Sections through the city: Axis – BA Central Basin Government Group

Walter Burley Griffin (1876–1937) graduated from the University of Illinois as an architect and land planner in 1899. He worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio from 1901 to 1906, where he met fellow architect Marion Mahony. In 1911 Marion and Walter established a joint architectural practice and were married.

In the same year Griffin entered the Australian Federal Capital City Design Competition, and was awarded first place in May 1912. The extent to which Marion and Walter collaborated on the design of Canberra is unclear. Certainly, Marion beautifully created the drawings realising Walter’s vision for the capital.

Griffin’s winning design for Australia’s national capital reveals his attention to the topographical and symbolic elements of place. The symbolic importance of landforms is evident in his plan for the national capital, and he later proposed a colourful planting scheme for Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain and Red Hill.

Walter Burley Griffin designed a ‘government group’, with Parliament House sitting on Camp Hill (the site of Old Parliament House), and his Capitol crowning the highest point of Kurrajong Hill (now Capital Hill, the site of Australian Parliament House). This image, painted by Marion Mahony Griffin, elegantly demonstrates that original concept for the city.