With the assistance of a Willoughby City Council grant the Walter Burley Griffin Society is organising an open day of four Griffin houses with guided walks going between the houses. This is a rare opportunity to see the interior design features of some of the Griffin houses at Castlecrag built in the 1920s and early 30s.

Bookings essential – see the “Events” webpage for further information.

Tickets: www.trybooking.com/212476

Marion Mahony Griffin Hall, Castlecrag

With the assistance of a Willoughby City Council grant the Walter Burley Griffin Society has organised two illustrated talks in the nearby Marion Mahony Griffin Hall. The first talk The Melson House Revealed: An Owner’s Perspective will be given by visiting American art historian and author Peggy Bang, from Mason City, who is owner of the Melson house.

This will be followed by a talk about Marion Mahony Griffin by senior journalist Glenda Korporaal author of the recently published book titled Making Magic: the Marion Mahony Griffin Story.

Bookings essential – see the “Events” webpage for further information.
Tickets: www.trybooking.com/212489

To celebrate the National Trust’s Heritage Festival and its 2016 theme of ‘Discovery and Rediscovery’, the Walter Burley Griffin Society is organising two events on 16 April.

1. Rediscovering the Griffins’ Castlecrag – guided walk Saturday 16 April 2016, 10.00am – 12.30pm

The internationally renowned suburb of Castlecrag was designed by Walter Burley Griffin in the 1920s as a residential community inspired by the ecological and aesthetic qualities of the landscape of Middle Harbour and its foreshores.

You are invited to take a guided tour past Griffin houses and through some of the reserves and walkways at Castlecrag and learn about their history and the special community that the Griffins fostered at Castlecrag.

Please bring hat, walking shoes and water.
Meet at 136 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag.
Cost: Adults $20; Children $10; Family $50; Concession $15
Members (Walter Burley Griffin Society and National Trust) $15
Come to this event and the Castlecrag talk in the afternoon to enjoy a $5 discount (Castlecrag has many cafés to enjoy lunch between the two events).
Bookings essential: www.trybooking.com/JZGG
Further information: info@griffinsociety.org

2. Rediscovering the Griffins’ Castlecrag: the people and places in the 1930s and 40s – Saturday 16 April 2016, 2.30pm – 4pm

A panel of former residents will discuss living in Castlecrag in the early years of the Griffin-inspired community, covering aspects including how the community evolved, children’s play, the landscape, memorable personalities, stories about the Griffins, knitlock, public transport; cars, houses, shops, army camps, street tree plantings. To accompany the discussion there will also be a slide show of photographs from the 1920s and 30s from a recently-discovered collection. Light refreshments provided.

Where: Marion Mahony Griffin Hall, Glenaeon Infants School
121 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag
Cost: Adults $20; Children $10; Family $50; Concession $15
Members (Walter Burley Griffin Society and National Trust) $15
Come to this event and also to the walk in the morning to enjoy a $5 discount
Bookings essential: www.trybooking.com/JZGG
Further information: info@griffinsociety.org

National Archives of Australia, Parkes Terrace, Canberra

The Walter Burley Griffin Society Inc invites you to the sixth Marion Mahony Griffin Lecture.

The guest speaker Dr Jennifer McFarlane will give an illustrated talk titled: A profession worked along (unorthodox) spiritual lines – Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin.
Brett Odgers of the Canberra Chapter of the Society will introduce the evening and speak briefly about recent planning changes and proposals for central Canberra.

Trevor Lee, Canberra architect and Griffin scholar, will also speak briefly on his Recent Finds: Marion Mahony Griffin’s personal esoteric library in Chicago.

Tickets: WBGS Members $5; Non-members $10; Students $5

Bookings for this event can be made through:
http://www.eventbrite.com

MMG Lecture 2015 preliminary talk by Trevor Lee. The assistance and co-operation of the Anthroposophical Society in Chiago and Sydney in this research is much appreciated.
Recent finds of MMG esoteric library 2015 presentation.

