Council House
Howlett & Bailey · Perth, Australia · 1963
Council House introduced a crisp modernist civic office block to central Perth at a time when the city was presenting itself internationally for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Howlett & Bailey used a regular structural grid, extensive glazing and external sun-control elements to create a light office building contrasting with nearby historic masonry institutions. Completed in 1963, Council House became an important example of post-war Australian civic modernism. Its later conservation demonstrated that curtain-wall-era public architecture could be adapted rather than demolished.