{{Short description|Australian architectural firm}} {{Infobox architectural practice | name = Yuncken Freeman | logo = | logo_size = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | caption = | firm_type = {{bulleted list|Architectural design|Urban planning|Interior design}} | architects = {{unbulleted list|Barry Patten|Roy Simpson}} | partners = | founders = {{unbulleted list|Otto Albrecht Yuncken|John Freeman|Tom Freeman|William Balcombe Griffiths|Roy Simpson (1945)}} | employees = | city = Melbourne (head office) | coordinates = <!-- Use {{coord}} --> | affiliations = | founded = 1933 | dissolved = Late 1980s | awards = {{nowrap|Simpson: RAIA Gold Medal {{small|(1997)}}}} | significant_buildings = {{unbulleted list|{{nowrap|Sidney Myer Music Bowl {{small|(1959)}}}}|Canberra Civic Centre {{small|(1965)}}|Cardinal Knox Centre {{small|(1971)}}|BHP House {{small|(1972)}}}} | significant_projects = | significant_design = La Trobe University masterplan}}
'''Yuncken Freeman''' was an Australian architecture firm. Founded in Melbourne, Victoria in 1933, Yuncken Freeman grew steadily, particularly in the post-war economic boom to be a sizeable firm in Australia, with branch offices in Hong Kong as well as other parts of south-east Asia, until its dissolution during the late 1980s.<ref>{{cite web |work=University of Melbourne Archives |date=3 November 2010 |publisher=University of Melbourne |title=Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd |url=http://gallery.its.unimelb.edu.au/imu/imu.php?request=display&port=45208&id=3a97&flag=start&offset=0&count=1&view=details&irn=31064&eparties=on }}</ref>
The firm gained early fame with the striking Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and then for major works in the 1960s and 1970s such as starkly Modernist office towers in Melbourne by Barry Patten including BHP House and the State Government Offices, and projects by Roy Simpson, such as the classically influenced ACT Law Courts, Fairlie apartments in South Yarra, and the low-slung Cardinal Knox Centre.
In 1997 Roy Simpson was awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal for his significant contribution to architecture.<ref name=simpson/>
==History==
Yuncken Freeman was founded in 1933 when Otto (Rob) Yuncken and John Freeman together with Freeman's brother, Tom, and William Balcombe Griffiths, all left their positions at A & K Henderson to establish '''Yuncken, Freeman Brothers and Griffiths'''. The firm took on hospital work, and designed a series of houses for a wealthy clientele, usually in a refined Georgian mode, but also some more modernist in style.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/38847453|title=The Encyclopedia of Australian architecture|last=Goad|first=Philip|last2=Willis|first2=Julie|date=2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521888578|language=en}}</ref>
In 1938 Roy Simpson started work with the firm,<ref name=":0" /> and in 1940 completed his studies at the School of Design in University of Melbourne,<ref name="simpson">{{cite journal |url=http://architectureau.com/articles/as-hook-address-3/ |title=AS Hook Address 1997 |work=Architecture Australia|volume=86 |number=6 |date=1 November 1997 |access-date=23 August 2016 |author1=Simpson, Roy |author2=Simpson, Donne }}</ref> and was awarded the Robert Haddon travelling scholarship.
The operations of the firm were disrupted by World War II, with Rob Yuncken and Roy Simpson enlisted into service, providing planning and design services to the United States Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, Yuncken and Simpson returned to Melbourne only to find the members of the original group scattered. They reunited the practice, and Simpson was made a partner to create '''Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson'''.<ref name="simpson" /> In 1947, Yuncken Freeman was appointed by the Government of Victoria to initiate an emergency housing project to provide accommodation for workers on various state projects,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/255684|title=Architectural Model - Operation Snail Houses|website=Museums Victoria Collections|access-date=2019-09-02}}</ref> possibly due to the experience Simpson and Yuncken gained with the U.S. Army. The result was timber houses, delivered pre-cut and partially assembled, largely produced in England, and shipped to Australia, beginning in 1949. Fifty years later, many of these homes remained occupied.<ref name="simpson" />
Barry Patten and John Gates were admitted to the partnership in 1953 following the death of Rob Yuncken in 1951, by which time the firm was simply known as '''Yuncken Freeman''', a name that was made official in 1963. By then Balcombe Griffiths and Roy Simpson were the sole survivors of the five original partners, and had been joined by John Yuncken, Rob's son, Robert Peck, Jamie Learmonth and others. Patten introduced the firm's international modernist architecture style, with work by the 1970s heavily influenced by work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, such as their own King Street offices, and especially BHP House, their largest project and Melbourne's tallest building. After this success, the recession of the mid-1970s hit Yuncken Freeman hard, sacking 15 architects, and the eight directors took a 20% pay cut. Patten told ''The Age'': ''"The situation is very bad — there just isn't any work available. We have employed people for years and we are now finding it very difficult to keep them occupied. It is very worrying."''{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} In 1980, Balcombe Griffiths, Roy Simpson and John gates retired, and the firm was formally wound up in the late 1980s.<ref name=":0" />
