Civic Place 1903 - 2003

Opening of the original Town Hall in 1903

Civic Place has for decades been recognised as a major public site, housing buildings of public significance.

The original Willoughby Town Hall was erected on the site, fronting Victoria Avenue, in 1903. The site was also shared by the Council Pound, the School of Arts and the Ku-ring-gai Masonic Lodge. The Council Depot, in close proximity on Archer Street, was later moved to the Frederick Street site in Artarmon.

The Town Hall also served as Council Chambers and over time, office additions were built along the Victoria Avenue frontage. A three-storey administration building was built in 1967, with a fourth floor added in 1980.

In 1972, the Town Hall was demolished and replaced by a new Civic Centre, comprising a ‘Main Hall’ seating 850 people, and a smaller hall (the Bailey Hall) seating 350 people. The building was constructed at a cost of approximately one million dollars, during a period (the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s) when the concept of ‘multipurpose’ halls was popular. The Civic Centre has fulfilled a major role in providing venues for the performing arts in Willoughby and Sydney’s North Shore for more than thirty years. When it opened, regional centres had been built in Wagga, Albury, Dubbo and Broken Hill, but in Sydney virtually no thought had been given to providing purpose-built performing venues outside the CBD. At the time, in Sydney, there had been very little experience in the construction of a facility of its type, and therefore little experience in its technical requirements. Willoughby Council showed great foresight in providing venues with production facilities that were considered to be ‘State of the Art.’

Civic Centre 1972

The ‘Main Hall’ was primarily designed to house the Willoughby Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently equipped with technical facilities to accommodate orchestral performances. The hall played host to many different forms of performance, as well as functions and exhibitions, and accommodated the larger of these events with a mixture of ‘in-house’ facilities and hired equipment. Approximately two thirds of community use of the venue was subsidised by Willoughby City Council.

The ‘Bailey Hall’ was designed as a multi-function space, providing an area for functions and receptions, as well as facilities for the performance of drama and musical theatre.

A School of Arts remained until 1980 when it was demolished to make way for the Civic Arcade – a row of shops on a portion of the eastern boundary of the site at 405 Victoria Avenue. Schools of arts were run by community organisations providing recreational and educational facilities for people in the locality.

On 26 June 1935 there was a landmark event at the Chatswood – Willoughby School of Arts, with about forty representatives of parents and citizens’ and progress associations meeting to discuss free public libraries. Those present were addressed by Mr W H Ifould, the State Librarian and at the meeting the Free Library Movement was founded with the aims of stimulating public support for public libraries, and bringing about local and state government action. The seeds sown in Chatswood began to germinate, and in 1939 the Library Act was passed by the New South Wales Parliament. Willoughby Municipal Council was an enthusiastic supporter of the public library cause – one of its Aldermen, John Bales, was on the committee of the Free Library Movement.

On 3 September 1977, after years of book collection and preparation, the Willoughby City Library was opened on the Civic Place site. The building was 1,770 sqm in area over two floors, with public toilets and a carpark beneath it. The Library was an instant success, earning a reputation for the quality of its collections and services, and the professionalism of its staff. It rapidly became the busiest single service point of any public library in New South Wales.

By the early 1990s the Willoughby City Library was becoming a victim of its own success and of the growth in the number of users living in the local government area or working, attending school, shopping or doing business in Chatswood. The building which had been hailed as airy and spacious in the 1970s, was steadily becoming cramped. At most times, seating was at a premium. Shelves had been moved closer together to fit in more collections, creating congestion and making access for people with disabilities or parents with strollers problematic. Computer terminals added to space pressures. The noise generated in a busy library made study difficult, and the juxtaposition of conflicting functions in the limited space available highlighted the need for adequate space for people, collections and services.

The existing Willoughby City Library prior to its relocation to the Mandarin Centre in July 2007

In August 1994 the State Library’s Building Consultant was commissioned by Council to examine the current and future space needs of the Willoughby City Library. Reporting in December that year, after examination of Australian and overseas trends in information provision, and using population estimates up to the year 2009, the consultant concluded that in the year 2009 total library space requirements would range from 4954 sqm to 5281 sqm in area. This is approximately three times the net size of the former library.

A further property owned by Council and forming part of the Civic Place site is the site at 415 Victoria Avenue, purchased in May 1984. Previously this was used as retail space.

In 1997 Council’s administration facilities at 411 Victoria Avenue were moved to a new building at 31 Victor Street, in part to facilitate the redevelopment of Civic Place for community and cultural purposes. 411 Victoria Avenue was occupied by retail and commercial tenants, and, after the public area of the Library was expanded in September 2002, Library administration staff were also relocated to one floor of that building.

Although enormously successful at the time they were built, the public facilities at Civic Place were no longer able to meet the needs of the Willoughby City community, nor the ever-growing number of regional users. South-facing open space provided no connectivity with the buildings, with inadequate area for most outdoor entertainment. Passageways between buildings encouraged loitering and unacceptable activity.

In 2001 and 2002 Council acquired three adjoining properties at 219 and 421-423 Victoria Avenue, and 25 Anderson Street, at a cost of $21 million for consolidation with the Civic Place site.