In Sydney’s prosperous post-war years, the city’s head architect, Albert Smillie, and its first head landscape architect, Ilmar Berzins, oversaw a plethora of transformative public projects, including libraries, welfare centres, pools, gardens and parks.
Many of these projects remain a pivotal part of public Sydney, while some, including the Sulman Medal winning Florence Bartley Library in Kings Cross, are no longer.
Now, the City of Sydney’s resident architect councillor Philip Thalis is calling for a renewed recognition of the contribution of these little-known designers, and, at his behest, the council has committed to a heritage study of their projects.
Albert Smillie joined the Sydney Municipal Council as an architectural draftsman in 1924, becoming chief architect in 1949 and principal architect from 1953 to 1969.
Thalis, the author of the recently published work Public Sydney, told council that while the period under Smillie might not have been as distinguished or prolific as those of early twentieth century government architects Robert Brodrick or George McRae, there are nonetheless many works from this period that deserve recognition.
“There are many buildings that we take for granted from this period… it would be worth us understanding their value when we modify or demolish them, or in fact refurbish them,” he said.
The Arthur McElhone Reserve by Ilmar Berzins, 1964.
Image: City of Sydney archives
Projects completed under Smillie include sports facilities such as Victoria Park Pool, welfare centres, kindergartens, baby health centres, council housing in Pyrmont and Glebe and libraries including Anthony Doherty in Surry Hills and Catherine Sloss in Woolloomooloo. The Florence Bartley Library, demolished in 1997, was the best of the buildings according to Thalis, who described it as a “very beautiful, very calm civic building.” He says there is a risk that other significant public works by Smillie and the landscape architect Ilmar Berzins could be lost if they are not identified.
Berzins was employed the first qualified landscape architect to be employed in local government in Australia and is often credited as the first landscape architect to work in the Sydney, having received his qualification in Germany.
He was employed by the city in 1951 and became director of parks and gardens in 1984. His projects include the Arthur McElhone Reserve in Elizabeth Bay, Sandringham Gardens in Hyde Park, Chessboard Garden in Hyde Park and others which have been demolished, such as Fragrance Garden in Cook and Phillip Park.
At an extraordinary council meeting on 9 August, councillors unanimously passed Thalis’s motion noting the importance of Smillie and Berzins, and requested the city CEO to investigate the commissioning of a heritage study of projects completed under their purview.
Thalis noted that public design from the mid-century period is often maligned and could be at risk of demolition.
“We need to have an understanding of our own repository of good modern design from the post-war period,” he said. “Our aspirations have changed, and perhaps enlarged, since the more municipal works of that time but nonetheless we should stand on the shoulders of our forebears rather than kicking them out of the way.”
