Emil Sodersten Explained

Emil Sodersten
Nationality:Australian
Birth Name:Emil Sodersteen
Birth Date:1899 8, df=yes
Birth Place:Balmain, Sydney
Death Place:Manly, Sydney
Alma Mater:Sydney Technical College
Embedded:
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Allegiance:Australia
Serviceyears:19421945
Rank:Flight lieutenant
Servicenumber:266387
Battles:World War II

Emil Lawrence Sodersten (30 August 1899 – 14 December 1961) was an Australian architect active in the second quarter of the 20th century. His work encompassed the Australian architectural styles of Art Deco and Functionalist & Moderne. His design for the Australian War Memorial was "the first national architectural monument in Australia".[1] The Australian Institute of Architects presents the Emil Sodersten Interior Architecture Award annually in his honour.[2]

Early life and background

Sodersten was born in the inner-Sydney suburb of Balmain, the second of seven children born to Julia (née Dolleen) and Emil Sodersteen. Emil Junior and his brothers, Erik and Karl, later changed their surnames by deed poll to Sodersten.

In 1915 Sodersten was articled in architecture to Ross & Rowe and in the ensuing five years studied at Sydney Technical College. During 1921 he attended lectures at the University of Sydney given by the new Dean of Architecture, Leslie Wilkinson.

Career

The Queensland firm Hall & Prentice was commissioned to design Brisbane City Hall in the early 1920s and Sodersten worked on the project with Bruce Dellit and Peter Kaad.[1] He returned to Sydney in 1923 and was registered as an architect whilst working for John P. Tate & Young. Two years later Sodersten went into private practice. In 1927–28 he became a council-member of the Institute of Architects of New South Wales and was made a fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1931.

He entered the international competition to design the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. His design was considered exceptional but, as with most of those entered, was over budget. The only entry within budget was by John Crust and so the two architects were commissioned to work together on an amended design. Crust project managed the new building to Sodersten's even more monumental design. After conflict arose with Crust, Sodersteen withdrew in 1938.

In Sydney he designed numerous apartment blocks, including Birtley Towers at Elizabeth Bay,[3] and office buildings, including the City Mutual Life Assurance Building, also with Crust. During the 1930s he worked in association with his brothers Erik, an architect, and Karl, a structural engineer. When Emil visited Europe in 1935 he was impressed with the work of Willem Marinus Dudok and Hendrik Petrus Berlage and from then on worked in the functionalist style. In the late 1930s Nesca House, Newcastle was his major project.

During World War II, Sodersten served with the Royal Australian Air Force in Papua and New Guinea and Queensland as a flight lieutenant.[4]

After World War II he designed several shopping centres for the Housing Commission of New South Wales, including the Oakes Centre in Westmead and the Broad Oaks building in Ermington.[5] [6] In 1951, he designed a Canberra chancellery and residence for the High Commissioner of Pakistan but the project remains unbuilt. Sodersten designed the Reid Building for St Andrew's College, University of Sydney, completed in 1953.

Personal life

Sodersten married a 37-year-old secretary, Elsie Vera Wynn, in the Catholic Church in 1951.

He died of a coronary occlusion at home in Manly and was survived by his wife.

Notable projects

Work Suburb/city Type Completed Involvement Heritage status Image Notes
Brisbane Civic building Italian Renaissance 1920s Co-design
Gwydir Flats Residential apartments 1926 Architect City of Sydney local register [7]
St Peter's Theatre Cinema 1927 Architect City of Sydney local register [8]
Birtley Towers Residential apartments 1935 Architect City of Sydney local register [9]
Wychbury Residential apartments Inter-war Art Deco Architect City of Sydney local register [10]
Commercial office building Inter-war Art Deco 1936 Co-architect [11]
The Hermitage Mansion 1936 Restoration
Woollahra local register [12]
Residential apartments Inter-war Art Deco 1937 Architect [13]
Marlborough Hall Elizabeth Bay Residential apartments Inter-war Art Deco 1938 Architect City of Sydney local register [14]
Newcastle Commercial office building Inter-war Art Deco 1939 Architect [15] [16]
Bryant House Sydney CBD Commercial office building Inter-war Art Deco 1939 Co-architect City of Sydney local register [17]
Sydney CBD Residential apartments Inter-war Art Deco 1940 Architect City of Sydney local register [18]
Oakes Centre Shopping centre Architect
Broad Oakes building Shopping centre Architect
War museum Inter-war Art Deco 1941
Design [19]
Sydney Residential college 1953 Architect City of Sydney local register [20]

References

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Biazos Becerra, Poppy . Reynolds, Peter . Sodersten, Emil Lawrence (1899–1961) . A160337b . 2002 . 24 August 2020 .
  2. Web site: Architecture Australia . 10 September 2009 . 5 October 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091005010757/http://www.archmedia.com.au/aa/aaissue.php?issueid=200711&article=16&typeon=2 . dead .
  3. Web site: Inter-war architecture . The history of Sydney: Inter-War Sydney (1918-1945) . 2019 . 24 August 2020 .
  4. Web site: World War Two Service: Veteran Details: Sodersten, Emil Lawrence . Service Record . Department of Veterans' Affairs . 24 August 2020 .
  5. Web site: Manuscripts, Oral History, & Pictures. State Library of NSW. 27 August 2016.
  6. Web site: Tenders. Trove. Sydney Morning Herald. 27 August 2016. 18. 6 October 1951.
  7. 24 August 2020.
  8. 24 August 2020.
  9. 24 August 2020.
  10. 24 August 2020.
  11. S90/03924. 87/2072. 24 August 2020.
  12. 24 August 2020.
  13. EF11/11669. 24 August 2020.
  14. 24 August 2020.
  15. S90/01077. 32403. 24 August 2020.
  16. 204. 24 August 2020.
  17. 24 August 2020.
  18. SO47500. 24 August 2020.
  19. 8/01/000/0019. 22 June 2004. 20 May 2020.
  20. 24 August 2020.