Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620:body:0:p47
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 127415–130516

thoughts, feelings and attitudes.  Aesthetic qualities may include the concept of beauty and formal aesthetic ideals.  Expressions of aesthetics are culturally influenced.
In considering aesthetic value, ask:
       >      Does the place have special compositional or uncommonly attractive qualities involving combinations of colour, textures, spaces, massing, detail, movement, unity, sounds, scents?
       >      Is the place distinctive within the setting or a prominent visual landmark?
       >      Does the place have qualities which are inspirational or which evoke strong feelings or special meanings?
       >      Is the place symbolic for its aesthetic qualities: for example, does it inspire artistic or cultural response, is it represented in art, photography, literature, folk art, folk lore, mythology or other imagery or cultural arts?
       >      Does the place display particular aesthetic characteristics of an identified style or fashion?
       >      Does the place show a high degree of creative or technical achievement?
In the case of West Block, the aesthetic values of the place are considered to be:
      * Architectural, deriving from the design qualities of West Block itself, as well as its formal relationship with East Block and the Provisional Parliament House; and
      * Aesthetic, relating to the landscaped setting.

3.2.1               The Federal Capital style
Alongside East Block and the Provisional Parliament house, West Block is an early example of the Federal Capital style, a term used to describe early Canberra architecture (the period from 1913 to World War II).  The name derives from the Federal Capital Commission, the government agency responsible for the construction and administration of Canberra from 1 January 1925 to 1 May 1930, when it was disbanded.
Buildings overseen by the FCC during its first two years of operation (1925-1927) included the Provisional Parliament house, East Block and West Block (designed by the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways, of which John Smith Murdoch was Chief Architect), the Lodge (Oakley and Parkes), Albert Hall (J Hunter Kirkpatrick), Mount Stromlo Observatory (Murdoch, Figure 40), the Forestry School (Kirkpatrick) and the Melbourne and Sydney buildings (John Sulman, Figure 42).
Federal Capital architecture was generally conservative in character; the flamboyance of the Federation era was not seen to be appropriate to the federal capital.  It was also delivered in a climate of financial constraint, where the private sector had little interest in the construction of the 'bush capital'.
As noted by Ken Charlton, author of Federal Capital Architecture, Canberra 1911-1939, the Federal Capital style was a synthesis of revivalist styles (neo-Georgian, Colonial Revival and later Tudor Revival), interwar stripped classicism and overseas influences (including Spanish Mission, the Prairie Style, Stripped Classicism and Art Deco).[91]  Major figures in the development of the Federal Capital included:
      * Sir John Sulman (1849-1934), an architect active in the Arts and Crafts