Architecture fans are in for a treat in Canberra, with a large number of interesting buildings in a small area, with surprising variety and heritage for a city only a hundred years old (which didn’t really grow until the 1950s).
One of the most famous and striking is the domed Academy of Science, surrounded by a reflective moat.
The National Carillon is pretty brutalistic but soften by its surroundings on Aspen Island.
Canberra Airport is rather flash, though only operates at 40% of capacity, and only has one international flight (Singapore – Canberra – Wellington).
The Australian National University clearly isn’t short of funds for striking buildings.
There are obviously lots of Government buildings, including the Treasury and others.
As with most Australian cities Canberra is in the midst of an apartment boom, with some exciting ones near Acton, and more pedestrian if water and restaurant fronted ones at Kingston Foreshore.
Westside Acton Park was a highlight, amazing what can be done with shopping containers and some imagination.
The city centre wasn’t Sydney or Melbourne but offered a few interesting office buildings.
The National Capital Exhibition is nicely sited by Lake Burley Griffth, and offers the history behind the various sites proposed for the capital before Canberra was eventually chosen.
It says something about the relatively young age of Canberra, little more than fields when it became the Australian capital in 1913, that there isn’t a national Cathedral. There are however a handful of attractive churches, in particular the rather lovely and very English St. John’s, just off ANZAC Parade.
The Serbian Orthodox Church (there are 4,000 Serbs in Canberra apparently) was a little gem, with a beautifully painted interior, if also a no photography policy.
St. Andrews was more interesting from a distance, it’s compromised nature more evident up close, I preferred the Greek Orthodox Church near Kingston Foreshore.
Few randoms to finish with. The cafe at top of Red Hill, Chinese gardens by Lake Burley Griffth, random building, the historic Calthorpes House, a bridge across the lake, and the Canberra Theatre Centre.
Leave a Reply