Brutalism six: 1 Oxford Street

This is the sixth in a series of blogposts about brutalist architecture in Sydney.

A letter to the city building surveyor dated 8 December 1969 from architects Hanson, Todd & Partners of 225 Miller Street, North Sydney, accompanies a development application (DA) for an international hotel to be built at the corner of Oxford Street and Wentworth Avenue for client Hooker Projects Pty Ltd.

There is a splendid uninterrupted view from the site in a northerly direction over Hyde Park to the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Botanical Gardens and Harbour. It is conveniently located in relation to the City, Kings Cross and Southern beaches and in close proximity to the expressway to the Airport.

The site included several buildings. At 2 Wentworth Avenue and 1-7 Oxford Street was a five-storey, four-storey and part-three-storey brick building owned by Reuben Brasch Pty Ltd, used as a department store and associated offices. At 9-11 Oxford Street was a four-storey brick building owned by Vogel Investments Pty Ltd, used for shops on the ground floor and various industrial and commercial purposes on the upper floors. At 13-15 Oxford Street was a two-storey brick building owned by Sacher Investments Pty Ltd. This building was badly damaged in a fire in 1958 and subsequently demolished and rebuilt; it was then used for shops on the ground floor and offices on the upper floors. There was also at 17-19 Oxford Street and 1-7 Brisbane Street a two-storey brick building with a basement owned by G.J. Coles & Co Ltd, used as a department store. Total area of the site was 37,400 square feet.

These details are contained in a city building surveyor’s report dated 23 November 1970.

Hooker wanted to buy a property owned by the council in Brisbane Street to build its hotel, but this plan did not go ahead. The council also asked the developer to surrender land at the back of the block so that Wemyss Lane could be continued through to Brisbane Street, but Hooker refused to do this without financial compensation.

A letter from Urban Systems Corporation Pty Ltd dated 25 February 1971 serves to outline council plans for city streets in the area. The company had produced the city’s 1971 Strategic Plan (the city’s first such plan). The letter says:

As part of the Strategic Plan, a hierarchy of streets, designed to assist traffic movement throughout the City of Sydney, has been drawn up. Under this hierarchy, certain streets have been indicated as arterial or sub-arterial streets designed to serve through traffic, whereas other streets have been indicated as local streets, designed to serve local circulatory traffic within the individual precincts of the City. 

One of the more important arterial routes is the Macquarie Street, College Street, Wentworth Avenue, Elizabeth Street route which will serve as an inner distributor and bypass to the Central Business District. 

Particularly as the Eastern Distributor is unlikely to be completed for ten or more years, it is especially important that the Macquarie Street, College Street, Wentworth Avenue, Elizabeth Street route be upgraded and maintained as an arterial route to serve both the CBD and also the Woolloomooloo – East Sydney area. 

Upgrading this route will require improved traffic management in the first instance, this is to be subsequently followed by physical improvements, including grade separations at intersections with other major arterial routes.

(Grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. For example, using an overpass. An intersection is not a grade separation.) The plan to create a grade separation at the intersection of Oxford Street and Wentworth Avenue did not – fortunately – go ahead, but the council convinced the developer to surrender part of the site so that Oxford Street could be widened at the intersection.

Above: A diagram showing where Oxford Street was widened using part of the building's land.

While the original plan was for an international hotel (estimated construction cost of $13.5 million), with parking for 440 cars and 810 bedrooms, by December 1970 this plan had been abandoned and a 24-storey office building was being proposed. But the council had other plans. In a letter from the city building surveyor to the town clerk dated 7 December 1970, it was recorded that at a meeting of the Works Committee the DA had been deferred so that Hooker Projects could be asked to include in the DA residential accommodation on floors 13 to 23 of the building.

A letter from the city building surveyor to Hanson and Todd dated 2 December 1970 says:

The Committee is desirous of development in this area, due to the proximity to Hyde Park, being either residential or mixed commercial and residential.

Hanson and Todd immediately wrote back:

We appreciate Council’s desire to bring life into the Inner City, and no doubt the Council would, at the appropriate time allocate certain areas of the City for residential accommodation, as demonstrated in the Woolloomooloo Redevelopment Plan where zoning is clearly defined. 

The subject property was acquired by our clients, Hooker Projects Pty. Limited with the purpose of erecting a commercial development, and it was assumed that by abiding by all the current Council Regulations and conditions of zoning and current Building Regulations, the Council would permit a commercial development on this site, consistent with its recent approvals in adjacent areas. 

Plans for an International hotel were prepared and a Development Application was submitted to the Council on 8th December, 1969, but was withdrawn on 9th April, 1970, because our clients were unable to reach satisfactory agreement with any of the Hoteliers who expressed interest in such a development.

The letter went on to plead that feasibility studies were carried out for a commercial development and that the current zoning was for commercial use. “It would have been unreasonable to have expected our clients to foresee at the time of the purchase of the property that Council would seek to place restrictions on the development of the site.” Furthermore, the letter went on, the council had approved other commercial developments containing only offices on Liverpool and College Streets, “which are in close proximity to the site”.

All of the work done and decisions taken to date (including the purchase of the land) have been done and taken in good faith by ourselves and our clients in accordance with current zoning regulations. We have discussed the project from time to time with Officers of the Council to ensure that the scheme abided by the current Council Building Regulations. At no time did any member of the consultant team or our client gain any impression of a requirement such as is now suggested. 

An office building was chosen in view of the fact that there is little office space available in the section of the City, and the office development proposed would rejuvenate a depressed retail area. It would add a population of over 3,000 working in the offices who would shop for at least daily needs and stimulate business in a depressed and dormant segment of the City.

The letter goes on to list the amenities offered by the new development, including the plaza area and trees to be planted on Oxford Street.

This building, with its carefully considered design, would create an environment which we believe could set a standard for the future development of the South Eastern portion of the City.

A letter dated 28 April 1972 from the City Building Surveyor’s Department to Hanson & Todd gives approval for the building to go ahead.

The new building would have 150 parking space (including 100 spaces for use by the Police Traffic Branch) and 23 floors of office space. The lift motor and plant room on the roof was to initially be built with brick and council refused the application, but later accepted it on condition that the finish of the structure on top of the building be faced with hammered ribbed finish concrete (to match the rest of the building). Asbestos fireproof spray was used in the construction of the lift motor room roof to protect the lift motor in case of fire.

The building would comprise three materials: exposed aggregate precast concrete, anodised aluminium, and hammered ribbed finish concrete.

Construction was completed and approved on 10 July 1975. Inspection of the mechanical ventilation system went ahead and it was approved on 11 December 1975.

In September 1977 permission was sought from the city by The Sutcliffe Catering Co Aust Pty Ltd (of 202 Jersey Road, Woollahra) for a license to operate a canteen on floor 23 of the Rural Bank Building. In February, plans had been submitted to the City Planning and Building Department for a cafeteria and kitchen and dining facilities for the whole of floor 23 of the building.

The building was operated by Schroder, Darling Property Fund on behalf of Burns Philp Trustee Co Ltd in September 1986 and the main tenant was still the State Bank. Other tenants were the Public Service Board, the Department of Main Roads and the State Building Society.

The building is now owned by Memocorp. I sent an email to the owner for the purpose of asking questions for this blogpost but no reply had been received by the time of publication.