Bayside City Council Chambers & Civic Centre

Architect: Kevin Knight of Oakley Parkes and circular meeting rooms designed by Grant Featherston 1959

South | S17

Building Description

Previously known as the Brighton Municipal Offices, this building is part of the Bayside Arts and Culture precinct, completed in 1961 and designed by architect Kevin Knight. The interior of the circular foyer – (now removed to make way for the Brighton Library which opened in 1997) – Council Chamber, and two circular meeting rooms were designed by Grant Featherston and are an intact example of late 1950s interior design in Victoria. Featherston was a leading Australian industrial designer who earned a popular acceptance unique in the history of the industrial design movement in this country. The Civic Centre is of architectural importance as an expression of the influence in Australia of the work of internationally renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The building, with its prominent curved and tapering ‘drum’ form, recalls Wright’s design for the Guggenheim Museum (1946–1959) in Fifth Avenue, New York, which successfully combines curved and planar forms and integrates landscaping into the building fabric through the use of planter retaining walls. The Civic Centre represents a successful translation of the Organic International style of architecture into a suburban public building in Victoria.

What's On

Brighton Library (on the ground floor of the Civic Centre) features a photographic display of Brighton Town Hall and the Council Chambers.

Location