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Walter Burley GriffinPrint Page Print this page

The fountain was erected to commemorate Walter Burley Griffin (1876-1937), the American architect and town planner who designed Canberra.

In 1920 Griffin formed the Greater Sydney Development Association Ltd to build residential estates on three picturesque headlands on Sydney's Middle Harbour. The first estate, Castlecrag, designed to maintain the character of the natural landscape, was begun in 1921 with several of Griffin's distinctive houses of rock and concrete intended to demonstrate the style of house lot-purchasers would be required to build. Although revered by later generations, the houses at the time were regarded as wildly eccentric and they tended to leak.

A fountain memorial to Walter Burley Griffin was turned on in Castlecrag, a North Shore Sydney Suburb, on Saturday. Griffin planned much of this area and also designed houses there. The fountain, at the corner of Edinburgh Road and The Sortie Port, was turned on by the Mayor of Willoughby, Alderman O. F. McGinty. Mrs McGinty planted the first tree in a proposed avenue of honour in Edinburgh Road. The bronze fountain was made by Mr Bim Hilder, a sculptor who formerly worked with Griffin. It is the only memorial to Griffin apart from Canberra's lake.
Canberra Times (ACT), 26 October 1965. 

Location

Address:Edinburgh Road & Sortie Port, Castlecrag, 2068
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -33.801784
Long: 151.216476
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Fountain
Monument Theme:People
Sub-Theme:Architecture
Artist:Bim Hilder (sculptor)

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Saturday 23rd October, 1965
Front Inscription

In recognition of Walter Burley Griffin, notable American architect and town planner who settled in Australia 1914 after winning the federal award for the design of Canberra.

He planned and developed Castlecrag in 1921 and resided here with his wife Marion at Number 8 The Parapet from 1924 to
1937 the year of his death in India.

Unveiled by His Worship the Mayor of Willoughby, Ald. L. F. McSinty during the centenary of the Municipality

October 23, 1965.

Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au