Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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A foundation stone laying ceremony here by the State governor was arranged for June 1949. This was 6 years before any work started on the building. The inscription on the stone had to be changed when it was incorporated into the building in 1955. 59 Newcastle Council resumed the Laman Street site with the exception of the Baptist Tabernacle. A group of Newcastle architects formed a panel named NEWMEC and by cooperative effort were responsible for the design of the new building. This panel consisted of architects Castleden and Sara, Hoskins and Pilgrim, Lees and Valentine and Pitt and Merewether. 60 Contractor V F Doran and Sons Ltd of Newcastle won the building tender. The building was smaller than the one proposed in the late 1930s. How this substantial building was paid for should not be forgotten. Major donations included an unknown amount from the council, and £10,000 from the Joint Coal Board, £10,000 from BHP, £2,500 from Lysaghts, £2,000 from Stewarts and Lloyds, £1,500 from the Newcastle Morning Herald and amounts of £1,000 from Commonwealth Steel, Australian Comforts Fund, breweries, Scott’s Ltd and Winn and Co. The State government gave £30,000 especially for the conservatorium. About £6,000 was raised from a scheme whereby 4,500 workers in industry and offices made a regular contribution from each week’s pay for a number of years. A similar scheme was introduced in the schools whereby children gave 3d each week until they had given 10 shillings. 61 The governor opened the centre in October 1957. The building was Newcastle’s official World War Two Memorial to remember and honour the service and sacrifice of so many citizens in that conflict. This was expressed in the sculptured figures placed in the memorial foyer and the inscription ‘In minds ennobled here the noble dead shall live’. The building housed the library, art gallery and conservatorium, provided a home for the Roland Pope collection and was a significant move in the council’s plan to provide Newcastle with a worthy civic and cultural precinct. Before the cathedral-like avenue of trees in Laman Street began to overshadow it, the cultural centre on the crest of the hill south of Civic Park was prominent and imposing with modern lines that complemented the ornate Corinthian façade of the adjoining Baptist Tabernacle and the Gothic design of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The art gallery was at first housed in half of the second floor of the cultural centre until 1962 when the entire floor was made available for the growing collection. In 1963 the von Bertouch Gallery - the first commercial gallery to be established outside an Australian capital city - opened in Laman Street. 62 This was a significant marker of growing public interest in art for which the Art Gallery can claim influence. Commercial firms, too, were taking an interest in art through sponsorship. In 1964 and again in 1966 crises arose when the abstract art that the director purchased and the buying of Fred William’s ‘Landscape in Upwey’ for $1,700 outraged some aldermen. 63 . The outcome was that no restrictions were to be imposed 59 Newcastle Morning Herald 13 May 1949, 22 October 1957 60 Newcastle Morning Herald 22 October 1957 61 Newcastle Morning Herald 22 October 1957 62 ‘A Life Devoted to Art’, Newcastle Morning Herald 22 February 1983 63 Newcastle Morning Herald 7 March 1964, 3 and 7 November 1966 Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 46
on purchases by the director. Visitor numbers to the gallery kept increasing, indicative of public interest and support. By the mid-1960s the library, conservatorium and art gallery were outgrowing their available space and examining their future needs. 64 Much negotiation ensued. In the early 1970s the vacant Frederick Ash buildings then owned by the council were proposed for new gallery space. The government architect made a detailed investigation, drew up designs and estimated costs. 65 The ‘feasible’ proposal was made public in 1971. Two years later the State government granted $100,000 towards the conversion ‘on the recommendation of the Minister for Cultural Activities’. 66 Similar Federal government assistance was foreshadowed. However, the Sydney Opera House was absorbing all money for cultural capital works and all the output of the government architects. Almost no funds or architectural services were available for provincial cultural projects for several years. 67 Early in 1974 ‘expert advice’ and rising costs influenced the council to abandon the Frederick Ash conversion after almost four years of effort. A new building was proposed instead. 68 By choosing a site for it adjoining the cultural centre, the 1940s plan to concentrate public cultural activities in the block bounded by Laman, Queen and Darby Streets was revived. The corner site chosen has an interesting history that has already been summarised. Architect B Pile drew up plans in 1974 and construction began in October 1976. The successful tenderer was A W Gardiner Pty Ltd. Queen Elizabeth II opened the ‘Newcastle Regional Art Gallery’ in March 1977. 69 (Escalating costs are of interest. In 1971 the conversion of Fred c Ash buildings for the Art Gallery was estimated at $100,000. By 1973 the estimate was $335,000. Later that year $500,000 was indicated. It was then estimated that a new building would cost ‘about the same’. In 1974 an estimate of $630,000 for the new building was revised to $758,000. The cost in 1977 was $1.34 million. 70 ) The Newcastle Region Art Gallery was shut for a year after the parapet of the neighbouring cultural centre fell through the gallery roof at the time of the Newcastle Earthquake. The building was sealed and art works removed while extensive repairs were undertaken. 20.3 The Library Historically libraries bring to mind the Mechanics Institute/School of Arts movement of the early 19 th century. This movement led to the formation of many private societies, which came to be supported by the government and were later brought under the administration of the Department of Education, but the movement that created the institutions entered a period of decline in the 20 th century. 64 Newcastle Morning Herald Leader, 14 October 1968 65 Newcastle Morning Herald 26 March 1971 66 Newcastle Morning Herald 8 August 1973 67 Newcastle Morning Herald 21 May 1973 68 Newcastle Morning Herald 15, 16 and 19 February 1974 69 Newcastle Herald 6 June 1974, Newcastle Sun 7 March 1977 70 Newcastle Morning Herald, 25 March 1971, 2 March 1973, 28 February 1974, 20 September 1974, 7 March 1977 Newcastle Civic and Cultural Precinct History ~ Cynthia Hunter ~ January 2003 page 47
Page 1 and 2: We are building a civic monument se
Page 3 and 4: In the 1980s it became apparent tha
Page 5 and 6: 14 Civic Park - acquiring the land
Page 7 and 8: the Electric Supply Department. Chr
Page 9 and 10: 17 Civic precinct development in th
Page 11 and 12: walkway and flight of stairs links
Page 13 and 14: Figure 36: 1960s aerial view of the
Page 15 and 16: After 1957, the Cultural Centre Wom
Page 17: ooks but because they should have t
Page 21 and 22: occasions. Just two years after the
Page 23 and 24: Reaction from the community was var
Page 25 and 26: In 1909, two of Frederick Ash’s s
Page 27 and 28: in opposing light in a lengthy deba
Page 29 and 30: financier and lessee. Many jobs wou
Page 31 and 32: Stage Two was planned to be the hot
Page 33 and 34: (Part of the civic site is about 20
Page 35 and 36: 30 1992 Civic Prospectus In June 19
Page 37 and 38: complex was completed. A solicitor,
Page 39 and 40: 33 Acknowledgment of Sources Books:
Page 41 and 42: Black Diamond Hotel (right). Part o
Page 43: 1986 Figure 44 Illustration of the

Part Two – post 1920s - Newcastle City Council

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