Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House collection, 1956-1967

fonds

1956-1967

Graphic Materials, Textual Records, Architectural and Technical Drawings, Photographs, Objects

41166

Architectural and Technical Drawings - 2561 architectural drawings -
Albums - 8 albums (chiefly architectural drawings - halftone photomechanical prints with text, approx. 276 leaves and prints) -
Textual Records - 1v., 27 boxes -
Photographs - ca. 1600 (chiefly silver gelatin photoprints) -
Photographs - 1436 photonegatives, b&w -
Objects - 4 wooden models

Jorn Utzon was born on 9 April 1918 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He graduated with the gold medal for architecture from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen in 1942. He joined the Helsinki office of Alvar Aalto in 1946, and the Helsingborg office of Erik Andersson in 1950.
On 29 January 1957 the Premier of New South Wales J.J. Cahill announced Utzon as the winner of an international competition for the design of an opera house to be built on Bennelong Point, Sydney. Work on the construction of the Sydney Opera House began on 2 March 1959. Between 1957 and 1963 Utzon worked on the project from Denmark, moving to Australia on a permanent basis in 1963. On 28 February 1966 Utzon tendered his resignation to Davis Hughes, Minister for Public Works, and left Australia in that year.

Records, architectural drawings, photographs and working models re the construction of the Sydney Opera House, 1956-1967.

Series 01
Jorn Utzon records, 1956-1967

Series 02
Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House preliminary and miscellaneous drawings, ca. 1958-1966

Series 03
Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House working drawings, 1959-1966

Series 04
Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House Consultants' working drawings & miscellaneous drawings, 1959-1966

Series 05
Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House architectural reports, ca. 1958-1965

Series 06
Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House : photographic prints and negatives of site construction, architectural models and drawings, ca. 1961-1965

Series 07
Sydney Opera House, wooden working models, ca. 1962-1966

Digital order no:a119208
The appendix of Peter Compagnoni's book, 'Sydney Opera House halls and glass walls' (2019) describes more than 300 drawings from the Jorn Utzon Sydney Opera House collection held in the Mitchell Library. The book is located in the Mitchell Library collection at HQ 2019/1581.
See also 'Utzon's interiors for the Sydney Opera House : the design development of the major and minor hall 1958-1966' / a dissertation by Philip Nobis.