ReadShell House: Suspended in time and place and now ready to go again
By Julie Power
For three years, a 1930s art deco clock tower at Wynyard’s Shell House was suspended in time and place, a 400-tonne weight looming 55 metres over workers rebuilding below.
Since early European settlement in Sydney, the site has seen American rock band The Beach Boys, the first “go-go” dancers, army parades, and a series of hotels, including the Menzies, come and go.
Brett Robinson, CEO of Point Group, with Anna Hewett, the interior stylist of Shell House. A husband and wife team, they have designed the interiors of the restaurants and bars at the newly restored Shell House’s Menzies to evoke the era when it was built.
The clock at the heritage-listed site is now restored, two retained exterior walls constructed of rare glazed terracotta ‘faience’ blocks are standing and shiny, and the new building is coming back to life with restaurants, bars and office workers.
Visiting the site last week, NSW state architect Abbie Galvin said it was “a well-known decree from heritage enthusiasts – that the best way to ensure the ongoing role of heritage in the community is to use it”.
Ms Galvin said it was heartening to see owners and developers rise to the challenge of restoring significant buildings of the city’s past. “It’s in projects such as these that we can see those efforts bear fruit – allowing the past and present to respectfully sit side by side,” she said.
“By protecting our past we enrich our present.”
A rare example of interwar commercial palazzo style building in Sydney, Shell House’s retained facade is thought to be among the tallest in the world.
As well as housing National Australia Bank employees, a bar named after the former Menzies Hotel has opened on the ground floor along with an open-air sky bar on the roof. A clocktower bar is set to open this week, looking up at the inside of the clocktower, while a dining room and terrace will open later this month.
Mike Russell, the development director in charge of the Brookfield Place project including the concourse to Wynyard station, said the clock was the “hero” of the $2 billion development
The restored clock, with each face featuring a minute hand 3.3 metres long and an hour hand 2.4 metres long, was imported in 1936 from English clockmakers Gillett & Johnston.
Mr Russell said the challenge of keeping pedestrians safe as they traversed underground tunnels to reach the station during construction, and keeping the clock aloft and suspended – along with the two walls – were the most difficult parts of the build.
He said the clock tower was temporarily supported by over 1400 tonnes of structural steel. This allowed the builder, Multiplex, to demolish the existing floors and excavate the sandstone underneath to create a new basement for the Shell House building and restore the clock tower while leaving it suspended above the live construction site.
Since the early days of the colony, the site opposite Wynyard Square on the corner of Carrington and Margaret Street was known for its hospitality. It was first occupied by the German club in the early 1880s, followed by Pfahlert’s Hotel and Cohen’s family hotel.
The clock was originally topped with the famous Shell logo that has been retained by the Point Group, the operator of the new restaurants and bars.
Point’s chief executive Brett Robinson and interior designer Anna Hewitt evoke the glamour of the old hotel, the first grand international hotel of its kind, with dark wood panelling and custom art made by its artist in residence, Mikey Freedom.
When the Menzies Hotel opened at Shell House on October 17, 1963, The Beach Boys performed. “They got four tonnes of sand from Bondi Beach, back in the days when you could do that,” Mr Robinson said. “The story goes that it took years to get rid of it.”
