Architecture and design | National Library of Australia (NLA)

Architecture and design

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Cover of 'The Australian Home Beautiful' magazine featuring an illustration of a large yellow house with lots of windows, two balconies and a curved wall on a sunny day

The Australian Home Beautiful, 2 July 1934, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2950922142

Build your knowledge of architecture

See a few highlights from our collection in different formats that can be used to build your architectural knowledge. 

Blog
Cover of the book 'Harold Cazneaux'
Harold Cazneaux

National Library of Australia

Book
NLA Publishing book
Cover of the book 'Our Streets'
Our Streets: The Regional Cities and Major Towns Project

National Library of Australia

Book
NLA Publishing book
Orange and black stylised image of a house
The Australian Dream? with Tim Ross

Hear Tim Ross discuss the telling images he uncovered from public libraries that reveal a multi-decade story of Australian homes and home ownership.

*2nd event added due to popular demand*

Event
Orange and black stylised image of a house
The Australian Dream? with Tim Ross

Hear Tim Ross discuss the telling images he uncovered from public libraries that reveal a multi-decade story of Australian homes and home ownership.

Event
Black and white photo from inside the National Bank head office. 2 ornate staircases in the middle of the image surrounded by white pillars and desks.

Wolfgang Sievers, Interior of National Bank head office, Collins Street, Melbourne, 1941, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-143527488

Sievers Collection

Wolfgang Sievers' remarkable legacy with about 19,000 prints and 52,000 negatives and transparencies captured from 1938 to 1991. His work offers an extraordinary glimpse into Australian architecture, mining, and industry. 

Collection guide
1904 camera

Harold Cazneaux's first camera, 1904, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-141166704

Harold Cazneaux (1878–1953) was perhaps Australia's best-known photographer of the early twentieth century. He purchased this camera in 1904, shortly after moving from Adelaide to Sydney, and made photographs of Sydney's streets and waterways.

In 1909 he became the first Australian photographer to exhibit his works in a solo show.

Cazneaux was a master of the pictorialist style of photography, using soft focus to capture scenes that were - and remain - familiar to many Australians in a new light. He was able to find a timeless, extraordinary beauty in the everyday.

Cazneaux collection

A large collection of glass negatives, papers and photographs dating mostly from 1904 to 1940 depicting many aspects of Australian life and architecture.

Collection guide
A stylised, abstract architects model of the Sydney Opera House. The model shows a hemisphere with triangular segments removed, another hemisphere shows the segments replaced to create a smooth surface.

Jørn Utzon, [Architects model for the geometry of the Sydney Opera House shells] [realia], nla.gov.au/nla.obj-139591596

Designing the Sydney Opera House

Topic

In 1957, Danish architect Jørn Utzon (1918–2008) was announced as the winner of an international design competition for a Sydney opera house, to be built at Bennelong Point.

Digital Classroom
Part of an advertising circular showing an drawing of a house

Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937), Advertising circular for S.C. Johnson & Son ... Kenilworth, Illinois, 1912, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-150353421

Where to find old architectural plans and drawings

Unfortunately, architectural plans have not commonly been kept as archives. This is particularly the case for commercial and residential buildings. However, there are a number of resources which you can try.

Research guide
man working on huge gears

Sievers, Wolfgang, 1913-2007 & Vickers Ruwolt. (1967). The gears [picture] : gears for the mining industry, Vickers Ruwolt, Burnley, Melbourne, 1967 / Wolfgang Sievers. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136505226

Documenting modern Australia

Module

This resource is aligned to the Australian Curriculum: Design and Technologies standards for Year 5 and 6.

Digital Classroom
Man leaning against gate

Sievers, Wolfgang, 1913-2007. (1991). [Photograph of Wolfgang Sievers], Berlin, Germany, 1991 [picture] / Wolfgang Sievers. nla.gov.au/nla.obj-161009403

Wolfgang Sievers

Topic

Wolfgang Georg Sievers, AO (1913–2007) was a well-known modernist photographer who documented Australian architecture and industry over a career spanning almost 60 years.

Digital Classroom
Frank Hurley - House and Gardens

Frank Hurley (1885-1962) [House and gardens, Australia]  [between 1910 and 1962], nla.obj-159237448

How to trace the history of your house

The resources available for each house may be different, due to the fact the availability, organisation, and location of records vary from state to state.

Learning activity for adults
Video

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