The Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM) — formerly the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, and known by the moniker "The Con" — is the music school of the University of Sydney. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia, founded in 1915 by Belgian conductor and violinist Henri Verbrugghen.
The heritage-listed main building of the Conservatorium — the Greenway Building — is located within the Royal Botanic Gardens on Macquarie Street on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district. It also has teaching at the main campus of the University in Camperdown/Darlington, at the Seymour Centre and eventually the Footbridge Theatre.
The Greenway Building is also home to the community-based Conservatorium Open Academy and the Conservatorium High School. In addition to its secondary, undergraduate, post-graduate and community education teaching and learning functions, the Conservatorium undertakes research in various fields of music. The Building was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 14 January 2011.
History The land originally belonged to the Aboriginal people, called the "Eora", who lived around Sydney coast. There is no written record of the name of their language spoken and there are debates as to whether these people spoke a separate language or a dialect of the Dharug language.
Governor Arthur Phillip arrived in 1788 with a pre-fabricated building which was assembled as his Government House, now partially on the current site of the Museum of Sydney and partially under Bridge Street. In its varied additions and permutations, it survived as the Sydney residence of the Governor until completion of the new Government House.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie took control of the colony in 1810 using that building as his Sydney residence. On 18 March 1816, he reported that he had postponed any changes to convert Sydney Government House into adequate accommodation. He noted the poor condition of the building saying that "All the Offices, exclusive of being in a decayed and rotten State, are ill Constructed in regard to Plan and on Much too Small a Scale; they now exhibit a Most ruinous Mean, Shabby Appearance. No private Gentleman in the Colony is so Very ill Accommodated with Offices as I am at this Moment, Not having Sufficient Room to lodge a Very Small Establishment of Servants; the Stables; if possible, are still worse than the other Offices, it having been of late frequently Necessary to prop them up with Timber Posts to prevent it falling, or being blown down by the Winds." He noted that he wished to erect a new Government House and Offices in the Domain as soon as the Barracks was complete at the expense of the Police Fund.HRA, 1, 9, p 70-71
The then Secretary for the Colonies, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, soon responded, writing on 30 January 1817 that he needed to see a plan and estimate of costs before he could approve the erection.HRA, 1,9, p 205 In 1817, Macquarie resumed the sites of a bakehouse and mill on the proposed site. On 4 July 1817, he instructed a former convict, Francis Greenway, to prepare plans of offices and stables. Work commenced on the stables on 9 August 1817.BT 27 p 6499 Macquarie replied to Bathurst on 12 December that he was disappointed with the lack of approval, but claimed that no construction had commenced due to heavy rains.HRA, 1, 9. p718-719 Macquarie laid the foundation stone for the stables on 16 December 1817.HRA 1, 10, p813
Though Francis Greenway was the designer, it was not solely his work. In December 1819, Greenway noted that Macquarie saw the elevation before work began, but that his wife Elizabeth Macquarie gave him details of the number of rooms needed so that he could make a suitable plan. By 1819, according to Greenway, the stables were virtually planned though the barn in the range had become a stable. It then held 30 horses plus the stallions in the octagonal Towers. He estimated the cost of the stables to be .Ritchie, 1971, vol 2, p 130, 132-133 In a letter to the Australian of 28 April 1825, he identified Thornbury Castle as his model. A relative of Macquarie's wife, Archibald Campbell, had been a pioneer of the Gothic architectural style in the late 18th century when he erected Inveraray Castle and it may have had a greater influence on the design by Greenway.Kerr and Broadbent, 1980, 941 Yet on 7 February 1821, Major Druitt reported that Governor Macquarie had not liked the ornamentation of the towers and the rich Cornish around the battlements.BT 27 p 6306-6307
It was not until 24 March 1819 that Macquarie informed the Colonial Office that he had commenced building the stables, in contravention of a firm order from Bathurst. "I had so long Suffered such very great Inconvenience from the want of a Secure Stables for my Horses and decent sleeping places for my Servants, that I had been under the Necessity of building a regular Suite of Offices of this Description in a Situation Contiguous to and sufficiently Convenient for the present Old Government House, and also in one that will equally suit any New Government House that my Successors may he hereafter Authorised to Erect. These Stables are built on a Commodious tho" not expensive Plan, and I expect they will be Completed in about three Months hence.'HRA, 1,10, p97 Horses were prized possessions and very valuable. They needed to be protected from the weather and made secure from thieves. Early in 1819 Lt John Watts was sent from England with plans and estimates, but these do not appear to have serviced.BT 19, p2966-2969
On 26 September 1819, Commissioner John Thomas Bigge arrived in the colony to report the effectiveness of transportation to NSW as a publishment for criminals. He was soon examining Macquarie's program of public works and his policy of fostering former criminals to fill positions of authority. Bigge objected to the construction of the stables in October 1819 but noted that the work was so far advanced that to halt it would be a waste.BT 19, p 2966-2969
An 1820 plan held at the Mitchell Library is not a construction plan, but seem to show it in its finished state. It depicted the towers as accommodation for servants, plus a dairy next to one of the coach houses and accommodation for a dairy maid, cowman and lodge keeper.ML VI/PUB/GOVS/1 120, 1820
Architect Henry Kitchen was highly critical of the stables in evidence to Bigge on 29 January 1821 saying it was extravagant whilst not providing the accommodation needed. He described it as an "incorrect attempt in the style of the castellated Gothic" with an area 174 feet by 130 feet housing 28 horses, [plus coach houses cow house and servant's quarters.Ritchie 1971, vol 2, p 141 The stables were complete in February 1821.
