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| Perth Concert Hall | |
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 Interactive map of the Perth Concert Hall area | |
| General information | |
| Status | Closed for renovation |
| Type | Concert hall |
| Architectural style | Brutalist |
| Location | Perth,Western Australia, Australia |
| Coordinates | 31°57′29″S115°51′50″E / 31.958°S 115.86385°E /-31.958; 115.86385 (Perth Concert Hall) |
| Current tenants |
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| Construction started | 1971; 55 years ago (1971) |
| Opened | 26 January 1973 |
| Cost | A$3.2M |
| Owner | City of Perth |
| Design and construction | |
| Architecture firm | Howlett & Bailey |
| Main contractor | Transfield |
| Other information | |
| Seating capacity | 1,729 people (main auditorium) |
| Website | |
www | |
| Type | State Registered Place |
| Designated | 12 July 2002 |
| Reference no. | 4571 |
ThePerth Concert Hall is aconcert hall located inPerth,Western Australia. Owned by theCity of Perth, the concert hall is the main venue of theWest Australian Symphony Orchestra, and also hosts a number of other events and performances. The building itself is located in thePerth central business district, adjacent to theSupreme Court Gardens andGovernment House. It has twofaçades: facing north overSt Georges Terrace, and facing south over theSwan River.
The concert hall was constructed on land granted to the City of Perth by theGovernment of Western Australia, and opened onAustralia Day (26 January), 1973. Designed byHowlett & Bailey, the building is constructed in theBrutalist style, making heavy use of white off-formconcrete and a solid opaque interior. The main auditorium of the hall seats 1,729 people, as well as a 160-person choir gallery and a 3,000pipe organ. Acoustically, the venue is considered one of the best in Australia,[citation needed] with the design overseen by the New Zealand acousticianHarold Marshall.
In 1950, theGovernment of Western Australia granted theCity of Perth land betweenStirling Gardens andGovernment House. Howlett & Bailey designed an administrative building and an auditorium, however due to financial constraints, only the former was built,Council House opening in 1963. In 1968 Howlett & Bailey was appointed to design a concert hall with construction byTransfield commencing in 1971.[1][2] It was officially opened on 26 January 1973 by theGovernor GeneralPaul Hasluck, withPrime MinisterGough Whitlam also in attendance.[3][4][5]
In January 2015 theWest Australian Symphony Orchestra become the venue manager of the hall, taking over fromAEG Ogden that had managed it since March 1999.[6][7] In April 2018, the City of Perth approved aA$1.4-million upgrade for the concert hall.[8]
A $52-million redevelopment of the concert hall was announced in 2020 as part of the Perth City Deal project,[9] with the Government of Western Australia contributing $36.4 million, the federal government $12 million and the City of Perth $4 million.[10] In March 2022, With Architecture Studio andOffice for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) were appointed lead architects for the redevelopment.[11] In March 2023, the state government announced an additional $98 million towards the project, bringing the total funding to $150 million. The redevelopment commenced with closure of the venue in 2025 and is scheduled for completion in early 2028.[12][13]
The building was designed byHowlett & Bailey.Jeffrey Howlett andDonald Bailey had won a design competition for a town hall and auditorium in 1961. Their design consisted of two buildings, one containing administrative offices and the other, oval in shape, comprising the "town hall" or auditorium. The administration offices, calledCouncil House, were built, however financial constraints and doubts regarding the auditorium's acoustic properties meant that construction of the auditorium building was delayed. Its design was subsequently re-considered and it was not until the late-1960s that a different plan was approved. This plan was:[This quote needs a citation]
to accommodate not more than 2,000 people and to cost no more than $2 million and with the highest priority to be given to its musical uses, i.e. Symphony concerts, choral concerts, organ recitals, etc., and, in addition, performances of minimum staged ballet, fold dances or musical drama, and also be suitable for other functions such as large Civic receptions, conferences, conventions, public meetings, pageants, school speech days, pop concerts and folk singers.
Through 1969, thearchitectural plans were amended several times. These amendments included beautification and landscaping of the main pedestrian approach from St Georges Terrace and construction of a subway under the Terrace, a pit for a 60-pieceorchestra with removable flooring and seating to cover the pit when not in use, and improved access and facilities for disabled people. The original plans included a restaurant with aseating capacity for 400, but following inspection of similar halls in the eastern states of Australia, it was decided that this was not warranted. It was, therefore, decided to make the restaurant smaller and include atavern andcocktail bar, allowing patrons a wider choice. The bar area was namedWardle Room, afterThomas Wardle.
