Carinthia is an elegant eleven-storey apartment building facing north-south at 7 Springfield Avenue, Potts Point also backing onto Earl Place.

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It is a silent sentinel in its streetscape and was built 1925-26 by Walter Leslie Nielsen. He also designed Carisbrooke apartments (1927), 11 Springfield Avenue, Franconia at 123 Macleay Street (circa 1927) and Kentwood apartments (1920), 3 Springfield Avenue. He has had more impact on this streetscape than any other single architect.

Unsurprisingly, this accounts for this avenue’s harmonious landscape. It is often used as a period backdrop for weddings, advertisements, plays and TV productions where its Belgravia, London-style ambience gives it a timeless aesthetic appeal.

This area was once the Springfield Estate. After the land was subdivided Springfield Avenue was created and was named after the original Springfield Villa, which originally faced Macleay Street but was later demolished.

Carinthia, along with Carisbrooke, were both built as investment properties and the 40 flats, as they were then known, were not originally intended for individual purchase. In 1927, when the building was still very new, it was sold for £75,000 (about $8 million in today’s terms).

Mr Nielsen used the Inter-war Neo-classical style, popular in the 1920s and 30s alongside other styles such as Art Deco, Mediterranean style, also previously called Spanish Mission style, and Olde English style. All were common in this era and in this area. Some buildings used a mixture of popular styles to appeal to a broad market.

Elements of the neo-classical style are evident in Carinthia. The original classical period extended from the 5th century BC in Greece to the 3rd century AD in Rome and emphasised columns and pediment (often a triangular shape above the horizontal structure of the lintel and supported by columns).

Carinthia’s exterior pediment, Tuscan columns, laurel leaf garlands, well-proportioned upper windows, a pitched entrance canopy and ground floor arched windows with carved, vermiculated stone work  are all examples of this neo-classical design approach.

The original plans for Carinthia are still held in the NSW State Mitchell Library.

The building retains its rich, wood-panelled lobby with herringbone flooring, wooden letterboxes and the two original lift carriages with their brass button panels. The original, bevelled, fan-light windows above the entrance door remain but the fanlights above each apartment entrance door have been replaced with a full-height fireproof door. Elaborate cornices in the entrance foyer add to the period touches. 

Springfield Avenue has several other heritage apartment buildings including Carisbrooke, The Vanderbilt (c1925) and Mardon Hall (c1925), all of which add to the cumulative enhancement of this noble streetscape.

By Andrew Woodhouse

Heritage Solutions