Dunedin Town Hall
Encyclopedia
The Dunedin Town Hall is a municipal building in the city of Dunedin
in New Zealand
. It is located in the heart of the city extending from The Octagon
, the central plaza, to Moray Place
through a whole city block. It is the seat of the Dunedin City Council, providing its formal meeting chamber, as well as a large auditorium and a conference centre. The oldest part of the building has been called the only substantial Victorian
town hall still in existence in New Zealand. It isn't but it may be the most substantial Victorian municipal building still in use in the country for its original purpose.
, the city council decided it should build new and larger premises. The settlement's first wooden town offices were demolished in 1859, and no formal structure existed after that, partly because of indecision as to where it should be. A decision was finally made in favour of the site of the city's first hospital. (This is commemorated by a plaque in Municipal Lane.) A design competition was held which was won in 1877 by Thomas Bedford Cameron, with a design submitted by R. A. Lawson placed second.
When costed Cameron’s design proved to be more expensive than the £7,000 allowed for the project. The council, which had admired Lawson’s impressive front elevation, employed him to re-work Cameron’s design and also to supervise its construction. In the event he was allowed to substitute his own design for Cameron’s.
A contract was let to Mercer & Low for £15,230 – a considerable increase on the original budget. The foundation stone was laid on 23 May 1878 and the building was opened for business on 25 May 1880. By the time a clock had been installed the whole price was £20,000.
The structure was conceived as the first part of a larger complex which would eventually include an auditorium to seat 2,000 people. What was built in this first stage was a set of offices on the Octagon, with a council chamber and an observation tower, the latter intended as a lookout for the Fire Brigade.
This first building has three main storeys, the ground or basement constructed of Port Chalmers
breccia
with the floors above built of Oamaru limestone
. There was a central entrance at the first floor level – the piano nobile
in architectural terms - reached by a double flight of steps from the street. Above it there is a high tower of five more levels incorporating a clock, bells and a mansard roof
. The four corners of the building also have mansard roofs. The tower is 47 metres (165 feet) to the base of the flagpole and is very prominent in central Dunedin. The building’s principal elevation still dominates the Octagon.
The inspiration of the design, or at least its main elevation, is Michelangelo
’s for the Palazzo Senatorio on the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome
, the seat of the Roman civic government. With its corner mansard roofs and proportionately much higher tower, Lawson’s building also echoes the old civic halls of the Netherlands, and Flanders, the latter modern Belgium - for example, the Oudenaarde Town Hall
. In this the design parallels George Gilbert Scott
’s for St Pancras Station in London which similarly mingles Italian and north European elements in an eclectic mix.
The Sydney Town Hall
, started in 1868, is a comparable mixture and its main elevation is broadly similar. So is that of the Philadelphia City Hall
, started in 1871, although that is far larger, more exuberant and apparently French, and was ultimately completed to a very different plan. While probably aware of these other near contemporaries it is clear Lawson arrived at his own composition whose combination of grandeur and restraint seems characteristic.
The side elevations were dressed to be seen, like the Octagon frontage, sharing its tiers of pediment
ed and then arched windows, Corinthian pilaster
s, cornice
and balustrade. The rear elevation was left clearly unfinished with bricked-in apertures intended to give access to the auditorium when it was built. A clock was ordered from Gillett & Bland of London, with its own peal of chimes, and was started on 2 December 1880. There was a fifty-year pause before a rearward extension was completed to a plan different from that which Lawson had envisaged.
The First World War
delayed progress, and in the early 1920s ratepayers voted against raising a loan to pay for the building. The city council's profits from its trading departments during the 1925-1926 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition
enabled it to undertake the project and pay for it with cash. The plans were now modified explicitly by Mandeno's new partner Roy Fraser. Among other changes, the floor of the Concert Hall was lowered below that of the main auditorium and also below the first floor of the Municipal Chambers, thus placing a barrier between them. This impeded Lawson's intended entry from the Octagon to the spaces behind the Municipal Chambers, and generally made movement through the whole extended complex difficult. The foundation stone was laid on 3 March 1928 and the building was opened on 15 February 1930. The main auditorium was then, and remains, the largest in New Zealand.
