Governor Phillip Tower

Governor Phillip Tower & Governor Macquarie Tower

General
Address	1 Farrer Place
Locale	Central Business District City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia... , Sydney Sydney Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
Status	Built
Use	Office
Begun	1990
Completed	1993
Structure	Reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
Façade	Granite, Glass
Architectural Style	Modernist
Statistics
Roof	GPT: 227 m (745 ft)
Pinnacle/Spire	n/a
Antenna	GPT: 254 m (859 ft)
Highest occupied floor	61
Floors	GPT: 62 GMT: 39
Floor Area	GPT: 55,000 m2 GMT: 30,500 m2 MOS: 3,500 m2
Floor to floor	4.05 m
Companies
Architects	Denton Corker Marshall Denton Corker Marshall Denton Corker Marshall is a major award-winning Australian architecture practice established in Melbourne in 1972. It was founded by architects John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie Marshall...
Developers	State Superannuation Authority
Builders	Grocon Pty Ltd Grocon Grocon Pty Ltd is a large Australian construction company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned by the Grollo family.-History:Grocon grew from a small family concreting business established by Luigi Grollo in the 1950s, to a major building company in the 1980s with his sons Rino & Bruno...
Contractor	Grocon Constructors Pty Ltd Grocon Grocon Pty Ltd is a large Australian construction company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned by the Grollo family.-History:Grocon grew from a small family concreting business established by Luigi Grollo in the 1950s, to a major building company in the 1980s with his sons Rino & Bruno...
Current owners (2006)	Dexus Property Group(50%) General Property Trust (25%) Australian Prime Property Fund (25%)
Structural Engineers	Ove Arup Partners Arup Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...
Mechanical Engineers	(tba)
other	Norman Disney & Young, (specialist consultants)

Governor Phillip Tower, Governor Macquarie Tower and the Museum of Sydney
Museum of Sydney
The Museum of Sydney, on the Site of First Government House is built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney. The original house, which was Australia's first Government House, was built in 1788 and...

are the main elements of one of the largest developments in the City of Sydney

City of Sydney

The City of Sydney is the Local Government Area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, Australia...

. Completed in 1994, they occupy an elevated site in the Central Business District’s prestigious north-east area. It incorporates the site of the first Government House

Government House, Sydney

Government House is located in Sydney, Australia alongside the Royal Botanic Gardens, overlooking Sydney Harbour, just south of the Sydney Opera House...

, one of Australia’s

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

earliest and most significant National Heritage sites. The address is 1 Farrer Place, Sydney. Designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall

Denton Corker Marshall

Denton Corker Marshall is a major award-winning Australian architecture practice established in Melbourne in 1972. It was founded by architects John Denton, Bill Corker, and Barrie Marshall...

and built by Australia's largest privately owned construction company Grocon

Grocon

Grocon Pty Ltd is a large Australian construction company based in Melbourne, Australia. It is owned by the Grollo family.-History:Grocon grew from a small family concreting business established by Luigi Grollo in the 1950s, to a major building company in the 1980s with his sons Rino & Bruno...

, it is regarded as achieving new standards for Sydney commercial architecture in terms of finish quality and design.

The northern end of the site, which faces Bridge Street, is considered one of Australia’s

Australia

most important historically, as it contains the remains of the country’s first substantial building, First Government House. Integral to the development was the conservation of the archaeological remains and their incorporation into the Museum of Sydney

Museum of Sydney

The Museum of Sydney, on the Site of First Government House is built on the ruins of the house of New South Wales' first Governor, Arthur Phillip on the present-day corner of Phillip and Bridge Street, Sydney. The original house, which was Australia's first Government House, was built in 1788 and...

, which was built and opened at the same time.

The complex comprises five main components:

Governor Phillip Tower
Governor Macquarie Tower
First Government House Plaza
Museum of Sydney
Two rows of terraces converted to boutique office space.

History

With construction starting only months after the arrival of the British First Fleet

First Fleet

The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...

in 1788, the First Government House dates from the very start of Australian European History

History of Australia

The History of Australia refers to the history of the area and people of Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians are believed to have first arrived on the Australian mainland by boat from the Indonesian archipelago between 40,000 to...

