Guide to the Stephen Biggs Parliament House Design Competition entry Collection
MFC 39
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Collection Summary
- Title
- Stephen Biggs Parliament House Design Competition entry
- Date Range
- 1979
- Collection Number
- MFC 39
- Extent
- 9 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Special Collections (Maps)
Introduction
Scope and Contents
Manuscript architectural designs of Parliament House Canberra, drawn for the Parliament House Design Competition.
"Designs on original card using various mediums including dyeline prints with hand colouring and silver gelatin photos."--Vendors notes.
Each sheet is numbered in ink in upper left. Sheet 5 also includes label "58".
Each sheet conatins numeric stamp in lower right: 0 0161.
Sheets 3, 9 and 10 stamped on verso: Bainbridge Board, Charles T. Bainbridge's Sons. Edison, N.J. Hot Press Finish. 172, 22 x 30, 30 x 30.
Sheets 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 stamped on verso: Bainbridge Board, Charles T. Bainbridge's Sons. Brooklyn, N.J. H.P Finish. 172, 22 x 30, 30 x 30.
National Library of Australia's holdings do not include sheet number 8.
Each 119 x 84 cm.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired by the National Library of Australia in 2017.
Biographical / Historical
In 1979 the National Capital Development Commission announced an international architectural design competition for New Parliament House, Canberra. One entrant was Queensland-born architect and planner Stephen Biggs. Born in 1924 to engineer Aubrey Biggs and Judith McConnel, author of The Bunya Tree: memories of a childhood spent at Cressbrook (1970). His uncle, Kenneth McConnel, was an architect. Following his service in the RAAF in World War Two, Stephen moved to England to work for a company manufacturing prefabricated houses. He travelled to various countries and their remote parts for the job. From the 1960s he lived in the United States with his second wife Minnie Biggs, before their move to Portugal in 1985. In 2000 they settled in Australia, where Stephen designed a house in Kurrajong bushland. He died in 2009.