The building was constructed of steel-reinforced concrete with Oamaru limestone
cladding and was intended to harmonise with the Municipal Chambers which it physically adjoins. The initial design employed a revived Baroque style. The later re-working simplified this, making it more austere and more purely classical. The main auditorium has a pillared and pediment
ed facade to Moray Place accommodating its principal entrance. Corner stairwells on the Moray Place front and comparable "towers" at the southward end give the main auditorium's building compartment a basilica
-like form. The Concert Hall's entrance facade is more detailed, and more closely matches Lawson's Municipal Chambers whose west elevation it joins, making a successful transition to the plainer side of the main auditorium. The narrow Harrop Street flanks that western boundary of the whole complex while the eastern one, originally designed to be chiefly unseen, is bounded by the pedestrian walkway of Municipal Lane.
The main auditorium has two galleries above the ground floor, the first arranged as a long-sided U, and an organ, installed at the back of the stage. Its ground floor foyer has an impressive barrel-vaulted, coffered ceiling. The Concert Hall, long called the Concert Chamber, had a proscenium
and a single gallery. Neither auditorium had a fly tower or an orchestra pit
because they were designed primarily for musical performances. The project cost £86,000, exclusive of the organ.
Nevertheless, the then city architect Bill Hesson (1929–2007) conceived a plan to redevelop the whole complex. The Concert Chamber was substantially modified and its seating capacity reduced to become the Glenroy Auditorium by a design of Hesson's when it was made part of a conference centre, the "Dunedin Centre", in 1985-88. The main auditorium was refurbished, but not substantially changed, and a new entrance was added at the foot of the Moray Place facade in 1988-1990. This entrance was designed by Tim Heath.
In a notable reversal of earlier intentions, in part brought about through public protest, Lawson’s building was now restored. Its tower and steps were replaced and its interiors thoroughly redecorated and retrofitted with modern servicing. This was done under the supervision of Hesson's successor as City Architect, Robert Tongue and was generally and critically well-received. (It won the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ National Award in 1991.) The building was re-opened on 16 November 1989.
The Metro Cinema was incorporated into the basement of the main auditorium in the mid 1990s.
It is also proposed to remove Mr Heath's entrance on Moray Place and to replace it with a new glass-clad structure, set slightly apart from the building. The architect is Jeff Thompson. It is anticipated construction will start in 2010 and will cost NZ$
45.4 million. The Town Hall will be closed to events for twelve months from May 2010.
Parallel buildings in Sydney and Philadelphia have been mentioned. Those structures’ principal elevations resemble Lawson’s Octagon facade, but other characteristics are different. Philadelphia City Hall
extends to enclose a courtyard, while Sydney’s
interior plan does not have the transverse compartment of Dunedin’s old Concert Chamber. The long gap between the Dunedin building’s two construction phases also produced a discernible disunity of styles. While Lawson’s Municipal Chambers might be described as Neo-Renaissance
, Fraser’s additions are better characterised as understated Neo-Baroque.
In New Zealand the Wellington Town Hall
and Auckland Town Hall
are comparable. The Wellington building, designed by Joshua Charlesworth and built between 1901 and 1904 in a Neo-Renaissance
style, has lost its clocktower and portico. The Auckland Town Hall, opened in 1911 and designed by the Melbourne firm JJ & EJ Clarke
in a Renaissance Revival manner, is better preserved. Both are rather smaller than their Dunedin counterpart.
In Australia, apart from Sydney, the Adelaide Town Hall
, built between 1863 and 1866 and designed by Edmund Wright
and Edward Woods in a Neo-Renaissance
style, is another parallel. Melbourne Town Hall
is one too. Built on a corner site between 1870 and 1887 to a Second Empire design of Joseph Reed
’s, it was extended in 1900, but a fire in 1925 destroyed much of it, including the main auditorium. The Perth Town Hall
in Western Australia is another representative of the type, designed by Richard Roach Jewell
and built between 1860 and 1870 in a revived Gothic style. To a lesser extent so too is the Hobart Town Hall, which has no tower. It was designed by Henry Hunter in an Italian classical manner and built between 1864 and 1866.
