location st kilda design andrew brophy

documentaton urban initiatives

st kilda town hall

Watercolor painting of a coastal scene with cliffs, grassy hills, and the ocean under a cloudy sky.

In 2008, with the addition of a new office wing on Carlisle Street, the City of Port Phillip consolidated its administration at the St Kilda Town Hall. The forecourt to the new building was conceived as a new public space to serve council staff and the general public. The design retained certain elements from an earlier 1992 plaza such as the central bronze sculpture ‘Monument for a Public Building’ by Richard Stringer while responding to the functional requirements and architectural language of the new wing (Williams Boag) and the adjacent Victorian era town hall.

Top-down view of a landscaped outdoor area with trees, pathways, seating, and garden beds.

The forecourt connects the new building entry to the street via broad steps and a sweeping ramp encircled by a monumental steel wall. An inlaid sandstone pathway in the paving alludes to the former red bluff cliffs of Point Ormond on the Elwood/St Kilda foreshore. This pathway leads the eye to a liquidambar tree planted in the crook of the steel wall in the 1990s to commemorate Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish architect, businessman and diplomat who saved thousands of Jews in German occupied Hungary during the Holocaust. A distinctive memorial seat designed by Andrew Brophy in 2003 wraps itself around the liquidambar tree.

Empty park with trees, a statue, stairs, and a historic building in the background on a clear day.

The forecourt features grouped, multi-coloured crepe myrtles and a singular lemon-scented gum. A custom designed stainless steel and hardwood table and associated seating sits below a row of crepe myrtles. The table was designed by Andrew Brophy with fabricator Andrew Gibbs. The forecourt was designed by Andrew Brophy and documented with Urban Initiatives.

  • Street view of a historic white building with classical architectural features and a modern glass building to its left. A few small leafless trees are in front, and a person is standing near a bus stop on the right side.

    credit: drew echberg

  • credit: drew echberg

  • Public outdoor area with stairs, benches, trees, a statue, and a wheelchair accessible ramp.

  • Public park or plaza with benches, a paved walkway, leafless trees with red and orange leaves, a sculpture on a pedestal, and a staircase with decorative lamp posts.

    sandstone inlay and custom designed table

  • Outdoor urban scene with a wooden-and-concrete bench, small trees with red leaves, stairs with metal handrails, and a few pedestrians walking in the background.

  • Red autumn tree planted in an urban sidewalk garden with a statue and modern buildings in the background.

    crepe myrtles in island bed

  • Empty outdoor seating area with wooden tables and benches, small leafless trees, a black metal fence, and a building with large windows in the background.

    credit: drew echberg

  • A sunny city street view with stairs and handrails leading down from a building, trees, flowering plants, and a sculpture on a pedestal, with buildings and cars in the background.

  • A small urban park with benches, flowering bushes, trees, and a building on the left side under a bright blue sky.

  • Four people sitting at a long outdoor table under trees, with a building and a statue behind them, in an urban area.

  • Empty sidewalk with concrete steps and a modern building with large glass windows in the background.

  • Street view of a building with a staircase leading up to the entrance, flanked by trees and a black wall, with a streetlamp on top of the wall.

  • Outdoor cityscape featuring a bronze sculpture on a pedestal, trees, stairs, and buildings in the background on a sunny day.

    ‘monument for a public building’ richard stringer

  • View of a sidewalk next to a beige building with decorative columns, with green and dark purple succulents and plants along the building, and trees in the background.

  • Modern metal and wood bench and a metal panel with cutouts, outdoors on dirt ground, with a grey wall and street signs in the background.

    raoul wallenberg memorial - fabricator ‘big fish’

  • A plaque with an inscription resting on a gravel path and shadow partially covering it.

    wallenberg inscription

  • Public outdoor space with paved walkway, curved black metal structure, a tree, and a railing in the background.

    view to wallenberg memorial seat

  • Empty park bench made of wood and metal on dirt ground with a shaded area in the background.

    wallenberg detail