Anzac Square Building

Anzac Square Building is a heritage-listed office building at 255A Ann Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by John Smith Murdoch and built from 1931 to 1959 by A H Mason. It is also known as Queensland Government Offices, State Government Offices, Adina Apartments Hotel, and Murdoch Apartments & Hotel. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

The Queensland Government Offices were built in stages commencing in 1931 and completed by 1959. It forms an integral part of the design by John Smith Murdoch, Chief Architect of the Commonwealth, for the block bounded by Edward, Ann, Creek and Adelaide Streets and consisting of separate state and federal government offices flanking a memorial square. Prior to the construction of the Queensland Government Offices the site was occupied by the old Normal School, near the Edward and Adelaide Streets corner, and a fire station at the corner of Edward and Ann Streets. The land for the Normal School was originally granted in 1852 to the Board for National Education. Further grants were made to the Board of General Education in 1861. The Normal School opened in 1863. The school acquired more land along the Ann Street frontage in 1871 but in 1889 the allotment at the corner of Ann and Edward Streets was dedicated for a Fire Brigade Station Reserve. A fire station, designed by Henry Wallace Atkinson, was built in 1890. The Commonwealth Government owned much of the remaining part of the block. Around 1910 it was investigating a proposal to create a square in front of the Central Railway Station that would serve as a fitting entrance to the city. The idea of a square dedicated to the memory of the Anzacs was first raised soon after the Gallipoli campaign in 1916. A committee was formed in 1919 by Lt Col Donald Charles Cameron to lobby for the creation of a commemorative square that would occupy the entire block. In 1921 the Commonwealth Standing Committee on Public Works decided to erect a National War Memorial as part of the redevelopment of the block. In 1923 John Smith Murdoch proposed a layout for the block which included a central square flanked by rectangular office blocks of similar appearance. An alternative design was produced by the former Deputy Government Architect Lt Col T Pye later in the same year. This scheme, featuring a semicircular drive with triangular planned offices in the northern and western corners of the site, was sent to the federal government for consideration. Murdoch subsequently sent three alternative designs to the Brisbane City Council and the State Public Works Department. One of these was adopted to coordinate the design of the block. Design guidelines were established allowing for the construction of seven storeyed buildings consisting of a two storeyed base faced in granite and sandstone and upper walls of brick or concrete rendered to imitate stone. Detailed design and documentation of the Queensland Government Offices was carried out by the Architectural Branch of the Queensland Public Works Department, in accordance with the guidelines, under the supervision of Andrew Baxter Leven. Elevations were designed to match the proposed Commonwealth Government Offices. By 1928 land in the centre of the block, with frontages to Ann and Adelaide Streets of 228 feet (69 m), was dedicated for the purpose of public park under the control of Brisbane City Council. A national competition held in 1928 to design the Anzac memorial and square was won by Sydney architects Buchanan and Cowper. By 1929 the designs of Anzac Square and the Queensland Government Offices had been finalised. Anzac Square was opened in 1930. The Normal School and adjacent Army Drill shed were demolished by 1930. The site was excavated a

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).