In Britain the Leeds Town Hall
and Manchester Town Hall
are notable comparable examples, while the Sheffield Town Hall
is perhaps rather less so. Leeds was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick
in a Second Empire style and built between 1853 and 1858. Manchester was built between 1868 and 1877 to Alfred Waterhouse
’s Gothic Revival design. Sheffield is later, built between 1890 and 1897 in Jacobethan
style, and was designed by E. W. Mountford.
Among these numerous parallels, the Dunedin Town Hall is distinguished by its completeness of the features which characterise the type and their survival; its relatively large scale, especially considering the size of the city it serves; the unusually long gap between its construction phases; and the aesthetic distinction of some of its features, notably Lawson's Octagon elevation. It also forms an excellent townscape with its neighbour across Harrop Street, St. Paul's Cathedral
.
, affectionately dubbed "Norma", was built in 1919 by William Hill and Son of London, and contains 3,500 pipes. Originally considerably smaller, though still an impressive 23 tons in weight, the instrument toured England and was set up in halls and theatres as part of a travelling vaudeville show. The organ was enlarged and installed at the British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley in 1924, before being moved to Tunbridge Wells Opera House. From there, it was donated to Dunedin by Mr and Mrs A. S. Paterson at a cost to them of £16,000.
The organ has been extensively restored, and though care has been taken to ensure that the organ's sound has not been greatly altered, this restoration has included the upgrading of the console with the latest playing accessories.
Dunedin
Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is located in the heart of the city extending from The Octagon
The Octagon, Dunedin
The Octagon is the city centre of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand.-Features:The Octagon is an eight sided plaza bisected by the city's main street, which is called George Street to the northeast and Princes Street to the southwest...
, the central plaza, to Moray Place
Moray Place, Dunedin
Moray Place is an octagonal street which surrounds the city centre of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. The street is intersected by Stuart Street , Princes Street and George Street...
through a whole city block. It is the seat of the Dunedin City Council, providing its formal meeting chamber, as well as a large auditorium and a conference centre. The oldest part of the building has been called the only substantial Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
town hall still in existence in New Zealand. It isn't but it may be the most substantial Victorian municipal building still in use in the country for its original purpose.
Name
The name is ambiguous. The structure was built in two major stages with a fifty-year gap between. The first stage, built in the 19th century, is a block of offices. This was popularly called the “Dunedin Town Hall” even though it had no auditorium. The second stage, built in the early 20th century, had not one but two auditoriums; this whole new addition was then officially designated the “Dunedin Town Hall”, and the pre-existing office block became the “Municipal Chambers”. The term “Dunedin Town Hall” now came to be used in its official sense but also specifically for the main auditorium by itself and frequently too for the whole extended building. In the 1980s the official name for the second stage additions was changed to “The Dunedin Centre” but few people know exactly what that refers to. This article is about the whole building.First phase
Dunedin City was incorporated in 1865, the first so constituted in New Zealand. Following the population growth and wealth generated by the Otago gold rushCentral Otago Gold Rush
The Central Otago Gold Rush was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand...
, the city council decided it should build new and larger premises. The settlement's first wooden town offices were demolished in 1859, and no formal structure existed after that, partly because of indecision as to where it should be. A decision was finally made in favour of the site of the city's first hospital. (This is commemorated by a plaque in Municipal Lane.) A design competition was held which was won in 1877 by Thomas Bedford Cameron, with a design submitted by R. A. Lawson placed second.
When costed Cameron’s design proved to be more expensive than the £7,000 allowed for the project. The council, which had admired Lawson’s impressive front elevation, employed him to re-work Cameron’s design and also to supervise its construction. In the event he was allowed to substitute his own design for Cameron’s.
