Warringah Civic Centre

Shire Hall

When Warringah Shire Council was formed in 1906, the Council first met in the Narrabeen Progress Hall on 14 June 1906, before moving to Brookvale. From March 1907 the Council leased "Smith's Hall" (later to be known as "Empire Hall") in West Street, Brookvale from Mr W. Smith to act as their council chambers. On 26 February 1910, a more permanent chambers was built on Pittwater Road, facing the land that would soon become Brookvale Oval. The opening was conducted by Shire President Alexander Ralston and was attended by Dr. Richard Arthur, Member for Middle Harbour. This first Council Chambers was a small Federation bungalow style building which served both as council offices and the Shire Clerk's residence.

In July 1912 the council commissioned architect James Campbell to design and build a larger Shire Hall, also in the Federation style, next to the council chambers building for the sum of £945. On 16 November 1912 the Shire Hall was officially opened by Shire President William Hews, with speeches on the occasion from Sir Granville Ryrie (Federal Member for Warringah), Dr. Richard Arthur MLA and Alderman Ellison Quirk.

In 1923, the council commissioned the construction of a new Shire Hall to remodel the previous hall in a more modern style. The new Shire Hall was designed by Manly Architects Frederick Trenchard Smith and Samuel Maisey (of the firm Trenchard Smith & Maisey) in a Neo-Georgian style with a much more imposing two-storey facade along Pittwater Road. Local builder H. E. Jackson was contracted for the construction of the new Shire Hall. One notable feature of the new Shire Hall facade was the inclusion of two concrete Doric-style fluted columns. The alterations, which were completed in 1926, were also notable in that it was one of the last construction projects in the greater Sydney area to use shell lime mortar.

The revival design was very similar to Trenchard Smith & Maisey's later work in designing the new Manly Town Hall (1937). In 1928 Trenchard Smith & Maisey were again contracted to design and build various extensions and additions to the existing Shire Hall, including the council public office next door. On 1 September 1951, the Mackellar County Council was established, consisting of three representatives from Warringah Shire and three from Manly Municipality, and its technical offices were located in this new extension on Pittwater road. By the late 1960s, council had recognised the inefficiencies of the Shire Hall and that it was far too small for the needs of the growing council and debate continued on the intiation of a new civic centre for the council. In December 1968, the Shire President Colin Huntingdon noted that "A new Shire Hall is so overdue it isn't funny. The staff are working in rabbit warrens which doesn't help efficiency."

Brookvale remained the administrative centre for Warringah until 1971 when the council resolved to commence the construction of a new Civic Centre in Dee Why. When the council eventually moved to the new Civic Centre in 1973, the Warringah Shire Hall in Brookvale was threatened with demolition in the mid-1970s. Despite some calls for the historic hall to be saved and be used as a community centre, their efforts were to no avail and the hall was demolished in late 1978.

Civic Centre

In the early 1960s the Council initiated planning for a new 'Civic Centre' located in Dee Why to serve as a new home for the council. After commissioning architect Colin Madigan, chief architect of Edwards Madigan Torzillo & Briggs, Madigan came up with designs for a 'new acropolis' on a three-acre site along Pittwater Road that rises steeply from a flat coastal plain. In the early, ambitious stages of the masterplan design, Madigan drew up a 100-year plan for the site, which included a civic centre, library, gymnasium, art gallery, public plaza and war memorial and a music auditorium. However, Madigan's vision proved too ambitious and council commissioned him with the initial project of the Dee Why Library. The library, completed in 1966, was praised for its innovative modernist design and was awarded the 1966 Sir John Sulman Medal from the NSW Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

Madigan and colleague Christopher Kringas were later commissioned for their design of the Civic Centre in 1970, which, although designed in a starker Brutalist style to the library, was created to complement the library and, like the library, to sit within the natural bushland setting of the site. Work began on the Civic Centre in 1971. The NSW Heritage register describes thus: "It was designed in conjunction with the development of the National Gallery and was completed in 1973. The centre adjoins Madigan's earlier library. Together they form the first two elements of a proposed cultural and administrative complex. Both Madigan and Kringas were involved in the design of this building and in many respects it served as a testing ground for the National Gallery [1982] and High Court [1980]." The Civic Centre was officially opened on 1 September 1973 by the Shire President, Councillor Dick Legg, and has been the seat of the council since then. Madigan was awarded the Gold Medal by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects for lifetime efforts in the field of architecture in 1981.