MMG Lecture 2015 by Dr Jennifer McFarlane

The Walter Burley Griffin Society’s new book Visionaries in Suburbia: Griffin Houses in the Sydney Landscape was launched on 17 September at the Art Space in Willoughby Incinerator, Sydney designed by Walter Burley Griffin and his partner Eric Nicholls in 1933 and recently restored by Willoughby City Council.

After more than three years of research, writing, sourcing images, designing, editing and publishing, we celebrated the launch with well over 100 members and guests. Mayor of Willoughby City, Cr Gail Giles-Gidney and heritage planner Sheridan Burke gave guest speeches and the Society’s Patron John McInerney, former deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, officiated as MC.

Also present were the newly elected Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Cr Cheryl Szatow, and the former mayor Cr Jennifer Anderson, now the Chair of Ku-ring-gai Council’s Heritage Reference Committee. Attendees from Willoughby City Council included Cr Judith Rutherford and Cr Lynne Saville, Chair of the Willoughby Heritage Advisory Committee.

In her speech Mayor Gail stated that the book “celebrates and documents the unique legacy left to us by Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin, who worked hard to preserve the natural landscape, cultivate sustainable living and create a cohesive community … As a resident of Castlecrag, I am honoured to be able to experience this astounding legacy every day – from the physical environment of the incredible buildings, streetscapes, landscapes, reserves and walkways, to the great sense of community that Castlecrag fosters. The Walter Burley Griffin Society is a local community group that has grown from this ethos and their production of Visionaries in Suburbia is a monumental accomplishment – connecting us to our past and creating an understanding and appreciation of the roots of the Castlecrag community”.

The Society is most grateful to its many generous sponsors (listed in the front of the book) who made possible the task of printing a high quality book in Australia and retailing the book at a reasonable price, without having to compromise content, quality or price.

Heritage planner and guest speaker Sheridan Burke’s speech.

RRP: $59.95 available in good bookstores around Australia and online at: http://www.manic.com.au

10.00am to 3.00pm Castlecrag Shopping Village, Edinburgh Road and The Postern

The Walter Burley Griffin Society will once again have a stall at the biennial fair organised by the Castlecrag Progress Association.

The Society will have on display some knitlock tiles, a concrete building block developed by Walter Burley Griffin and David Charles Jenkins, patented in 1917. The segmental building system was used to build several Griffin designed houses in Castlecrag and a number in Melbourne.

A new book about the fascinating Melson house, designed by Griffin at Rock Crest Rock Glen, Mason City, Iowa, USA, will be for sale. It is titled The Melson House Revealed: An Owner’s Perspective and is by Peggy Bang. Also for sale will be greeting cards with two of Marion Mahony Griffin’s magnificent forest portraits.

10.30am to 1.00pm

A guided walking tour through some of the reserves and walkways at Castlecrag created by the Griffins based on their environmental and community ideals.
The internationally renowned suburb of Castlecrag was designed by Walter Burley Griffin in the 1920s as a residential community inspired by the ecological and aesthetic qualities of the landscape of Middle Harbour and its foreshores.

Learn about some of the creative forces Walter and Marion Mahony Griffin brought to their work at Castlecrag and the environmental ideals and community life they fostered here.

Please bring hat, walking shoes and water.

Cost: Adults $20; Children $10; Family $50; Concession $15
Walter Burley Griffin Society members and National Trust members $15
Bookings essential: info@griffinsociety.org or phone Kerry on 02 9958 4516
specific address given on booking.

The Walter Burley Griffin Society Inc. cordially invites you to its twenty sixth Annual General Meeting Sunday 19 October 2014 at 2.00pm at Greenwich Community Hall, 46–50 Greenwich Road, Greenwich, Sydney, Australia in the centenary year of when the Griffins arrived in Australia and first settled in Greenwich.

Light refreshments will be served, followed at 3.30pm by guest speaker Adrienne Kabos

‘Protecting the Griffin legacy in Australia and at Rock Crest/Rock Glen, USA’