A contract was let to Mercer & Low for £15,230 – a considerable increase on the original budget. The foundation stone was laid on 23 May 1878 and the building was opened for business on 25 May 1880. By the time a clock had been installed the whole price was £20,000.
The structure was conceived as the first part of a larger complex which would eventually include an auditorium to seat 2,000 people. What was built in this first stage was a set of offices on the Octagon, with a council chamber and an observation tower, the latter intended as a lookout for the Fire Brigade.
This first building has three main storeys, the ground or basement constructed of Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers is a suburb and the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 3,000. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast from Dunedin's city centre....
breccia
Breccia
Breccia is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix, that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments....
with the floors above built of Oamaru limestone
Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand.The stone is used for building purposes, especially where ornate moulding is required. The finished stonework has a creamy, sandy colour...
. There was a central entrance at the first floor level – the piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
in architectural terms - reached by a double flight of steps from the street. Above it there is a high tower of five more levels incorporating a clock, bells and a mansard roof
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...
. The four corners of the building also have mansard roofs. The tower is 47 metres (165 feet) to the base of the flagpole and is very prominent in central Dunedin. The building’s principal elevation still dominates the Octagon.
The inspiration of the design, or at least its main elevation, is Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
’s for the Palazzo Senatorio on the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, the seat of the Roman civic government. With its corner mansard roofs and proportionately much higher tower, Lawson’s building also echoes the old civic halls of the Netherlands, and Flanders, the latter modern Belgium - for example, the Oudenaarde Town Hall
Oudenaarde Town Hall
The Town Hall of Oudenaarde, Belgium was built by architect Hendrik van Pede in 1526-1537 to replace the medieval Schepenhuis that occupied the same site...
. In this the design parallels George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...
’s for St Pancras Station in London which similarly mingles Italian and north European elements in an eclectic mix.
The Sydney Town Hall
Sydney Town Hall
The Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral...
, started in 1868, is a comparable mixture and its main elevation is broadly similar. So is that of the Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...
, started in 1871, although that is far larger, more exuberant and apparently French, and was ultimately completed to a very different plan. While probably aware of these other near contemporaries it is clear Lawson arrived at his own composition whose combination of grandeur and restraint seems characteristic.
The side elevations were dressed to be seen, like the Octagon frontage, sharing its tiers of pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed and then arched windows, Corinthian pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s, cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and balustrade. The rear elevation was left clearly unfinished with bricked-in apertures intended to give access to the auditorium when it was built. A clock was ordered from Gillett & Bland of London, with its own peal of chimes, and was started on 2 December 1880. There was a fifty-year pause before a rearward extension was completed to a plan different from that which Lawson had envisaged.
Second phase
In 1913 the city council held a competition for the design of the Town Hall, which was won by Henry Mandeno (1879–1972) in 1914. The winning design projected two auditoria each in its own compartment: one smaller, running transversely across the site immediately behind the Municipal Chambers; the other, larger, extending from there to Moray Place, oriented on the same north/south axis as the whole site from the Octagon. The smaller auditorium, then called the Concert Hall, was to seat 600 people. The larger was to seat 3,000. Although Mandeno's name was on the winning design, it is likely it was the work of Roy Fraser (1895–1972), then too young to enter the competition independently.The First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
delayed progress, and in the early 1920s ratepayers voted against raising a loan to pay for the building. The city council's profits from its trading departments during the 1925-1926 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition
New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition (1925)
The New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition was a world's fair held in Dunedin, New Zealand from November 1925 until May 1926 which celebrated that country and the South Seas...
enabled it to undertake the project and pay for it with cash. The plans were now modified explicitly by Mandeno's new partner Roy Fraser. Among other changes, the floor of the Concert Hall was lowered below that of the main auditorium and also below the first floor of the Municipal Chambers, thus placing a barrier between them. This impeded Lawson's intended entry from the Octagon to the spaces behind the Municipal Chambers, and generally made movement through the whole extended complex difficult. The foundation stone was laid on 3 March 1928 and the building was opened on 15 February 1930. The main auditorium was then, and remains, the largest in New Zealand.
