1975 Apostolic Nunciature
The building is Commonwealth Heritage Listed.
Viewed from Vancouver Street-with its emphatic horizontality and cumulative shallow pyramidal massing- the building is classic Taglietti, almost at his most pure. In fact, it seems almost too big for the suburban site. The relentless horizontality is relieved with a cantilevered porte-cochere and a large cross emblazoned onto the building fabric. The chapel and his modified cupola are also noteworthy. This residential work is aesthetically severe in comparison to the more intricate aesthetic of his early single houses. The bigger buildings like this one are both forcefully-almost ruthlessly-composed, but especially fluid and meticulously crafted at the same time. It is this contrast that gives them a certain presence.
Excerpt from Canberra Architecture-Andrew Metcalf
photos : © et
photos : © ab
client: Apostolic Nunciature
engineers: K. Sellick
quantity surveyors: Rider Hunt & Partners
builder: Kennedy & Bird