Blues Point Tower is an apartment block

Tower block

A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, office tower, apartment block, or block of flats, is a tall building or structure used as a residential and/or office building...

 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Located in McMahons Point, close to
North Sydney

North Sydney, New South Wales

North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...

, the tower is 83m tall with 144 apartments over 25 levels. It is often regarded as one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney.

History

Construction was completed in 1962, and it was Australia's tallest residential building until 1970.

The architect was Harry Seidler

Harry Seidler

Harry Seidler, AC OBE was an Austrian-born Australian architect who is considered to be one of the leading exponents of Modernism's methodology in Australia and the first architect to fully express the principles of the Bauhaus in Australia.Harry Seidler designed more than 180 buildings and he...

 and Associates, who had planned a high-density redevelopment for the entire suburb. Reacting to a 1957 suggestion that the area be zoned for industrial use, Seidler proposed that McMahons Point could instead house hundreds of apartments, all with harbour views. Although the industrial zoning was rejected, political support for Seidler's plan quickly faded, and Blues Point Tower was the only element of the plan to be built.

Seidler was commissioned by Dick Dusseldorp

Dick Dusseldorp

Gerardus Jozef Dusseldorp AO was a Dutch engineer and the founder of Civil and Civic, the financing arm of which later emerged as Lend Lease Corporation, one of Australia's largest companies.-Career:...

, through his company Civil and Civic

Civil and Civic

Civil and Civic was an Australian company acquired in 1961 by Lend Lease Corporation.-History:...

. The company's site office during construction was located in an 1870s Victorian villa named Bellvue, which formerly occupied the site.

In February 2011, a six metre tall maritime radar was added to the building's roof.

Criticism

Blues Point Tower is considered by many Sydney residents to be inconsistent with its surrounding buildings and cityscape. Over time, many public figures have criticised it, or even called for its demolition. However, in 1993, North Sydney Council

North Sydney Council

North Sydney Council is a Local Government Area on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.- Demographics :According to the :...

added the building to its local heritage register.