The building was constructed of steel-reinforced concrete with Oamaru limestone
Oamaru stone
Oamaru stone is a hard, compact limestone, quarried at Weston, near Oamaru in Otago, New Zealand.The stone is used for building purposes, especially where ornate moulding is required. The finished stonework has a creamy, sandy colour...
cladding and was intended to harmonise with the Municipal Chambers which it physically adjoins. The initial design employed a revived Baroque style. The later re-working simplified this, making it more austere and more purely classical. The main auditorium has a pillared and pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
ed facade to Moray Place accommodating its principal entrance. Corner stairwells on the Moray Place front and comparable "towers" at the southward end give the main auditorium's building compartment a basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
-like form. The Concert Hall's entrance facade is more detailed, and more closely matches Lawson's Municipal Chambers whose west elevation it joins, making a successful transition to the plainer side of the main auditorium. The narrow Harrop Street flanks that western boundary of the whole complex while the eastern one, originally designed to be chiefly unseen, is bounded by the pedestrian walkway of Municipal Lane.
The main auditorium has two galleries above the ground floor, the first arranged as a long-sided U, and an organ, installed at the back of the stage. Its ground floor foyer has an impressive barrel-vaulted, coffered ceiling. The Concert Hall, long called the Concert Chamber, had a proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
and a single gallery. Neither auditorium had a fly tower or an orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
because they were designed primarily for musical performances. The project cost £86,000, exclusive of the organ.
Later building history
In 1939, the interior of Lawson’s building was remodelled. Lifts were installed and the exterior steps were removed and replaced with a balcony. Some time before 1955, two storeys were added to the southeast corner of the 1930 extension. In 1963, the top of the Municipal Chambers' tower was removed and replaced with a truncated aluminium cap, known as "the meat safe" ostensibly for reasons of safety, but in fact as a prelude to demolishing the whole of Lawson’s structure. This was controversial but plans to demolish the building continued to be entertained into the 1980s.Nevertheless, the then city architect Bill Hesson (1929–2007) conceived a plan to redevelop the whole complex. The Concert Chamber was substantially modified and its seating capacity reduced to become the Glenroy Auditorium by a design of Hesson's when it was made part of a conference centre, the "Dunedin Centre", in 1985-88. The main auditorium was refurbished, but not substantially changed, and a new entrance was added at the foot of the Moray Place facade in 1988-1990. This entrance was designed by Tim Heath.
In a notable reversal of earlier intentions, in part brought about through public protest, Lawson’s building was now restored. Its tower and steps were replaced and its interiors thoroughly redecorated and retrofitted with modern servicing. This was done under the supervision of Hesson's successor as City Architect, Robert Tongue and was generally and critically well-received. (It won the New Zealand Institute of Architects’ National Award in 1991.) The building was re-opened on 16 November 1989.
The Metro Cinema was incorporated into the basement of the main auditorium in the mid 1990s.
Present plans for redevelopment
In the early 2000s a plan to enlarge the space available for conferences was developed. This envisaged building onto the western elevation across Harrop Street. After much public debate, this plan was abandoned in favour of making the additional provision by opening the compartment housing the Glenroy Auditorium internally into the adjacent Municipal Chambers. While further reducing the capacity of the Glenroy Auditorium this would also allow linear access through the whole extended complex from the Octagon to Moray Place at the level Lawson intended, the first floor of his Municipal Chambers. It thus mitigates the awkwardness introduced by placing the smaller compartment transversely across the site and the lower floor level of the smaller auditorium.It is also proposed to remove Mr Heath's entrance on Moray Place and to replace it with a new glass-clad structure, set slightly apart from the building. The architect is Jeff Thompson. It is anticipated construction will start in 2010 and will cost NZ$
New Zealand dollar
The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....
45.4 million. The Town Hall will be closed to events for twelve months from May 2010.