Greenway is better known for his Georgian designs but he also created a number of buildings in the Gothic model. Of these, Forts Philip and Macquarie, Dawes Point Battery and the Parramatta Road Toll-gate have all been demolished. Only the Government House Stables survives of his Gothic buildings.Kerr and Broadbent, 1980, p 40
After Macquarie's return to Britain in 1821, the Stables had mixed uses. On 25 May 1825, Governor Thomas Brisbane suggested to Earl Bathurst that the 'Gothic Building on the pleasantest side of the Scite of the Domain, which was intended for a Government Stables, is utterly useless at present from the great disproportion of the Establishment of the Government, may be advantageously improved into a Government residence.'HRA, 1, 11, p 617 On 30 June 1825, Earl Bathurst permitted Governor Ralph Darling to erect a new Government House or to convert the Stables into one though the estimates of costs would have to be sent to Britain for approval.HRA, 1, 12, p 9 Late in 1825, Brisbane had loaned the stables to the Australian Agricultural Company to temporarily house its livestock after it arrived.
There are a number of artists' views of the stables. This derived from its position overlooking the harbour as part of a vista of Sydney. It also acknowledged the stables as a piece of Gothic architecture, both romantic and picturesque. Even more to the point, it highlighted its role as a "folly" in a managed landscape.
The stables remained under utilised. Governor Richard Bourke sought approval in February 1832 to erect a new Government House near the stables by selling some of the Domain to raise funds.HRA, 1, 16, p539-540 He also suggested that rooms in the stables could accommodate some of the Government House servants.HRA 1, 16, p 786
At an inquiry into the building of the new Government House in 1836, Colonel George Barney originally suggested converting the stables into offices but later changed his mind to recommend demolition. Construction of the new Government House from 1837 finally ensured that another building overshadowed the stables. After the erection of the New Government House, the stables were used to accommodate staff and horses.
Panoramic views form the top of the Garden Palace Exhibition building taken in 1881 by Charles Bayliss are the only known views of the internal courtyard and layout of the stables.Casey and Lowe Vol. 1. 2002. pp 83–84 Additions were made to the north side in the late 1870s or early 1880s.Casey and Lowe, Vol. 1 pp 85–86
By about 1910, the building's role as a horse stables and staff accommodation was ending due to the increasing use of motor cars. In 1912 the government declared the building would become a museum whilst the Minister for Public Instruction suggested it as an Academy of Fine Arts but the proposal turned into a specialist Conservatorium of Music.
From 1913 to 1915, work to convert it into a conservatorium to the design of R. Seymour Wells from the Government Architect's Office was undertaken, including the construction of a roof over the courtyard and the construction of a large auditorium. A new entrance of a cantilevered concrete awning was created and the former one removed. The windows and doors were altered considerably, though the castellated stuccoed exterior remained.Karskens, 1989, pp. 128-130. The conservatorium auditorium was officially opened on 6 April 1915.Karskens, 1989 p144Henri Verbrugghen was appointed as director on 20 May 1915 and teaching began on 6 March 1916.Casel and Lowe Vol 1, 2002, p 96 The site was formerly dedicated with an area of 3 roods 20 perches for a conservatorium of music on 22 December 1916 but was revoked on 2 November 1917 for an enlarged area of 3 roods 31 perches.NSWGG, 2 Nov 1917, 0 5994 The Conservatorium High School commenced in 1919.Casey and Lowe, Vol2, 2002, p 98
After consideration of various proposals to increase accommodation, the Carr Labor government decided to rebuild on the site in 1995. The enlarged building designed by NSW Government Architect Chris Johnson and the private partnership of Daryl Jackson, Robin Dyke and Robert Tanner was completed in 2001. Construction proceeded in tandem with a major archaeological investigation of the site of the extensions. Deep excavation around the original core of the building allowed the needs of accommodation be met while preserving views to the site. Technological solutions such as separating the building shell from the surrounding sandstone and resting much of the extensions on rubber pads allowed the special acoustic needs of the Conservatorium to be met despite its proximity to the Cahill Expressway and the underground railway line. The work won an Australian Award for Urban Design Excellence in 2002.http://www.music,usyd.edu.au/friends/visit.shtml
Origins of the conservatorium