Mt Eliza Tower
“The Portrait is always the same – not in detail of course, but in mood and inspiration. The river is still, the day is clear… the foreshore is tree-lined and the buildings rise prettily above the foliage… The scene itself is an arcadia – a statement of the ancient pastoral of Vigil and the landscapes of Claude and his British and colonial romantic followers, through to the city planners of the last quarter of the twentieth century…”
This is what Stirling had described about the Swan River in the Picturesque language of the romantic era. Perth has, from its very beginnings of Colonisation, was based on this description and therefore has been seen as a land of the ‘pastoral mystique.’ [1] Mount Eliza, where Kings Park sits on is yet, one of the most culturally important sites of the city. The area is culturally significant and known to the people of the Whadjuk Noongar people as Moora Katta and Kaarta Gar-up. In 1832 Surveyor General to the Swan River Colony, John Septimus Roe, preserved the area and named it ‘Mount Eliza’ after the wife of Governor Darling of New Sales Wales. Although Roe envisioned the area as a public park, his edict was ignored by the Governor and the area was felled for the first Jarrah export by the Colony. In 1971 Roe’s successor, Malcolm Fraser persuaded Governor Weld to gazette the area to be natural reserve and in turn, created Perth’s famous park. In 1890 the first Premier of Western Australia, Sir John Forest, enlarged the park to its present size we see today. The park was officially opened as ‘Perth Park’ in August 1895,[2] as a gift to the people of Perth from the Forrest Government and later changed to ‘Kings Park’ in reference to the British Empire.
Krantz and Shelton’s tower at Mount Eliza was revolutionary. Whist the popularity of modern high rise apartment living in Perth became increasingly common, affluent apartments were only emerging. The replacement of the often basic living amenity that was referred to as a ‘flat’ became replaced with the more luxurious ‘apartment’ to which facilitated the realisation of this exemplary Modern apartment tower. Harold Krantz classed flats through three groups. “First what are known as luxury flats, replacing the larger private residences; secondly, small blocks replacing small cottages and terraces and lastly those built in larger blocks of small units.”[3] In this regard the Mount Eliza tower or affectionately known as the ‘Flask’ or even as the ‘Spark Plug’ is clearly concerned with Krantz’s ‘luxury flats’ and thus becoming on the the city’s most known landmarks.
Built in 1964-1967 for £403,000, the 16 storey apartment tower being built at the top of Mount Street was at the time, considered to be totally unique in Australia.[4] The efficient planning solution of non-orthogonal units to this day, has never been repeated. It is also the first building of its height with only one or two flats to a floor, with 25 apartments contained in 15 residential floors. [5] The other unusual feature is two interlocking circular stairways arranged around a double lift-well in the centre with lead straight into each apartment, eliminating communal hallways.
Perched on a site nearly 50m above sea level, the tower commands a curious object in the landscape, making a total height to the top of the building at 100m above sea level. The circular view, to most residential floors extends over the Swan River and towards the ranges in one direction and to the Indian Ocean in the other. This new level of Modern affluence is yet pushed to the extreme with the top five floors containing only one residential unit on each floor.
At the ground level, technological systems were installed to which were considered to be quite modern at the time. A two-way closed circuit intercommunications system to enable visitors to seek admission to speak to a flat occupant from the foyer, and the use of electronically-controlled glass doors operated by a flat owner to admit visitors to the lift lobby are examples of the luxurious items included in the building. In addition, the distinctive, yet decorative motif on top of the roof, reveals another Modern function. Concealed behind the peculiar form is a cooling tower for the air-conditioning units of the building, and also personifying (one of the many) nicknames as the ‘Thermos Flask’.
For more information and photographs of the original model and hand renderings (by ??) follow link: http://weloveperth.net.au/open-house-perth-mount-eliza-apartments/
Notes.
[1] Crist, Graham, “Krantz and Sheldon: Modernity and urbanism. Flats in Perth 1930-1980”, (Dissertation, University of Western Australia, 1990). 67.
[2] Offen, Richard, Perth: Then and Now, “Perth Park / Kings Park,” 43, London, 2016
[3] Harold Krantz, “Flats: Sociological and Economic Aspects.”
[4] Architecture and Arts, June, 1964.
[5] Anderson, Simon, Nordeck Meghan, “Krantz and Sheldon, Architectural Projects”, The University of Western Australia, Cullity Gallery, 1996.
