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33 Broadway |
A Brief History
WELCOME TO 33 BROADWAY
Welcome to 33 Broadway, Nedlands, the WA Chapter office of the Australian Institute of Architects!
This heritage-listed building with the colourful, deep-set windows has a long history in Nedlands, and was built in 1965. The design is by architect Julius Elischer.
Julius William Elischer (5 September 1918 – 12 February 2004) born Gyula Vilmos Elischer, was a Hungarian-born Australian architect. Elischer emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1951 and, in 1957, moved to Perth, where he worked until his retirement in 1986.
In his honour, the WA Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects created the Julius Elischer Award for Interior Architecture.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF 33 BROADWAY
TAYLORMADE | DAVID FOULKES TAYLOR
This building at 33 BROADWAY was constructed in 1965 to be used as a showroom for furniture designer David Foulkes Taylor to a design by Architect Julius Elischer.
In 2005 the RAIA purchased the building and carried out refurbishments in 2007 for its occupancy as Chapter headquarters to a design by Architect Bernard Seeber Pty Ltd.
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David Phillips Foulkes Taylor was born in Perth in 1929, the eldest of 5 children of English–born pastoralist Douglas Foulkes Taylor and his wife Helen. David was educated at Christ Church Grammar School, Perth and at Geelong Church of England Grammar School, where he was exposed to the ideas of modernism by art teacher Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, who had studied at the Bauhaus. In 1947, David enrolled in architecture at Perth Technical College but left after a year to study in London at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, during which time he travelled extensively in Europe. He worked with furniture craftsman Norman Potter in Wiltshire and then spent time in New York before returning to Perth in 1954 where he began to design furniture. In 1957, he established his business, ‘Taylormade‘
At his home in Crawley Avenue Nedlands, David established a showroom where he displayed imported European furniture as well as ceramics, glassware, imported fabrics and pictures, and later added the Triangle Gallery where local artists displayed their work. His premises, with its vine-covered courtyard, became a gathering place for the Perth arts crowd. He was encouraging to others and is considered one of the inspirational people in the local art world of the 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1964, David commissioned Architect Julius Elischer to design 33 BROADWAY as a larger display venue for his own furniture and imported wares.
Elischer‘s design was for a double height, single-volume building with two steel framed mezzanine floors accessed by steel stairways and connected suspended central mezzanine. His took into account the brief that the windows had to be designed in a way to provide sufficient light but protect displays from direct sunlight. Windows were provided in a deep revealed, abstract sculptured arrangement. The mass form was cubic, painted white with window reveals in colour.
The building was praised at the time for its use of light and the changing scales of space and was the recipient of a citation in the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Bronze Medal Award of 1969 in Western Australia.
Following the death of David Foulkes Taylor in 1966 and an interim period, 33 BROADWAY became a showroom for Jim Brant assisted by his brother Michael.
The Jim Brant Pty Ltd showroom developed popularity with architects, design lecturers and students because of the display of contemporary European furniture and fabrics such as, Artek and Marimekko, but particularly with Cassina furniture from Milan that had the license to manufacture Le Corbusier’s furniture.
During this occupancy, significant changes were not made to the building except for the laying of carpet over the brick floor in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
The Brants left the building in 1985 and until 2006 it was occupied as a variety of commercial offices. The brick paved floor was replaced with concrete and the interior partitioned into rooms without regard to the original architecture but without removing essential elements.
In 2005 the RAIA purchased 33 BROADWAY and in 2007 carried out refurbishments for its occupancy as Chapter headquarters along with complementary tenants in the Architects Board of Western Australia and Planned Cover, creating WA’s Archicentre.
Refurbishment works were designed by Architect Bernard Seeber Pty Ltd to adapt the original open showroom architecture to that of offices and meeting spaces while retaining and embracing its spatial qualities. Reversible changes to the original architecture have been made and new elements and materials added with a craft reflective of the original.
The RAIA intends to continue refurbishment and conservation works in keeping with its commitment to 33 BROADWAY and the promotion of the art and craft of Architecture.
The RAIA occupancy works were opened by The Hon Michelle Roberts MLA Minister for Housing and Works in the presence of guests, members, Alec Tzannes National President RAIA, and Rod Mollett President RAIA WA Chapter 22 October 2007.
Contact us
WA Chapter
Australian Institute of Architects
33 Broadway
Nedlands, WA, 6009
P: +61 8 6324 3100
E: wa@architecture.com.au
Office hours: 10.00am – 4.00pm
