OUR HERITAGE AT RISK -  AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY - 2008

Place:    Dickson Lyneham Flats
Threat:  Demolition or loss of heritage values through decay and neglect

Photo: National Trust of Australia (ACT)

Significance:

The complex is significant for its association with the 1950s-1960s period of rapid growth of the capital.  The design demonstrates a creative and innovative solution to low-cost housing utilising five post-war International styles. Important for its association with architect Sydney Ancher (1904-79), a pioneer of modern domestic architecture in Australia.

The Dickson-Lyneham complex, commissioned in 1959 and completed in 1962, is important historically for its association with the development of public housing in Canberra.  The complex reflects government planning policies of the time, particularly that of the newly formed National Capital Development Commission, to introduce structure into the Capital, with the complex helping to create a ‘gateway’ to the city, to provide low-cost housing, to utilise flats as a means of increasing density and to restrict their height so as not to dominate the skyline to the detriment of public buildings.

The planning and design of the Dickson-Lyneham Flats complex demonstrates a creative and innovative solution to low-cost housing in the capital city.  The design accomplished five residential types with each component being distinctive in plan, size and scale and in site relationships, yet clearly belong visually to the one ensemble of buildings.  It is an outstanding example of architectural harmony and human scale.  Architecturally the complex is an exemplar of the Post-War International style with elements of the Bauhaus style, inspired by the Siedlung at Weissenhof, Stuttgart.  Characteristics include it functional designs with simple cubiform shapes, plain smooth wall surfaces, and abundance of glass, pergolas ad other shade devices.  The complex is of exceptional interest as the earliest fulfilment of this ‘modern’ ideal in a public housing project in Canberra and as the only substantial community housing complex in Australia inspired by the Siedlung at Weissenhof.

Photos: National Trust of Australia (ACT)