Comparisons and contrasts
The Dunedin Town Hall represents a type of municipal building characteristic of the mid 19th and early 20th centuries. Such structures provided civic offices, a council chamber and a large auditorium in one building and often had a clocktower. Most had an organ in the large auditorium and often a smaller auditorium for chamber music. The Dunedin building had all of these features and although its smaller auditorium is much reduced, they all survive.Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...
extends to enclose a courtyard, while Sydney’s
Sydney Town Hall
The Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral...
interior plan does not have the transverse compartment of Dunedin’s old Concert Chamber. The long gap between the Dunedin building’s two construction phases also produced a discernible disunity of styles. While Lawson’s Municipal Chambers might be described as Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
, Fraser’s additions are better characterised as understated Neo-Baroque.
In New Zealand the Wellington Town Hall
Wellington Town Hall
The Wellington Town Hall is a concert hall and part of the municipal complex in Wellington, New Zealand. The foundation stone for the building was laid in 1901 and construction began the following year. It was officially opened on 7 December 1904....
and Auckland Town Hall
Auckland Town Hall
The Auckland Town Hall is a historic building on Queen Street in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, known both for its original and ongoing use for administrative functions , as well as for its famed Great Hall and its separate Concert Chamber...
are comparable. The Wellington building, designed by Joshua Charlesworth and built between 1901 and 1904 in a Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style, has lost its clocktower and portico. The Auckland Town Hall, opened in 1911 and designed by the Melbourne firm JJ & EJ Clarke
John James Clark
John James Clark , an Australian architect, was born in Liverpool, England. Clark’s 30 years in public service, in combination with 33 in private practice, produced some of Australia’s most notable public buildings, as well as at least one prominent building in New Zealand.-Biography:John James...
in a Renaissance Revival manner, is better preserved. Both are rather smaller than their Dunedin counterpart.
In Australia, apart from Sydney, the Adelaide Town Hall
Adelaide Town Hall
Adelaide Town Hall is a landmark building on King William Street in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.-Description and history:Adelaide Town Hall was designed by Edmund Wright and Edward Woods, with construction commencing in 1863 and completed in 1866...
, built between 1863 and 1866 and designed by Edmund Wright
Edmund William Wright
Edmund William Wright was an Australian architect, engineer and businessman born near London. He was Mayor of Adelaide in 1859.Wright was a son of Stephen Wright who may have been Master of Ordnance at the Tower of London...
and Edward Woods in a Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
style, is another parallel. Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne Town Hall is the central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Melbourne...
is one too. Built on a corner site between 1870 and 1887 to a Second Empire design of Joseph Reed
Joseph Reed (architect)
Joseph Reed , a Cornishman by birth, was probably the most influential Victorian era architect in Melbourne, Australia. He established a practice, Reed and Barnes in Melbourne in 1852. The practice now known as Bates Smart is one of the oldest continually operating in the world.Reed's buildings...
’s, it was extended in 1900, but a fire in 1925 destroyed much of it, including the main auditorium. The Perth Town Hall
Perth Town Hall
The Perth Town Hall, situated on the corner of Hay and Barrack streets, is the only convict-built town hall in Australia.Designed by Richard Roach Jewell and James Manning in the Victorian Free Gothic style, the hall was built by convicts and free men between 1868 and 1870...
in Western Australia is another representative of the type, designed by Richard Roach Jewell
Richard Roach Jewell
Richard Roach Jewell was an architect who designed many of the important public buildings in Perth during the latter half of the nineteenth century....
and built between 1860 and 1870 in a revived Gothic style. To a lesser extent so too is the Hobart Town Hall, which has no tower. It was designed by Henry Hunter in an Italian classical manner and built between 1864 and 1866.
