Designed in 1967 and built by1970, this unusual 12-storey, 45 metre-high, pre-cast concrete block of only four apartments was designed by Stuart Murray (1926-2015).

At first glance it may seem to be a sort of sculptural, sinuous wheat silo.

Today’s wing-inspired roof-top pavillion is a later addition.

This distinctive Elizabeth Bay Road building, listed on the Register of the Australian Institute of Architects, was inspired by the Einstein Tower in Potsdam, Germany, also known for its curved sculptural shape.

Stuart Murray was part of a firm which merged many times during his career.

Stuart Murray was educated at Fort Street Boys High School and worked as a draughtsman for Wunderlich during the Second World War (1943-44), then studied architecture at the Sydney Technical College under Henry Pynor, Sydney Ancher and Morton Herman.

Ancher, Murray’s teacher, was always vitriolic about “styles” stating in a 1936 attack “too much time is devoted to a study of the architecture of the past and too little to a study of the present-day trend.” However, Ancher was very adept in developing and drawing period-based designs for the STC student yearbooks and stating controversially in a Sydney Morning Herald article of 22^nd January of 1936: “The basis of the modern aesthetic is knowledge and a system from which spring all the characteristics of clarity and exactness … there are no really good British architects.”

Murray graduated in 1949 with a Diploma of Architecture (civic design distinction).

While a student, he had worked for Walter Burley Griffin and Eric Nichols (1945-47) and with Sydney Ancher (1948-49).

From 1949 to 1953, he worked in London for Denis Clarke Hall and Intercon assisted by a NSW Board of Architects research bursary announced in 1950.

In 1953, he joined Ancher as a partner in the firm Ancher Mortlock and Murray, where he worked on a variety of houses. After Ken Woolley became a further partner in 1964, Murray stayed on with the firm until his retirement in 1976.

Murray became a Fellow of the RAIA in 1966 and designed schemes which won two significant competitions: for the Waverley Town Hall (1958 not built) and the University of Newcastle Great Hall (1968). His academic career included periods as a design tutor with the University of Sydney 1962 and 1974-1978 and was a member of the university’s faculty from 1965 to 1975. He served on the NSW RAIA Council from 1966-1976.

Among Murray’s best-known commissions are the Ernst May-inspired Northbourne Avenue housing complex in Canberra of 1963 (with Ancher); the University of Newcastle’s Great Hall (with Woolley) of 1968; and his own 1967 Deepdene development (110 Elizabeth Bay Road), drawing on the pre-cast concrete systems similar to those used by Woolley for his 1955 St Margaret’s Hospital Chapel.

Murray had exposure to prefabricated concrete construction processes while working in Britain in the late 1940s.

Murray had begun withdrawing from the firm in about 1970 when he established the North Sydney Planning Consultancy and later solo as Stuart Murray, Architect, after 1976.

Among Murray’s best-known commissions are the Ernst May-inspired Northbourne Avenue housing complex in Canberra of 1963 (with Ancher); the University of Newcastle’s Great Hall (with Woolley) of 1968; and his own 1967 Deepdene development (110 Elizabeth Bay Road), drawing on the pre-cast concrete systems similar to those used by Woolley for his 1955 St Margaret’s Hospital Chapel.

Murray had also had exposure to prefabricated concrete construction processes while working in Britain in the late 1940s. Murray had begun withdrawing from the practice c.1970 when he established the North Sydney Planning Consultancy and later practising solo as Stuart Murray, Architect, after 1976.

He was the author of two books: Elements of Urban Environment, Sydney 1972 and Contemporary Architecture and Environment, Canberra 1976.

He had travelled to England and Europe 1951-1952 and to South-east Asia, Europe and the Middle East 1972-1973.

The 1970s was a time of change: fashion was uber-haute couture with its purple flairs; rock music was radical, interior designs were made from plastic and architecture was iconoclastic and deliberately different.

Deepdene is grand example of its type offset by other buildings adjacent from different periods, all making up a matrix of styles in Elizabeth Bay.

By Andrew Woodhouse

Heritage Solutions