It was the architects' intention that the exhibition foyers would be used as a continually changing venue for all types of art (such aspainting,tapestry andsculpture exhibitions) rather than as permanent exhibition spaces. This may have influenced the Perth City Council's indecision over whether or not to accept artistSidney Nolan's offer to permanently loan the city a series of 64 paintings ofwildflowers for hanging in the hall. After considerable public debate over the matter, Nolan withdrew the offer and art dealers and others criticised the short sighted and parochial attitude of the council in refusing the offer. Ironically, the first exhibition in the foyers featured 54 of Nolan's wildflower paintings.
Several consultants were involved in the design of the building, includingacoustic consultants,structural engineers, and experts inescalators,stage machinery andlighting.D. H. Fraser was responsible for the structural design and Marshall was the acoustics consultant, in association with Warwick Mehaffey of theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation.
Marshall usedcomputer modelling to predict how well people would hear in each of the seats and worked closely with the architects in designing the main auditorium, which according to Howlett had to be,[This quote needs a citation]
a Great Room, as theConcertgebouw hall inAmsterdam, theBoston Symphony Hall and theMusikvereinsaal inVienna are great rooms, recognised for their superb acoustic and that is not merely clarity...The great halls have ornate ceilings and other ornamentation. Though the Perth Concert Hall will be a completely modern building, the "fruity" ceilings and decorations of the older halls, which undoubtedly play a part in their acoustics, will be reproduced, in effect, incoffers hanging from the ceiling, in corrugated walls and in the complex double tier of boxes sloping up the side walls.
The Perth Concert Hall is an example ofbrutalist architecture, with its solid opaque interior, giant projecting roof, and use of white off-form concrete. It forms a counterpoint to the transparentfiligree of Council House.[14]
The auditorium features a specially commissioned 3,000pipe organ surrounded by a 160-personchoir gallery and an audienceseating capacity of 1,729.[15] The organ, individually designed, cost $100,000 and was commissioned byRonald Sharp ofSydney, who was also responsible for the organ at theSydney Opera House. The larger pipes for the organ were imported from theNetherlands. Bailey recollects[relevant?] that Sharp was an "extraordinarily talented person, largely self-educated, who has to his credit the design and construction of a number of organs, mostly inNew South Wales."[citation needed] A 2.7-metre (9 ft)Steinway orchestral concertgrand piano (Model D) was also imported fromWest Germany for installation in the Hall.
The concert call was the first in Australia to have a show relay installed so that latecomers could watch on two screens in the foyer while waiting for an appropriate time to enter. Another screen is located at the stage door.
The City of Perth and the Government of Western Australia, as well as the architects and builders, received many compliments on the hall as it neared completion from visiting experts in the fields of music, architecture and construction.[citation needed]
The Perth Concert Hall has been described as one of the best fine music acoustics venues in Australia.[15] It has played host to a diverse selection of internationally acclaimed performers including theLondon Philharmonic,Chicago Symphony,Israel Philharmonic and contemporary performersB.B. King,Sting,k.d. lang,Harry Connick Jr.,Melissa Etheridge,Ray Charles,Rowan Atkinson andBilly Connolly.[15]
The majority of concerts by theWest Australian Symphony Orchestra are performed at the Perth Concert Hall. The venue is also used for their rehearsals.
The venue is also used to host national conventions and exhibitions, award ceremonies and gala dinners. Recent exhibitions include the Steinway piano exhibition in March 2008. In addition, the venue is used for private or corporate functions in areas other than the auditorium, for example in the foyers, bar and café.
On 27 September 2006 the Perth Concert Hall participated in a twinning ceremony and the signing of Mutual Understanding with thePerth Concert Hall, Scotland. As a result of this twinning the Concert Hall now flies theSt Andrews Flag at the front of the venue to commemorate the twinning.
In 2016 the cultural significance of the building was acknowledged by theAustralian Institute of Architects, initially winning the state basedRichard Roach Jewell Award for Enduring Architecture, later in the same year was also presented theNational Award for Enduring Architecture.[16]
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