Federal Capital Commission

The Federal Capital Commission (FCC) was an agency of the Australian government formed to construct and administer Canberra from 1 January 1925. The Chief Commissioner of the body was Sir John Butters.

The FCC followed the Federal Capital Advisory Committee, which had overseen the commencement of the construction of Canberra from 1921 following the termination of the contract of Walter Burley Griffin. The FCC was to prepare Canberra for the arrival of 1,100 civil servants and their families.

During the first 2 years of FCC operation Parliament House, The Lodge, the Albert Hall, the Institute of Anatomy, and the Australian School of Forestry and an Observatory on Mount Stromlo were completed. The FCC also oversaw construction of the Sydney and Melbourne commercial buildings in the City Centre and significant residential development.

The FCC was disbanded on 1 May 1930 following the start of the great depression in 1929. Development after this point was not centrally planned until the establishment of the National Capital Planning and Development Committee in 1938.

Predecessors and successors of the FCC:

* 1921-1924: Federal Capital Advisory Committee
* 1938-1957: National Capital Planning and Development Committee
* 1958-1989: National Capital Development Commission and the National Capital Planning Committee
* since 1989: National Capital Authority

Federal Capital Architectural Style

Federal Capital Commission architects designed houses in the new city and public buildings using a mixture of elements from the Arts and Crafts movement, Mediterranean and Georgian styles. The result is known as the FCC style and is unique to Canberra. FCC style houses can be found in the suburbs of Barton, Braddon, Forrest and Reid.

Sir John Sulman began the development of Federal Capital Architecture. Before emigrating to Australia in 1885, he had been a friend of William Morris and active in the Arts and Crafts movement. Other than Sulman's leadership, the influences on the architects employed by the Federal Capital Authority and Commission were reflecting the thinking after the peak of the nationalistic Australian Federation style and looking to America for inspiration and seeking to practically respond to the Australian climate.

By the time Canberra was being built, the popularity of the uniquely Australian Federation style architecture was waning. The architect Hardy Wilson led the reaction against the ornateness of the Federation style and advocated adopoting approaches from the United States. When Leslie Wilkinson arrived in Australia in 1918 to take up his position as the first Professor of Architecture at an Australian university, he reinforced Wilson's view and advocated building appropriately for the climate, suggesting the Spanish Mission style of architecture in California and Mexico as being an appropriate style for Australia. When Walter Burley Griffin arrived in 1913, there was interest in the Prairie Style of mid-western America with which Griffin was associated. The Classical revival style was popular in America, reflected in Beaux-Arts architecture. There was also interest in Classicism by English architects, including Edwin Lutyens, who was responsible for many of the public buildings in New Delhi built from 1912 to 1929 in the wake of the decision to replace Calcutta as the seat of the British Indian government.

Examples of FCC style

References

*National Capital Authority. [http://www.nationalcapital.gov.au/corporate/history/03_1925-1930.asp 1925 - 1930 Federal Capital Commission]