{"id":807779,"date":"2026-07-18T07:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807779\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:30:41","slug":"harry-seidler-architect-of-blues-point-tower-brought-cosmopolitan-modernism-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807779\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Seidler: Architect of Blues Point Tower brought cosmopolitan modernism to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sydney\u2019s first high-rise residential block, Blues Point Tower by architect Harry Seidler, turns 64 next week.<\/p>\n

With its exterior influenced by Bauhaus artist Josef Albers, the 83-metre-high, 23-storey block completed in 1962 was thought to be a symbol of modernism.<\/p>\n

\"PenelopePenelope Seidler at the exhibition Migrating Modernism: the architecture of Harry Seidler, at the Chau Chak Wing Museum in Sydney. Janie Barrett<\/p>\n

Long before today\u2019s transport oriented development, Seidler argued against urban sprawl, proposing that cities needed more density and homes near public transport and open spaces.<\/p>\n

Seidler\u2019s collaborations with artists and designers like Albers; his former architectural mentor, Marcel Breuer; and Italian architect and engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, are celebrated in a new exhibition opening on Saturday at the Chau Chak Wing museum at the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his hands architecture rarely arrived alone,\u201d said architect and historian Kenneth Frampton.<\/p>\n

\"PenelopePenelope Seidler at Harry and Penelope Seidler House in 1967.\u00a0Photo by Max Dupain,\u00a0copyright Penelope Seidler
\n\"TheThe Australian\u202fHome Beautiful\u202fwith Rose Seidler House mural by Harry Seidler.\u00a0Melbourne, February 1951,\u00a0collection State Library of NSW,\u00a0reproduction of cover.Copyright Penelope Seidler <\/p>\n

Every Seidler project \u2013 no matter the type or scale \u2013 came with art he\u2019d selected. Home owners recalled how he selected paintings.<\/a> At his mother\u2019s home, Rose Seidler House in Wahroonga, he painted a bright-coloured mural himself, similar to those he\u2019d seen in Brazil.<\/p>\n

At Australia Square he commissioned sculptor Alexander Calder to design Crossed Blades. Its curved walls were hung with tapestries by Le Corbusier and Victor Vasarely, which were later replaced by Sol LeWitt\u2019s Bars of Colour.<\/p>\n

Art historian Dr Ann Stephen argues Seidler was a global exemplar of modernism, ahead of his time. \u201cYou had to be a visionary to realise what he did. You can\u2019t imagine how conservative Australia was in the late 1940s when Seidler arrived,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stephen and Dr Paolo Stracchi, a senior lecturer in architecture, co-curated the exhibition Migrating Modernism. The architecture of Harry Seidler.<\/p>\n

Seidler was born in 1923 to a Viennese-Jewish family. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in September 1938, he was 15 when his family sent him to England.<\/p>\n

His wife, architect Penelope Seidler, said Seidler\u2019s architecture career began in England when he completed a course in carpentry, metalwork and bricklaying at Cambridgeshire Technical School.<\/p>\n

He also learnt English. Seidler later told a historian that when he arrived in London, the only thing he could read (and understand) was \u201cone way street\u201d.<\/p>\n

Although he was a refugee fleeing the Nazis, he was later interned as an enemy alien in England.<\/p>\n

Related Article<\/p>\n

He was then deported to Canada, where he wrote that Nazi soldiers were housed alongside European Jews in an internment camp. In 1941, then aged 18, he was given conditional release to study architecture, and by 21 had graduated.<\/p>\n

The exhibition includes Seidler\u2019s extensive diaries and scrapbooks, including cross-stitching by Penelope Seidler, including of Blues Point Tower, and the shirt Seidler wore at the internment camp.<\/p>\n

There are also artworks from the artists he commissioned, photos, architectural models and drawings, and rare video footage.<\/p>\n

Arriving in Australia aged 24 after studying in the United States, Seidler introduced \u201ca distinctly cosmopolitan culture to Australian cities \u2013 not only through his buildings, but also through the art he commissioned to open up major public spaces,\u201d Stephen said.<\/p>\n

He had a technical mastery of his profession and building, and the ability to realise his vision, she said.<\/p>\n

\"JulianJulian Rose House, Wahroonga, Sydney 1950-54. Architect, Harry Seidler. Photo by Max Dupain 1954.\u00a0Copyright Penelope Seidler.<\/p>\n

At a time when most Australians lived in low-rise flats or detached homes, she said Blues Point Tower showed the \u201cjoys of being able to live in an apartment right in the centre of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long before public opinion turned on Blues Point Towers with critics saying it was a blight on the harbour, the tower was described as \u201cmillionaire homes for the many\u201d. It was glamorous living, reports said, an ideal solution for renters, a model for the towers of the future and \u201ceverybody\u2019s idea of home units\u201d.<\/p>\n

A double page spread by The New York Times reported Seidler had positioned the skyscraper diagonally on the block to maximise residents\u2019 views.<\/p>\n

Residents said they had more free time. No more mowing lawns.<\/p>\n

\"BluesBlues Point Tower, November 2020.Louise Kennerley\"AustraliaAustralia Square, 1967. Photo by Max Dupain, copyright\u00a0Penelope Seidler\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

If Blues Point was to transform how Australians lived and worked, it also changed the life of 18-year-old Penelope Seidler, then Evatt.<\/p>\n

She met Seidler in North Sydney in 1957 when architects and others were lobbying against the area\u2019s rezoning for industrial use.<\/p>\n

Seidler was nothing like the young men Penelope knew. \u201cThat was the point,\u201d she said on Thursday, visiting the exhibition. \u201cHe was driven, that\u2019s for sure. He was obviously the most interesting person I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were soon engaged, and married on her 20th birthday in 1958. They worked and practised together until his stroke in 2005.<\/p>\n

He died in 2006. After Seidler\u2019s death, Australian architect Glenn Murcutt said he had brought art to architecture. \u201cWhilst he wasn\u2019t everyone\u2019s cup of tea \u2026 he actually brought a level of architecture that few architects have seen in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"JulieJulie Power<\/a> is a senior reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-807779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}