building B, modified in 1911 with the addition of an additional storey and façade details to the

original Mary Ann Street building, features a large auditorium and is referred to as Turner Hall.

Location of Buildings A, B and C,

Sydney Technical College, Ultimo,

Sydney

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OVERVIEW by Margaret Betteridge

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SYDNEY TECHNICAL COLLEGE The complex of buildings at the corner of Mary Ann and Harris Streets was to include the College,

two high schools and the Technological Museum whose fledgling collection had all but been destroyed

by the disastrous fire in the Garden Palace, built to house Sydney’s 1879 International Exhibition,

in 1882. Laboratories, machine sheds and workshops which were located nearby have long since

been demolished.

The architect appointed to design the new complex for the College was William Kemp (1831-1898).

Born in Newcastle, NSW, Kemp was the son of an English architect/builder who settled at Stroud and

brother of Charles Kemp, a successful businessman who for a time was co-owner, with James Fairfax,

of the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1849, Kemp was articled to Sydney architect Edmund Blacket,

transferring to the Colonial Architect’s Office in 1854 where he worked under William Weaver. When

Weaver left government to establish a private practice, Kemp joined him in a partnership. In 1880,

when Sir John Robertson, premier of New South Wales, amalgamated all school construction under one

departmental head, he appointed Kemp to fill the position. Kemp continued in this position throughout

the economic downturn during the 1890s when the Department of Public Instruction’s architectural

section was briefly amalgamated in 1894 with the Government Architect’s Branch of the Public Works

Department, at which point, Kemp retired.

Kemp’s style is significant because it departed from the emulation of Neo-Classical architecture which

had thrived under Barnet’s term as government architect. Kemp was not interested in creating a lofty

College ‘temple’ where students would come to worship at the feet of knowledge’. Nor was his palette

the honey colour of the ‘yellow block’ Sydney sandstone of Barnet’s public buildings, but a new bold

palette of polychrome expressed in a variety of fabricated materials. We can see his style in the school

buildings erected circa 1890s which display a different style altogether.

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SYDNEY TECHNICAL COLLEGE BUILDINGS A, B and C CARVINGS Report prepared by MUSEcape Pty Ltd August 2012

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Figure 5: Architectural elevation of the Mary Ann Street façade of Sydney Technical College Source NSW PublicWorks Archives

Figures 6, 7: Sydney Technical College under construction, circa 1891, completed in 1891. R M Wells whosupervised the building of Sydney Technical College and the Technological Museum subsequently becameGovernment Architect in 1927


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Figure 5: Architectural elevation of the Mary Ann Street façade of Sydney Technical College Source NSW PublicWorks Archives

Figures 6, 7: Sydney Technical College under construction, circa 1891, completed in 1891. R M Wells whosupervised the building of Sydney Technical College and the Technological Museum subsequently becameGovernment Architect in 1927


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Figures 8, 9: Inside, classrooms and studios provided students with airy, well-lit and ventilated space for study

Building B

The extension which created Turner Hall (Building B) was completed in 1911, twenty years after the College was built. Named to honour former superintendent of technical education J W Turner, thedesign of the building has been attributed to James Nangle (1868-1941) 4 who was then lecturer incharge of architecture at the College. However the plans for the proposed alterations and additions dated 1910 are signed by W L Vernon and an assistant architect and may reflect administrative changes. The design added an extra storey to accommodate a large auditorium, and a new facade

to the original Mary Ann Street building on the Harris Street side of the main building. It used complementary architectural language and finishes including polychrome brickwork, rusticated stone, terracotta tiled spandrels and carved frieze decorations of Australian flora and fauna.

Figure 10: Plans and elevations for additions and alterations to Sydney Technical College at Ultimo,adding Turner Hall (Building B), signed by government architect W. L. Vernon, 1910

4Entry for James Nangle, Australian Dictionary of Biography accessed at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nangle-james-7722. Nangle

had attended classes at Sydney Technical College and at the University of Sydney in the 1880s and in 1890 he began teaching mechanicaldrawing part-time for the technical education branch of the Department of Public Instruction. In 1905, he was transferred to STC,becoming lecturer-in-charge of the department of architecture in 1905 and superintendent of technical education in 1913.


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Figures 8, 9: Inside, classrooms and studios provided students with airy, well-lit and ventilated space for study

Building B

The extension which created Turner Hall (Building B) was completed in 1911, twenty years after the College was built. Named to honour former superintendent of technical education J W Turner, thedesign of the building has been attributed to James Nangle (1868-1941) 4 who was then lecturer incharge of architecture at the College. However the plans for the proposed alterations and additions dated 1910 are signed by W L Vernon and an assistant architect and may reflect administrative changes. The design added an extra storey to accommodate a large auditorium, and a new facade

to the original Mary Ann Street building on the Harris Street side of the main building. It used complementary architectural language and finishes including polychrome brickwork, rusticated stone, terracotta tiled spandrels and carved frieze decorations of Australian flora and fauna.

