North Sydney Council Chambers has undergone a number of transformations over the century
This July marks 100 years since the opening of North Sydney Council Chambers in 1926 on the corner of Miller and McLaren Streets, which commanded ‘a very fine view of the harbor,’ according to the Daily Telegraph of the day.
Council had previously met in the former East St Leonards Borough Town Hall, built in the 1880s on Alfred Street, Milsons Point. By the 1920s, the old building was no longer fit for purpose; Mayor GT Clarke went so far as to call it ‘a death trap.’ North Sydney Municipal Council began to seek larger and more centrally located premises.
A private hospital known as ‘Kelrose’ was chosen, originally designed for the Capper family by influential local architect Edward Jeaffreson Jackson around 1902. The house was both a family home and medical practice for Dr Harold Selwyn Capper until 1923.
English-born ‘Jeaff’ Jackson was influenced by the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement and became a key figure in the development of English Revival/Federation architecture in Sydney. That style drew on historical features which you can see in Kelrose’s ‘battered’ (sloping) walls and arrow slit vents, giving it a startling resemblance to a medieval fortress.
Council decided to enlarge the existing building, and Architect Albert Edmund Bates designed a sympathetic extension, replicating Jackson’s original elements.
On opening the new chambers on 10 July 1926, former prime minister and member for North Sydney, Billy Hughes, declared, “Nothing can be got without effort. Risks must be taken, and money must be borrowed in order that we can develop this great country of ours.” The total cost of the project was nearly £15,000.
More room was needed within a decade. Crows Nest architect Ruper Villiers Minnett designed a mirror image extension of the building, completed in 1938. Since then, the council chambers have seen several major additions. Architect John Lander Browne carried out extensions in the 1960s, Harry Seidler added the modernist Wyllie Wing in 1977 and Feiko Bouman completed the Carole Baker Building in 2000.
On 8 April 1976, a fire destroyed the first floor and roof of the 1938 Miller Street wing. Council considered demolishing the entire Miller Street building. However, in the face of considerable public opposition, the damaged portion of the historic building was rebuilt. North Sydney Council Chambers is now listed on the National Trust heritage register.
Historical Services, North Sydney Council.