Governor Phillip Tower
1 Farrer Place, Sydney
Denton Corker Marshall. 1990 to 1993. Contemporary.
- Size
- 227 m, or 254 m to the tip of the mast. 54 floors above ground on the Skyscraper Center; Wikipedia says 62 and JPW 64 levels. Width not found; the drawing’s width is estimated
- Material
- Polished grey granite, stainless steel fins, a sandstone podium
- Status
- Offices
The first Government House stood on this block from 1788 until it was demolished in 1845 to 1846, and excavation of its remains began in 1983. The development that followed is more than the tower. It includes the shorter Governor Macquarie Tower to the south, the Museum of Sydney, also by Denton Corker Marshall, and a plaza over the foundations, which are on the National Heritage List. Janet Laurence and Fiona Foley collaborated on the plaza, which won the Lloyd Rees Award for Urban Design in 1995.
The tower has a polished granite shaft on a four-level sandstone podium, with the shaft held up ten floors above the street on zinc-plated transfer beams. The architects describe the top as a cap of slender stainless steel fins. It has the nickname the milk crate. Governor Macquarie Tower, next door, uses the same materials without the crown.
In 1994 the tower won the Sir John Sulman Medal and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ national award for commercial architecture. Wikipedia reports that critics questioned its scale at street level and the fit between the two towers, and that many consider the museum and plaza the most successful part of the scheme.
Sources
- Governor Phillip Tower, Wikipedia
- Governor Phillip Tower, Denton Corker Marshall
- Governor Phillip Tower & Governor Macquarie Tower, JPW
- Governor Phillip Tower, Skyscraper Center, CTBUH
- Museum of Sydney, Wikipedia