Description

TQ 3080 NE and 3081 SE CITY OF WESTMINSTER ALDWYCH, WC2
60/14 ;73/6 (South side)

Australia House and
Government of Victoria
Offices

G.V. II

High Commission offices. 1912-18 by A. Marshall Mackenzie with sculpture
by H. Palmer, incorporating the Government of Victoria offices of 1907-09
by Alfred Burr. Portland stone on steel Frame,slate roof. Monumental
Beaux Arts - Imperial Baroque on a trapezoidal island site as part of the
Aldwych-Kingsway development. 6 storeys including mezzanine and attic
storey and 2 tiers of dormers in steep mansard. 6 windows wide on convex
Aldwych front and 7 windows wide to Strand with vast single bay entrance
front to splayed apex of site and the Government of Victoria Offices
incorporated as west terminal pavilion fronting Melbourne Place. The
splayed apex contains main entrance with lofty architraved doorway with
cornice on consoles flanked by large pedestals bearing pyramidal groups of
over life size allegorial figures carved in stone. The vertically grouped,
bronze framed,3 floors of windows above flanked by colossal Roman Doric
columns in antis between pilasters, the whole double stepped in advance of
channelled flanks. Above the deep main entablature and set in front of the
blind attic, framed by dies, is a huge bronze group of Apollo and quadriga
rising from the sea. The return elevations have channelled podium with
ground floor and mezzanine arcade. Above rises a colossal order of coupled
Roman Doric columns in antis, as above entrance, screening 3 storeys of
bronze framed windows. Above the main entablature the grouping of the
colossal order is echoed in the pilastered dies advanced from the recessed
attic storey. The lower tier of dormers have pilaster-terms and block
cornices while the upper tier are treated as oeil de boeuf. Roof ridges
metal-cased in the form of be-ribboned fasces stopped with cartouches. The
Government of Victoria Offices have arcaded ground floor and mezzanine with
boldly pulvinated banding. Vertically grouped 1st and 2nd floor windows
with segmental cornices on consoles, 2 and 3-light 3rd floor windows, the 3
storeys framed by giant order of banded Ionic quoin pilasters. Lofty attic
with quoin piers and attic and blocking course. Interior has marble lined
principal ground floor rooms along main axis leading to grand staircase.

Listing NGR: TQ3084981009

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• High Commission of Australia, London at Wikipedia
• High Commission of Australia, London official website
• Wikidata Q12252353

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)