In Britain the Leeds Town Hall
Leeds Town Hall
Leeds Town Hall was built between 1853 and 1858 on Park Lane , Leeds, West Yorkshire, England to a design by architect Cuthbert Brodrick.-Background:...
and Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall
Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian-era, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. The building functions as the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments....
are notable comparable examples, while the Sheffield Town Hall
Sheffield Town Hall
Sheffield Town Hall is a building in the City of Sheffield, England. The building is used by Sheffield City Council, and also contains a publicly displayed collection of silverware. The current building, Sheffield's fourth town hall, is located on Pinstone Street. It was designed by the...
is perhaps rather less so. Leeds was designed by Cuthbert Brodrick
Cuthbert Brodrick
Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA was a British architect, whose most famous building is Leeds Town Hall.- Early life :...
in a Second Empire style and built between 1853 and 1858. Manchester was built between 1868 and 1877 to Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse
Alfred Waterhouse was a British architect, particularly associated with the Victorian Gothic Revival architecture. He is perhaps best known for his design for the Natural History Museum in London, and Manchester Town Hall, although he also built a wide variety of other buildings throughout the...
’s Gothic Revival design. Sheffield is later, built between 1890 and 1897 in Jacobethan
Jacobethan
Jacobethan is the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance , with elements of Elizabethan and...
style, and was designed by E. W. Mountford.
Among these numerous parallels, the Dunedin Town Hall is distinguished by its completeness of the features which characterise the type and their survival; its relatively large scale, especially considering the size of the city it serves; the unusually long gap between its construction phases; and the aesthetic distinction of some of its features, notably Lawson's Octagon elevation. It also forms an excellent townscape with its neighbour across Harrop Street, St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin
St Paul's Cathedral is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Dunedin, in New Zealand and the seat of the Bishop of Dunedin.-Location:The Cathedral Church of St Paul occupies a site in the heart of The Octagon near the Dunedin Town Hall and hence Dunedin...
.
"Norma"
The Concert Hall's symphonic organSymphonic organ
The symphonic organ is a style of pipe organ which flourished during the first third of the twentieth century in town halls and other secular public venues . It is a variation of the classical pipe organ intended for the performance of orchestral transcriptions, which are serious orchestral...
, affectionately dubbed "Norma", was built in 1919 by William Hill and Son of London, and contains 3,500 pipes. Originally considerably smaller, though still an impressive 23 tons in weight, the instrument toured England and was set up in halls and theatres as part of a travelling vaudeville show. The organ was enlarged and installed at the British Empire Exhibition
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925.-History:It was opened by King George V on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part...
at Wembley in 1924, before being moved to Tunbridge Wells Opera House. From there, it was donated to Dunedin by Mr and Mrs A. S. Paterson at a cost to them of £16,000.
The organ has been extensively restored, and though care has been taken to ensure that the organ's sound has not been greatly altered, this restoration has included the upgrading of the console with the latest playing accessories.
Sources
- "Building Improvements in the City" article in Otago Daily Times 6 February 1879 supplement p.a.
- "Dunedin Town Hall Competition" article in Progress April 1914.
- Herd, Joyce, and Griffiths, George J. (1980) Discovering Dunedin. Dunedin: John McIndoe.
- Jackie Gillies + Associates, Dunedin Town Hall, Conservation Report, June 2008, commissioned by the Dunedin City Council.
- Knight, HardwickeHardwicke KnightFrederick Hardwicke Knight was a prominent author and photographer from Broad Bay, New Zealand...
and Wales, Niel (1988) Buildings of Dunedin. Dunedin: John McIndoe. ISBN 0-86868-106-7 - Ledgerwood, Norman (2008) The Heart of a City the Story of Dunedin's Octagon. Dunedin, NZ. ISBN 978-0-473-12989-7
- McFarlane, ShonaShona McFarlaneShona Graham McFarlane CBE was a New Zealand artist, journalist and broadcaster.McFarlane was born in Gore and educated at Otago Girls' High School, and studied teaching at Dunedin Teachers' College...
(1970) Dunedin: Portrait of a City. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs. - McGill, David, and Sheehan, Grant (1997) Landmarks: Notable Historic Buildings of New Zealand. Auckland: Godwit Publishing. ISBN 1-86962-003-8
- Trotter, Olive (1994) Dunedin's Crowning Glory, the Town Clock Tower. Dunedin, NZ.
- Unknown, Town Hall, Dunedin. Conditions of Competition, Dunedin City Council, Dunedin, 1913.