==Major architectural works== {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Completed !! Project name !! Location !! Award !! Notes |- | 1958 ||Sidney Myer Music Bowl||Kings Domain, Melbourne || *Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award, 2009 ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.architecture.com.au/architecture/national/notable-buildings |title=Sidney Myer Musical Bowl |work=Internationally significant public architecture|publisher=Australian Institute of Architects |access-date=23 August 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite VHD |1528|Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Alexandra Avenue, Melbourne City |hr=1772 |access-date=24 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1959||Bruntisfield House ||135 Walsh Street, South Yarra (City house for Mr and Mrs Simon Warrender)|| || |- |1961||Civic Square, Canberra|| London Circuit, Canberra|| || |- |1961||Fairlie Apartments || Anderson Street, South Yarra|| || |- |1963 || ACT Law Courts || London Circuit, Canberra || ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.architecture.com.au/docs/default-source/act-notable-buildings/r069_law_courts_of_the_act_and_precinct_rstca.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |title=Law Courts of the ACT Building |work=Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture |publisher=Australian Institute of Architects |access-date=23 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1964 ||La Trobe University Masterplan || Bundoora || ||<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3506434|title=La Trobe University [architectural] model, Victoria, architect: Yuncken Freeman |format=picture |author=Sievers, Wolfgang |date=1965 |publisher=National Library of Australia |access-date=17 July 2015}}</ref> |- |1965 ||Canberra Theatre||London Circuit, Canberra|| ||<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/theatre-design-scaled-back-20130605-2nqh0.html |title=Theatre design scaled back |work=Canberra Times |author=Warden, Ian |date=6 June 2013 |access-date=24 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1965 || Royal Insurance Group Building (AON Centre) || 430—444 Collins Street, Melbourne || *Victorian Architecture Medal, 1967 ||<ref>{{cite book |author=Goad, Philip |year=2003 |title=Judging Architecture: Issues, Divisions, Triumphs, Victorian Architecture Awards 1929-2003 |publisher=Royal Australian Institute of Architects |location=Melbourne |isbn=1863180346 }}</ref> |- |1968||Eagle Star Insurance Building||28 Grenfell Street, Adelaide|| ||<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/heritage/sa-heritage-register/entries-confirmations|title=Eagle Insurance Building SA Heritage Nomination Form|date=2019|website=SA Heritage Register}}</ref> |- |1969 || State Government Offices || Treasury Place and Macarthur Street, East Melbourne || *Victorian Architecture Medal, 1970 (''Victorian Bronze Medal for Excellence'') ||<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Australian Institute of Architects |date=22 April 2011 |url=http://www.architecture.com.au/docs/default-source/vic-notable-buildings/vic-stateoffices.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |title=State Government Offices |work=Nationally Significant 20th-Century Architecture |access-date=21 August 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050257/http://architecture.com.au/docs/default-source/vic-notable-buildings/vic-stateoffices.pdf?sfvrsn=2 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite VHD |5316|State Offices - Group Classification,1 Macarthur Street, East Melbourne |access-date=24 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1971 ||Cardinal Knox Centre|| Albert Street, East Melbourne|| *Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award, 2004 || |- |1972 ||BHP House|| 140 William Street, Melbourne|| *Victorian Architecture Medal, 1975 *Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award, 2005 *National Award for Enduring Architecture, 2005 ||<ref>{{cite VHD |4690|Former BHP House, 130-148 William Street and 503—523 Bourke Street, Melbourne City |hr=1699 |access-date=24 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1972 || Eagle House || 473—481 Bourke Street, Melbourne|| *RAIA Award of Merit, 1972 ||<ref>{{cite VHD |4698|Eagle House, 473 Bourke Street, Melbourne City |hr=1807 |access-date=24 August 2016 }}</ref> |- |1976 || Estates House || 114—128 William Street, Melbourne|| |}
== Gallery ==
<gallery> File:Myer music bowl.jpg|Sidney Myer Music Bowl File:Macarthur_treasury.JPG|State Offices File:430-444_collins_st.JPG|Royal Insurance Building File:128-146_queen_st.JPG|Scottish Amicable Life Assurance Building File:53-57_queen_st.JPG|Norwich Union Insurance Building File:43-51_queen_st.JPG|Canton Union Insurance Building File:473-481_bourke_st.jpg|Eagle House File:140_william_st.jpg|BHP Building </gallery>
==See also== {{stack|{{Portal|Australia|Architecture}}}} *Architecture of Australia
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100611172337/http://www.theartscentre.com.au/ The Arts Centre] * [http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au Victorian Heritage Trust] * [http://www.myerfoundation.org.au/ Sidney Myer Fund] * [http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/name_search.html?architects=Yuncken+Freeman&order=built Walking Melbourne search] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100611172337/http://www.theartscentre.com.au/ www.theartscentre.com.au] * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTefVF8Y7c
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Category:Architecture firms of Australia Category:20th-century Australian architects Category:Architecture firms based in Victoria (state) category:1933 establishments in Australia