Matavai and Turanga
1 and 3 Phillip Street, Waterloo
Stafford Moor & Farrington for the Housing Commission of NSW. 1973 to 1976, opened 1977. Brutalism.
- Size
- 30 storeys and 203 homes in each tower; about 23 m square on plan
- Material
- Precast concrete on the Leicon system
- Status
- Public housing in Waterloo North, which is slated for redevelopment after Waterloo South
The Housing Commission of NSW built the twin towers for older tenants, as the focal point of a new estate at Waterloo and a landmark for South Sydney. Stafford Moor & Farrington designed them, with McDonald Wagner and Priddle as engineers, and they were built between 1973 and 1976. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip opened them in 1977. Each has 30 storeys and 203 homes, and together they can house up to 522 people.
The names come from Captain Cook’s voyages. Matavai is the harbour in Tahiti that Cook visited, and Turanga is the Māori word for a landing place. Four 17-storey blocks around them, Solander, Marton, Cook and Banks, carry the theme on, and the six buildings together form the Endeavour Estate. Murals and decorative details on each floor of the towers refer to Cook.
Each tower is a slender square shaft about 23 metres a side, built of precast concrete. Recessed bays of stacked balconies run the full height between plain panels and corner wings with small paired windows, and a plant room rises from the middle of the roof. In the mid-1990s some studios were joined into one-bedroom flats. The towers stand in Waterloo North, which is slated for redevelopment after Waterloo South.
Read about Brutalism in Sydney
Sources
- Retain Repair Reinvest: Waterloo North and Central, full report, OFFICE (2025)
- Matavai and Turanga Building, Australian Design Centre
- The Brutalist Project Sydney, Glenn Harper (2016), Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarships Journal Series, NSW Architects Registration Board