Chimes every quarter hour
Brisbane City Hall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the seat of the Brisbane City Council. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the rectangular City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages and entrances in both Ann Street and Adelaide Street. The building design is based on a combination of the Roman Pantheon, and St Mark's Campanile in Venice and is considered one of Brisbane's finest buildings. It was listed on the Register of the National Estate in 1978 and on the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992. It is also iconic for its Westminster chimes which sound on the quarter-hour. The building has been used for royal receptions, pageants, orchestral concerts, the Lord Mayor's Seniors Christmas Concerts, civic greetings, flower shows, school graduations and political meetings. In 2008, it was discovered that the building had severe structural problems. After a three-year restoration, it re-opened on 6 April 2013. The City Hall was once the tallest building in Brisbane (see external links below for image from 1958). The building was designed by the firm Hall and Prentice, in association with four young New South Wales Architects: Bruce Dellit, Peter Kaad, Emil Sodersten and Noel Wilson. Although there was a strong desire to construct a new city hall, there were many years of debating the best location for it. Charles Moffatt Jenkinson, the mayor of Brisbane in 1914, is credited with having finalised the decision to construct the city hall at Albert Square (now known as King George Square), by selling the alternative site in Fortitude Valley to the Catholic Church who proposed to construct the Holy Name Cathedral on that site. The first foundation stone was laid on Saturday 3 February 1917 by Queensland Governor (Major Sir Hamilton J. Goold-Adams) in advance of the building's construction. The stone was placed facing Albert Square (now King George Square). At the time there were no plans for the new building. The stone was hollowed to allow a time capsule to be placed within it. The time capsule was a zinc cylinder; it contained: copies of the Brisbane daily newspapers copy of the Proclamation of the Incorporation of the City a copy of the minutes of the first meeting of the City Council a copy of the minutes of the meeting at which the council resolved to lay this foundation stone one of each of the current coins of the realm a message of good wishes from the Governor However, it was later found to be out of alignment, and it was removed. In 1935, it was claimed that the stone was in a Brisbane City Council depot in Macrossan Street. However, in 1954, it was claimed that the original foundation stone was lost as it was believed to have been used as part of a building's foundations. Brisbane Jackson family firm Synchronome Electrical Company designed and built the clock. The second (and current) foundation stone was laid on 29 July 1920 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII / Duke of Windsor), with an opal encrusted 18ct gold and trowel, designed by Peter Kaad. The site was swampy and contained a creek. Pumping was needed to keep the site dry. Construction operations began in 1920. One man died as he was inspecting the construction site. Although not complete, the building was occupied from 3 January 1928. The lord mayor William Jolly presented a cheque, paying for his electricity bill, as the first official transaction in the new building. City Hall Ann Street foyer Brisbane City Hall was opened in 1930 by Queensland Governor (Sir John Goodwin). The building was officially opened on 8 April 1930 by Lord Mayor of Brisbane William Jolly. However it had been partially occupied since 1927, In 1969 the council commenced the acquisition of the properties to the south of the City Hall, and in 1975 opened the Brisbane Administration Centre (or BAC), a 20-floor tower and surrounding plaza. Most of the council's offices then moved from the City hall to the BAC. The Council Chambers (located on second floor of the Adelaide Street side of the building) and the Lord Mayor's and Deputy Lord Mayor's offices remain however in City Hall. The 4,391 pipes organ was built in 1891 by Henry Willis & Sons Organ Builders in Liverpool, UK, for the Brisbane Exhibition Building at Bowen Park. It remained in the Exhibition Concert Hall until it was moved to the Brisbane City Hall in 1927. The City Hall's first organ recital was held in 1929. The organ concert held on 14 November 2009 celebrated the 80th anniversary of the organ installation in the Brisbane City Hall and was the last organ recital before building restoration commenced. When City Hall closed on 31 December 2009, the organ was totally dismantled and removed from the building for storage. It was planned that the organs would return to the hall three years later.
