The Melbourne and Sydney buildings were based on design principles set by John Sulman in sketch form. The design work was finalised by J H Kirkpatrick. The buildings were the model which establish the colonnade principle, an important design element throughout Civic. From 1921 to 1924 Sulman was chairman of the Federal Capital Advisory Committee, and in that role was involved in the planning of Canberra and refining Griffin's plan.
Sulman's concept of arcaded loggias was derived from Brunelleschi's Ospedale degli Innocenti (Foundling Hospital) and the cloisters of the 15th century Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze. The Mediterranean influence was maintained by Kirkpatrick with Roman roof tiles and cast embellishments such as roundels. The buildings were originally constructed with open first floor verandahs which have since largely been glazed in.
The Melbourne Building was sold sequentially as independent parcels from 1927 until 1946. The corner of West Row and London Circuit was built specifically for the Bank of New South Wales (now the Westpac Banking Corporation). The manager lived above the bank. Much of the Melbourne Building facing West Row was completed by the Commonwealth Government in 1946 and used as the location of the Commonwealth Employment Service. From 1944 to 1953, the Canberra University College was housed in the Melbourne building. On 11 April 1953 the Melbourne Building was severely damaged by fire and the college relocated (it eventually became the Australian National University).
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| The Big Little Man [Dean Bowen, 1999] |
This sculpture (“The Big Little Man”) was based on a small bronze maquette, which weighed about 7 kilos. This sculpture weighs approximately 400 kilograms. Originally made in clay and then cast in bronze using the lost wax method of casting.
I think of his face as a giant section of the earth and the planet, the undulations where it goes up and down like the earth; the holes in the sculpture are like caves or hills, mountains and valleys; the large hat is apart from being a hat is also like a landscape with two huge hills like Mt St.Victoire in France ...
This sculpture included originally making an armature of the piece – so with a large pole was put up through the center of the sculpture or where the sculpture would become, and other metal was welded around in an armature way, that was covered with chicken wire and inside the chicken wire was stuffed newspaper. Onto that armature clay was pushed into the chicken wire and gradually I made the sculpture by putting lots of clay onto the armature and gradually created the sculpture just with my hands.
When the sculpture was completed, a mould was taken and from the mould a wax was taken and using the lost wax method of casting liquid bronze was poured into the blank space. It was cast in two pieces, the head separately from the body and later on the two pieces welded together with rods that go through the head and the torso.
Then the sculpture was chased, where all the little rough bits of bronze were ground away, chiseled off, sanded, just generally cleaned-up which is a massive job. And finally the patina was put on to the sculpture where the sculpture is heated with a blow torch and with different chemical compounds painted directly onto the bronze. With the patina finished the sculpture is finally waxed, and the wax painted over the bronze protects the bronze so it can be outdoors for several years.
