The Lodge
| The Lodge | |
|---|---|
 The Lodge (2010) |
|
| Data | |
| place | 5 Adelaide Avenue, Canberra |
| architect | Percy A. Oakley Stanley T. Parkes |
| Architectural style | Georgian Revival |
| Construction year | 1926/27 |
| Coordinates | 35 ° 18 '40 " S , 149 ° 6' 53" E |
The Lodge is the official residence of the Australian Prime Minister and his family in the capital Canberra . The two-story building is located in an 18,000 m² park on Adelaide Avenue in the Deakin district. The building was built in 1926/27 and has been renovated several times since then. Originally it was not intended as a permanent official seat. Several prime ministers have chosen to live elsewhere during their tenure. Another official residence is Kirribilli House in Sydney .
history
The Lodge is a 40 room mansion in the style of the Australian Georgian Revival , a reinterpretation of Georgian architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. The building is surrounded by a landscaped park. The origin of the name is unknown. The construction costs were at 25,000 pounds estimated. Added to this are the landscaping , the construction of a tennis court and a croquet lawn as well as furniture and interior decoration, which resulted in a total price of £ 28,319.
The architects were Percy A. Oakley and Stanley T. Parkes from Melbourne , the client was J. G. Taylor from Sydney . Ruth Lane-Poole from Melbourne was responsible for the interior design and furnishings, as well as for those of the Governor General's residence , Government House . The lodge was intended to be one of three official residences. The others were supposed to be for the Chairs of the Australian Parliament (the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate ) but have never been built to date.
The first Prime Minister to live at the lodge was Stanley Bruce . He and his wife, Ethel (the couple had no children), moved in on May 4, 1927, five days before the temporary parliament building officially opened . When he was opposition leader, Bruce's successor, James Scullin , had complained about the cost of running the lodge. He and his wife stayed at the Canberra Hotel (now the Hyatt Hotel) during his tenure, as he had promised. However, the next Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons (1929–1932) chose The Lodge, and subsequent Prime Ministers have used it as their primary residence, with the exception of:
- Earle Page (1939), Frank Forde (1945) and John McEwen (1967–68), who ruled as interim prime ministers after the death of an incumbent.
- Ben Chifley (1945–49), who preferred the Kurrajong Hotel, where many Labor politicians of the time stayed.
- John Howard (1996-2007), who stayed at the lodge when he was in Canberra for parliamentary or government affairs, but mainly lived at Kirribilli House in Sydney.
- Tony Abbott (2013–2015) did not live in the lodge due to renovation work, but in an apartment of the police school of the Australian Federal Police in Canberra.
- Scott Morrison (2018 – present), who resides at the lodge when in Canberra for parliamentary or government affairs, but mainly lives at Kirribilli House in Sydney. Morrison said that he wanted to ensure that his daughters can continue to "lead as normal a life as possible".
description
The interior of the building has an American colonial character, with stained wall paneling and exposed beams on the upper floor under the ceiling. The entrance on the ground floor leads into a hall. To the left of the entrance are the dining room and the service wing with the staff rooms. To the right of this are the formal reception rooms - a drawing room, study and living room / library (originally intended as a billiard room). The stairs lead to a hallway that contains office space for the Prime Minister's wife. The hall then splits into two wings that lead to a hall that opens to a loggia above the entrance. On the first floor there are the private apartments and guest rooms, which consist of a study, six bedrooms, a living room, a salon and a billiards / games room.
The residence is considered very safe. It has many security features to protect the Prime Minister and his family, including security cameras, biometric security measures, high fences, shatterproof windows and a shelter.
Renovations
From 1939 to 1996 Prime Ministers Robert Menzies , Harold Holt , John Gorton , Malcolm Fraser , Bob Hawke , Paul Keating and John Howard made various minor changes. These mainly concerned the interior design, but also the installation of a swimming pool in the backyard.
In October 2011 the Ministry of Finance announced that the house urgently needed to be renovated. In particular, all asbestos parts had to be removed, the damaged roof repaired and the cabling replaced. In addition, the guard houses were replaced by new buildings. Due to its complexity, the work dragged on and was only completed in January 2016. Originally the cost was estimated at $ 3.19 million , but ended up being $ 8.8 million.
Previous residences
Melbourne served as the temporary capital from 1901 to 1927. During this time there was no official seat of the Prime Minister. Edmund Barton , the first Prime Minister, initially lived in "a kind of bachelor apartment" in the attic of Parliament House in Melbourne. He kept his private residence in Sydney and usually returned when Parliament was not in session. In May 1903 he moved into a suite in the Grand Hotel instead, which remained his residence until his resignation in September 1903.
Second Prime Minister Alfred Deakin was from Melbourne and lived in his private residence Llanarth in South Yarra for each of his three terms as Prime Minister . He also had a vacation home called Ballara in Point Lonsdale. However, Deakin distinguished between his public and private life and did not conduct any official business in either house. Chris Watson and George Reid were both Sydney residents and pensions with fellow MPs during their brief stint as Prime Ministers.
Andrew Fisher , who represented a seat in Queensland , was the first non- Victoria Prime Minister to live permanently in the capital. In 1907 he acquired Oakleigh Hall , a 13 room house in St Kilda . He, his extended family and servants used it as a residence during his three terms as Prime Minister. Joseph Cook and Billy Hughes lived mostly in Sydney, but Stanley Bruce was another Melbourne resident and resumed the tradition of year-round prime ministers in the capital. In 1926, the year before The Lodge was completed, Bruce Pine Hill built a 16 room mansion in Frankston.
literature
- Graeme Barrow: The Prime Minister's Lodge: Canberra's Unfinished Business . Dagraja Press, Canberra 2008, ISBN 978-0-9775328-1-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Canberra: City of White Elephants. The Advertiser , May 2, 1929, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ↑ John Dargavel: The Lodge. National Archives of Australia , archived from the original on August 1, 2015 ; accessed on March 4, 2020 (English).
- ^ The Lodge. Website of the Prime Minister of Australia, archived from the original on March 26, 2011 ; accessed on March 4, 2020 (English).
- ^ Stanley Bruce. In: Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ^ Hotel Kurrajong. National Trust of Australia , archived from the original on August 20, 2006 ; accessed on March 4, 2020 (English).
- ^ Murray Trembath: Scott Morrison talks about his family's move to Kirribilli House. St George & Sutherland Shire Leader, September 24, 2018, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ^ Dylan Welch: Security experts push for Lodge move. The Age , June 26, 2010, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Siobhan Heanue: The Lodge renovations complete, Lucy Turnbull enlivens Prime Minister's residence with contemporary art from the National Gallery's collection. ABC News , January 30, 2016, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ↑ Tom McIlroy: Lodge renovations costs blow out to $ 8.8 million. The Canberra Times , June 29, 2015, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ^ Geoffrey Bolton: Edmund Barton: The One Man For The Job . Allen & Unwin, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-86508-409-1 , pp. 238 .
- ↑ Bolten: Edmund Barton: The One Man For The Job. P. 287.
- ↑ Pattie Deakin. In: Australia's Prime Ministers. National Archives of Australia, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ^ Kristin Otto: Capital: Melbourne When It Was the Capital City of Australia 1901-27 . Tex Publishing, Melbourne 2010, ISBN 978-1-921520-77-8 , pp. 62 .
- ^ Pine Hill, aka Stanley Melbourne Bruce's Mediterranean Frankston Manor, listed for mortgagee auction. Property Observer, August 23, 2012, accessed March 4, 2020 .