Figure 10: Plans and elevations for additions and alterations to Sydney Technical College at Ultimo,adding Turner Hall (Building B), signed by government architect W. L. Vernon, 1910

4Entry for James Nangle, Australian Dictionary of Biography accessed at http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nangle-james-7722. Nangle

had attended classes at Sydney Technical College and at the University of Sydney in the 1880s and in 1890 he began teaching mechanicaldrawing part-time for the technical education branch of the Department of Public Instruction. In 1905, he was transferred to STC,becoming lecturer-in-charge of the department of architecture in 1905 and superintendent of technical education in 1913.


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Figure 11: Completed subsequent to William Kemp’s retirement, the addition to Turner Hall (BuildingB) was undertaken sympathetically, ensuring visual integrity with Building A.

Building C

The Technological Museum on the corner of Mary Ann and Harris Streets, the last of Kemp’s commission for the complex, opened in 1893 and was similarly styled to the College building withcontrasting brickwork, rusticated sandstone sills, terracotta tile panels and naturalistically carvedsandstone frieze ornament. Reviewing the Museum building in 1893, The Australian Builder and Contractor’s News noted how skilfully Kemp had ‘utilised and adapted the form of the Romanesque to the requirements of his edifice, without adopting the coarseness and almost barbaric massiveness that characterise a good deal of the American Romanesque.’5

Figures 12,13 : The completed Technological Museum, Harris Street, Ultimo, circa mid 1890s(left) and thecomplex including Sydney Technical College (right), Kerry and Co, Sydney 1892

5 William E Kemp School Buildings (Paper read before the Sydney Architectural Association 3 July 1893 Australian Builders and ContractorsNews 8 July 1893 pp15-17

BUILDING A The main College building, fronting Mary Ann Street was designed

in Federation Romanesque style expressed in a parapeted gable,

semi-circular openings and the use of grouped double semicircular

arched recessed panels between expressed pilasters. The

rectangular three-storey building is symmetrical with a slate-

hipped and gabled roof. It is further distinguished by a colonnaded

entrance portico with polished trachyte columns supporting

rusticated sandstone arches containing carved representations

of mostly Australian fauna, and small finials either side of the

central gable. A distinctive feature is use of polychrome brickwork,

decorative terracotta tile panels and sandstone impost carvings

of largely Australian flora and fauna. The main College building is

flanked on either side by two smaller Queen Anne style buildings

with painted glass windows in the stairwells, themed to represent

the arts and trades, completed in 1891. Originally intended as

separate high schools for girls and boys, one opened for boys in

1892, the girls preferring not to leave their Elizabeth Street site for

the wilds of Ultimo.

Sydney Technical College under construction,

circa 1891, completed in 1891. R M Wells who

supervised the building of Sydney Technical College

and the Technological Museum subsequently became

NSW Government Architect in 1927.

Architectural elevation of the Mary Ann

Street façade of Sydney Technical College

Source NSW Public Works Archives.

BUILDING B The extension which created Turner Hall (Building B) was

completed in 1911, twenty years after the College was built.

Named to honour former superintendent of technical education

J W Turner, the design of the building has been attributed to

James Nangle (1868-1941)1 who was then lecturer in charge of

architecture at the College. However the plans for the proposed

alterations and additions dated 1910 are signed by W L Vernon

and an assistant architect and may reflect administrative changes.

The design added an extra storey to accommodate a large

auditorium, and a new facade to the original Mary Ann Street

building on the Harris Street side of the main building. It used

complementary architectural language and finishes including

polychrome brickwork, rusticated stone, terracotta tiled spandrels

and carved impost decorations of predominantly Australian flora

and fauna.

1 Entry for James Nangle, Australian Dictionary of Biography accessed at http://adb.anu.edu.au/ biography/nangle-james-7722. Nangle had attended classes at Sydney Technical College and at the University of Sydney in the 1880s and in 1890 he began teaching mechanical drawing part-time for the technical education branch of the Department of Public Instruction. In 1905, he was transferred to STC, becoming lecturer-in-charge of the department of architecture in 1905 and superintendent of technical education in 1913.

Inside, classrooms and studios

provided students with airy, well-lit

and ventilated space for study.

Plans and elevations for additions and

alterations to Sydney Technical College

at Ultimo, adding Turner Hall (Building B),

signed by government architect

W. L. Vernon, 1910.

Completed subsequent to William

Kemp’s retirement, the addition

to Turner Hall (Building B) was

undertaken sympathetically, ensuring

visual integrity with Building A.

