WELL BUILT: SIMMIE & CO MASTER BUILDERS 1924 – 1978
What do the Shrine of Remembrance forecourt, the Film and Sound Archive and the Kensington RSL all have in common? They were all built by the pioneering building company, Simmie & Co (1924-1978). A photography exhibition about this prominent building company in Melbourne and Canberra.
Simmie & Co was a prominent building company in Melbourne (1924-1978) and in Canberra (1926-1969). In Melbourne the company was highly successful and built many iconic buildings, churches, monasteries, schools, housing, factories, defence works, the Shrine forecourt (1939-45), offices and theatres including some heritage-listed constructions (one designed by Robin Boyd). In Canberra, Simmie & Co was responsible for building a wide range of iconic constructions, including the first Northbourne Avenue shops on London Circuit, Albert Hall, the Australian War Memorial, St Andrews Cathedral, Institute of Anatomy (now the Film and Sound Archives), US Embassy, several other embassies, R G Menzies Library, a range of housing from heritage listed homes in Forrest to worker’s cottages in Narrabundah, schools, halls, theatres and commercial sites. The founders were three Victorian brothers, all born in the last decade of the nineteenth century and all worked at the Sunshine Harvester factory.