. It was the first substantial building to be constructed in Australia. The elevated site was prominent, overlooking Sydney Cove, and the building was at the centre of its colonial government and commerce for the first 60 years. It was demolished in 1845 although significant foundation remains have now been conserved and interpreted. The First Government House site is one of six sites in the Sydney area listed on the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage Australian National Heritage List

Australian National Heritage List

The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural, historic and indigenous places...

.

The northern Bridge Street end of the site remained vacant for 50 years. In the 1970s and 80s criticism grew over the hole in the prestigious centre of Sydney’s finance district, an area of imposing sandstone buildings and colonial history, with several modern premium office towers interspersed. In 1982 a development application for a high rise office building was approved but archaeological investigations in 1983 revealed parts of the footings of First Government House. A new-found awareness around Australia of the nation’s history was emerging at the time, and the suggestion of a high rise office building on the top of the virtual cradle of the country’s European history met with wide opposition.

The New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

Government

Government of New South Wales

The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...

found a solution by transferring floor space from, what had virtually become a holy site, to space immediately behind to the south. Space owned by developer Sid Londish was used, who masterminded the amalgamation of the whole site, making the project commercially viable. The resultant site covers a whole block bound by Bridge, Bent, Phillip and Young Streets.

Governor Phillip Tower dominates the site. It sits 10 floors above street level on a series of large zinc-plated transfer beams atop a 4-level sandstone-glad podium (upon which Governor Macquarie Tower also sits). This maximises views, and hence rentals, for all levels. Opinion, however, is mixed on how well this massive 10-storey base contributes to the building’s relationship with the street.

The façade is of grey granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

and glass used to achieve an expensive and highly detailed finish. The steel-bladed roof features have been dubbed the milk-crate.

At 227m to the roof, it is the 3rd tallest building in the city by roof height (sixth by spire height), although the taller MLC Centre

MLC Centre

The MLC Centre is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. This office building is 228 metres high and has 60 storeys. Occupants include the Sydney Consulate of the United States of America. The podium of the building includes a shopping centre with several exclusive fashion labels and a 1,186 seat...

and World Tower

World Tower

World Tower is a skyscraper located at 91 Liverpool Street, Sydney, Australia. Construction began in 2001 and was completed in 2004. It was constructed by Meriton Apartments Pty Ltd, which is owned by developer Harry Triguboff. World Tower was the 2004 Bronze recipient of the Emporis Skyscraper...

are both only fractionally taller with a 228m roof height. It is arguably the most visually dominating building on Sydney CBD skyline. From many prominent angles, and significantly from most Sydney Harbour viewpoints, it appears as the tallest building on the skyline by a large margin, however this is perspective illusion.

Governor Macquarie Tower

Governor Macquarie Tower stands at 41 storeys and is adjacent and south of Governor Phillip Tower. It has identical façade treatments but its form and massing are significantly different with no dramatic roof structure, and it has a staggered, rather than sheer lines. The primary tenant is the New South Wales Government including the Premier’s Office. It occupies the site of the former Legal & General building which at the time was the tallest building to have been demolished in Sydney.

The main entry to both buildings is from Farrer Place. They share what is arguably Sydney’s most impressive and grandiose foyer, which links the two buildings and provides another entrance from Phillip Street.

First Government House and Museum of Sydney

First Government House Plaza is an open-air public space and part of Museum of Sydney, situated at Bridge Street end of the site. The design is minimalist and disciplined, intended to evoke a sense of the site’s past. Paving covers the majority of the First Government House remains, however the individual pavers can be removed and the remains viewed through a glass pyramid. The outline of original building is marked through the paving pattern.

Reaction

Criticism of the complex has included the vast, even oppressive scale of the main tower, particularly at street level, and a perceived awkward and disjointed relationship between the two towers.

Architecturally, the museum and plaza are considered by many to be the most successful aspect of the development. And although the massive and dominating structure’s relationship to the street has often been questioned, it is widely recognised as a development of very high quality; “This is no cheap, slap-stick developer job. Nor is it post-modern New York deco pastiche...one of the most interesting and important building developments that Sydney has seen...and adding a great deal of intellectual content and game-playing.” said architectural critic Francesca Morrison.

Depictions in popular culture

The tower was featured throughout Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II is a 2000 action film directed by John Woo, and starring Tom Cruise, who also served as the film's producer...

as the headquarter of fictional BioCyte company.
The tower was featured in the first Matrix film, as the building that the helicopter crashes into.

History