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http://adb.anu.edu.au


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Kemp’s choice of the Romanesque style for the architecture of the College and Museum was a major departure from the classical sandstone tradition which had dominated Sydney buildings for a century. Kemp fully appreciated the values at the core of the institution, namely the application of the applied sciences and arts and he saw the buildings as the envelopes for educational institutionswith a compass to guide and inspire artisans and technicians for social, scientific, technological andartistic improvement.

Figure 14: Newcastle Technical College, completed in 1894, and originally comprising the College, School ofMines and a museum, has many similar details to Kemp’s Romanesque Technical College complex at Ultimo. Here he has incorporated polychrome brickwork in three colours, carved Pyrmont sandstone mouldings, finialsand copings, patterned terracotta tile spandrels and gable apexes and ornate brickwork. Trades Hall, to theleft, was added in 1895.

Kemp’s use of the Romanesque was not alone. By far, the most impressive example of a Romanesque building in Sydney around this time is without doubt the Queen Victoria Building, builton the site of the former city markets and designed by former city architect, George McRae (later NSW government architect). Completed in 1898, its architectural style is described as FederationRomanesque, influenced heavily by the American Romanesque style popularised by prominent 19th

century American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson.

Figure 15: The Queen Victoria Building (Markets), completed in 1898 was Romanesque-style architecture on a grand scale.


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Figure 11: Completed subsequent to William Kemp’s retirement, the addition to Turner Hall (BuildingB) was undertaken sympathetically, ensuring visual integrity with Building A.

Building C

The Technological Museum on the corner of Mary Ann and Harris Streets, the last of Kemp’s commission for the complex, opened in 1893 and was similarly styled to the College building withcontrasting brickwork, rusticated sandstone sills, terracotta tile panels and naturalistically carvedsandstone frieze ornament. Reviewing the Museum building in 1893, The Australian Builder and Contractor’s News noted how skilfully Kemp had ‘utilised and adapted the form of the Romanesque to the requirements of his edifice, without adopting the coarseness and almost barbaric massiveness that characterise a good deal of the American Romanesque.’5

Figures 12,13 : The completed Technological Museum, Harris Street, Ultimo, circa mid 1890s(left) and thecomplex including Sydney Technical College (right), Kerry and Co, Sydney 1892

5 William E Kemp School Buildings (Paper read before the Sydney Architectural Association 3 July 1893 Australian Builders and ContractorsNews 8 July 1893 pp15-17

The Queen Victoria Building (Markets), completed in 1898

is Romanesque-style architecture on a grand scale

BUILDING C The Technological Museum on the corner of Mary Ann and Harris

Streets, the last of Kemp’s commission for the complex, opened

in 1893 and was similarly styled to the College building with

contrasting brickwork, rusticated sandstone sills, terracotta tile

panels and naturalistically carved sandstone impost ornament.

Reviewing the Museum building in 1893, The Australian Builder

and Contractor’s News noted how skilfully Kemp had ‘utilised

and adapted the form of the Romanesque to the requirements of

his edifice, without adopting the coarseness and almost barbaric

massiveness that characterise a good deal of the American

Romanesque’.2

Kemp’s choice of the Romanesque style for the architecture

of the College and Museum was a major departure from the

classical sandstone tradition which had dominated Sydney

buildings for a century. Kemp fully appreciated the values at

the core of the institution, namely the application of the applied

sciences and arts and he saw the buildings as the envelopes

for educational institutions with a compass to guide and inspire

artisans and technicians for social, scientific, technological and

artistic improvement.

Kemp’s use of the Romanesque was not alone. By far, the most

impressive example of a Romanesque building in Sydney around

this time is without doubt the Queen Victoria Building, built on

the site of the former city markets and designed by former city

architect, George McRae (later NSW government architect).

Completed in 1898, its architectural style is described as

Federation Romanesque, influenced heavily by the American

Romanesque style popularised by prominent 19th century

American architect, Henry Hobson Richardson.

2 William E Kemp School Buildings (Paper read before the Sydney Architectural Association 3 July 1893 Australian Builders and Contractors News 8 July 1893 pp15-17

The completed Technological Museum, Harris Street,

Ultimo, circa mid 1890s(left) and the complex

including Sydney Technical College (right),

Kerry and Co, Sydney 1892.

Newcastle Technical College, completed in 1894, and

originally comprising the College, School of Mines and a

museum, has many similar details to Kemp’s Romanesque

Technical College complex at Ultimo. Here Kemp has

incorporated ornate polychrome brickwork in three

colours, carved Pyrmont sandstone mouldings, finials

and copings, patterned terracotta tile spandrels and gable

apexes. Trades Hall, to the left, was added in 1895.

14 15

Documents

Ultimo TAFE NSW€¦ · Ultimo TAFE, Sydney. Close to 100 carvings adorn the facade. Incorporated within the imposts and finials, the carvings largely depict Australian flora and