MLC Centre

The MLC Centre is a skyscraper in Sydney, Australia. This office building is 228 metres (748 ft) high^[1] and has 67 storeys.^[2] It was designed by Sydney architect Harry Seidler, and remains one of his most definitive works. The building was awarded the Sir John Sulman medal by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.^[1]

The building is a stark white, modernist column in an octagonal floorplan, with eight massive load-bearing columns in the corners that taper slightly towards the top. It is one of the world's tallest reinforced concrete buildings and was the tallest building in the world outside North America at the time of its completion. The MLC Centre was Sydney's tallest office building from 1977 to 1992.^[1] The MLC Centre is jointly owned by the GPT Group and QIC. The MLC Centre was also Australia's tallest building for 9 years until losing the title to the Rialto Towers in Melbourne in 1986.

Occupants include the Sydney Consulate of the United States of America. The podium of the building includes a shopping centre with several exclusive fashion labels and a 1,186 seat theatre, the Theatre Royal.

The building underwent a $100m repair project which installed hybrid corrosion protection to the facade. The project retained the original appearance of the structure but remedied damage to exposed aggregate precast concrete facade panels caused by expansive corrosion of steel reinforcement.

Site controversy

Martin Place in the early 1950s. The building on the corner to the left is the Commercial Travellers Club Building and the 'modern' (c1930) twin-wings of the Australia Hotel next to it were demolished in 1971-2 to make way for the MLC Centre.

The building's construction was controversial, since it brought about the demolition in 1971-2 of the famous 19th century Australia Hotel, the Theatre Royal, and the splendid Commercial Travellers Club building on the corner of Martin Place, all of which formerly stood on the site, as well as much of the historic Rowe Street precinct.

The Australia Hotel, 1932, demolished to make way for the MLC Centre.

Gallery

• 

  View from Sydney Tower

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Sydney
• Architecture of Sydney

References

External links

• Official site
• Four years and $100m for city tower repair job

Skyscrapers in Sydney over 150 metres in height
Completed Over 200 m Chifley Tower (244 m, 1992) Citigroup Centre (243 m, 2000) Deutsche Bank Place (240 m, 2005) Meriton World Tower (230 m, 2004) MLC Centre (228 m, 1977) Governor Phillip Tower (227 m, 1993) Ernst & Young Tower (222 m, 2004) RBS Tower (219 m, 2000) International Tower 1 (217 m, 2016) 150–199 m ANZ Tower (195 m, 2013) Suncorp Place (193 m, 1982) AMP Centre (188 m, 1976) Century Tower (183 m, 1997) Grosvenor Place (180 m, 1988) International Tower 2 (178 m, 2015) Capita Centre (173 m, 1989) Australia Square Tower (170 m, 1967) Meriton Tower (170 m, 2006) Metro Grand (170 m, 2014) The Peak (168 m, 1996) International Tower 3 (168 m, 2016) 1 O'Connell Street (166 m, 1991) Westpac Place (166 m, 2005) 201 Elizabeth Street (166 m, 1978) Gateway Plaza (164 m, 1989) HSBC Centre (162 m, 1988) The Cove (158 m, 2003) Hordern Towers (156 m, 1999) 200 George Street (155 m, 2015) Metro Spire (155 m, 2014) Angel Place (152 m, 2000) Sydney Central (152 m, 1992) 85 Castlereagh Street (151 m, 2011) Lumière Residences (151 m, 2007)		Sydney skyline in 2014.
Under construction Crown Sydney (271 m, 2019) Greenland Centre Sydney (236 m, 2019) International Tower 1 (217 m, 2017) Altitude Apartments Tower A (177 m, 2017) 189 Macquarie Street North Tower (167 m, 2017) 33 Bligh Street (165 m, TBA)
Approved Quay Quarter Sydney (216 m, 2020) Full list of approved projects
Proposed Full list of proposed projects
Buildings listed in order of height and with year of completion Building data source: Skyscraper Center See also: List of tallest buildings in Sydney Category:Buildings and structures in Sydney Category:Skyscrapers in Sydney