The new wing adn the 1912 Billiard Room form the community library. Photograph by Patrick Bingham-Hall.

  • Client ::

    • Tenterfield Shire Council

  • Location ::

    • Tenterfield, NSW

  • Completed ::

    • 2001

  • Team ::

    • Julie Mackenzie, Peter Tonkin, Neil Mackenzie, Scott Falvey, Victor Young, Roger O’Sullivan Photos by Patrick Bingham-Hall

  • Awards ::

    • 2002 National Trust NSW Heritage Award, Built Work Category 2005 National Trust NSW Heritage Award, Built Work Category for the Cinema

Project Description::

Tenterfield is located high in the Great Dividing Range in far northern NSW. The School of Arts is a complex of buildings built in seven stages, the earliest dating from 1870. Sir Henry Parkes, then Premier of NSW, delivered the famous ‘Tenterfield Oration’ in the Original Hall in 1889, one of the key events leading to the 1901 Federation of the Australian States. The building is also significant in that it was the first property acquired by the National Trust in NSW.

As part of the Centenary of Federation, the School of Arts has been conserved, refurbished and extended. The project includes a range of cultural and community facilities for the town of Tenterfield. A new library occupies the 1912 Billiard Room, and includes a new wing accommodating the library book-stacks and offices. A 250-seat theatre and foyer, with full backstage facilities, is formed around the 1902 Boer War memorial Hall. The focus of the complex is the Henry Parkes and Federation Museum in the Original Hall and reading rooms.

The design articulates and functionally unifies the seven construction stages grouped around the sheltered central courtyard. The use of local red brick and the scale of the projecting bay windows unite the varied roof forms of the new and heritage buildings. The School of Arts is the focus for historical and cultural activity within the Tenterfield region and played a major role in the Centenary of Federation celebrations.