High Commission of Australia, London

A major landmark on the Strand, London, construction on the building by the Dove Brothers commenced in 1913, but shipping problems caused by the First World War delayed completion. It was officially opened by King George V in a ceremony on 3 August 1918 attended by the Australian Prime Minister William Morris Hughes. The cost of the triangular shaped land was £379,756 (£}} in ) when purchased by the Commonwealth of Australia in 1912 and building and other associated costs brought total expenditure to about £1 million. The building was designed by British architects, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and his son, Alexander George Robertson Mackenzie following an architectural competition, the…

Much of the building materials used in its construction were imported from Australia. The building is of Portland stone on a base of Australian trachyte. The marbles used include dove-coloured Buchan marble from Victoria, the light and dark Caleula from New South Wales, and white Angaston marble from South Australia. The joinery and flooring timbers include timber varieties from all Australian States but the most prominent of these is black bean, a very hard and dense wood similar to English oak, used principally for panels of the first floor Downer Room where the carvings represent arts and sciences. This work is credited to Messrs Wylie & Lockhead of London and Glasgow.