Guide to the Stephen Biggs Parliament House Design Competition entry, 1979

Summary

Collection number:

MFC 39

Extent:

9 items

Language:

English

Availability:

Available

Background

Content Summary:

Manuscript architectural designs of Parliament House Canberra, drawn for the Parliament House Design Competition.

"Designs on original card using various mediums including dyeline prints with hand colouring and silver gelatin photos."--Vendors notes.

Each sheet is numbered in ink in upper left. Sheet 5 also includes label "58".

Each sheet conatins numeric stamp in lower right: 0 0161.

Sheets 3, 9 and 10 stamped on verso: Bainbridge Board, Charles T. Bainbridge's Sons. Edison, N.J. Hot Press Finish. 172, 22 x 30, 30 x 30.

Sheets 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 stamped on verso: Bainbridge Board, Charles T. Bainbridge's Sons. Brooklyn, N.J. H.P Finish. 172, 22 x 30, 30 x 30.

National Library of Australia's holdings do not include sheet number 8.

Each 119 x 84 cm.

Biographical / Historical:

{"corpname":"National Capital Development Commission","content":["In 1979 the","\u003cspan class='corpname'\u003eNational Capital Development Commission\u003c/span\u003e announced an international architectural design competition for New Parliament House, Canberra."]}

{"persname":["Aubrey Biggs","Judith McConnel","Kenneth McConnel"],"content":["One entrant was Queensland-born architect and planner Stephen Biggs. Born in 1924 to engineer","\u003cspan class='persname'\u003eAubrey Biggs\u003c/span\u003e and","\u003cspan class='persname'\u003eJudith McConnel\u003c/span\u003e, author of The Bunya Tree: memories of a childhood spent at Cressbrook (1970). His uncle,","\u003cspan class='persname'\u003eKenneth McConnel\u003c/span\u003e, was an architect."]}

{"geogname":"Kurrajong","persname":"Minnie Biggs","corpname":"RAAF","content":["Following his service in the","\u003cspan class='corpname'\u003eRAAF\u003c/span\u003e in World War Two, Stephen moved to England to work for a company manufacturing prefabricated houses. He travelled to various countries and their remote parts for the job. From the 1960s he lived in the United States with his second wife","\u003cspan class='persname'\u003eMinnie Biggs\u003c/span\u003e, before their move to Portugal in 1985. In 2000 they settled in Australia, where Stephen designed a house in","\u003cspan class='geogname'\u003eKurrajong\u003c/span\u003e bushland. He died in 2009."]}

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

Acquired by the National Library of Australia in 2017.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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