Criterion A Gazetted Commonwealth Heritage values Processes The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an expression of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which adopted the views of Holford and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality and avenues. Criterion D Gazetted Commonwealth Heritage values Characteristic values Designed by NCDC architect Gareth Roberts in conjunction with the Commonwealth Department of Works Chief Design Architect Richard Ure, the buildings clearly illustrate NCDC policy in the form and scale of the building envelopes which were determined by the NCDC architect, with the architectural expression developed by the consultant architect. The two buildings are important examples of this design process and the prevailing use in Canberra during the 1960s of the stripped classical interpretation of the International Style of architecture. Criterion E Gazetted Commonwealth Heritage values Aesthetic values A two times magnification view of the Monumental Vista from Mt Ainslie showing the current urban landscape setting and land axis vista. Photographed 2004. As symbols of government, the monumental Portal Buildings are located on Walter Burley Griffin's land axis, Anzac Parade, and the municipal axis, Constitution Avenue, which defines the northern side of the Parliamentary Triangle area in the heart of Canberra, and frame the Parliamentary vista at its transition from land to lake. The Portal Buildings exhibit a monumental character through strongly modelled structural bays, emphasised by the vertical emphasis of the columns and the use of sandstone cladding to the structural elements of the elevations, and are important elements of Civic Design in the urban setting of Canberra. Criterion H Gazetted Commonwealth Heritage values Significant people The Portal Buildings are important for their association with the push to transfer public servants from Melbourne to Canberra in the 1960s under the Liberal Government of Sir Robert Menzies. They are also important for their association with the consultancy of Sir William Holford and the views of the Senate Select Committee, which saw Canberra as a unified city in which background buildings in a monumental style functioned both as symbols of government and Australian unity. In this respect the Portal buildings are an
expression of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC) which adopted the views of Holford and the Senate, and interpreted them in terms of the formal composition of Walter Burley Griffin's plan for Canberra, with its cumulative massing, axiality and avenues. Attributes Their role as public service offices, their monumental character, their massing and their axial location within the Parliamentary Vista's formal landscape composition. Non-Statutory Heritage Listings : Place ID 101058. In February 2012, the RNE became a non-statutory archive. Property or Information Access Restrictions or Requirements if Any The Portal Buildings, Anzac Park East and West are not open to the public. Conservation Documents or References Woodhead 2012, Anzac Park East and Anzac Park West (the Portal Buildings) Heritage Management Plan Fischer KF Canberra Myths and Models, Institute of Asian Affairs, Hamburg 1984 Sparke E, Canberra 1954-1980, AGPS 1988 Australian Construction Services, Conservation Plan for the Portal Buildings, Anzac Park East and West, for AEM, 1994. Record Last Updated 30 October 2013