Issue Details: First known date: 2009... 2009 Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'On 23 May 1912, American Walter Burley Griffin was announced to the world as the winner of the international design competition for the new Australian capital to be built on a sheep paddock they called Canberra. Almost a century later, Griffin's design - but most of all its implementation - is still hotly debated. Who was this man and what was his vision? How did he come to Canberra, what happened once the Australian establishment tore him to shreds, and what was the role of his wife, helpmate, fellow architect and equal creative partner, Marion Mahony Griffin?

'In this definitive new biography of Griffin husband and wife, Alasdair McGregor delineates the role each played in the production of their greatest works - Canberra, Castlecrag, Newman College and the rest - and charts their lives, from their childhoods and meeting in Chicago in the employ of the larger than life Frank Lloyd Wright, to their battles in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney, and their swansong in India.

'This is a tale of many parts. It traces the lives of two individuals of great talent and vision and their fight against mediocrity. It is the story of the birth of Canberra, one that tells us as much about the Griffins as it does about ourselves and the troubled birth of the Australian national identity. It is a portrait of a pioneering woman who achieved extraordinary things but was rarely credited with that achievement. And it is an examination of the nature of fame in a young country uncertain of its position in the world.

'The Griffins' story resonates through the years, and their fight to see their idealistic vision realised is one that goes on in Australia today.' (From the publisher's website.)

Notes

  • Dedication: For David Headon, Scholar and Friend
  • Epigraph:

    Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood ... Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing asserting itself with ever growing insistence ... Let your warchword be order and your beacon bearty.

    Daniel Hudson Burnham, 1907

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Camberwell, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria,: Lantern , 2009 .
      Extent: 545p.
      Description: illus. (some col.), ports, plans
      Note/s:
      • Publication date: 28 September 2009.
      • Includes glossary, index and bibliography.
      ISBN: 9781920989385

Works about this Work

Burley Griffin Bio Wins Prize Henrietta Cook , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 May 2011; (p. 5)
Briefing Books Stephen Matchett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2009; (p. 22)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Walter and Marion, True to the Creative Vocation Roger Pegrum , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 17)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Review of the Week Dimity Reed , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 27 September 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Books Susan Hewitt , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 26 September 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Books Susan Hewitt , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 26 September 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Review of the Week Dimity Reed , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 27 September 2009; (p. 20)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Walter and Marion, True to the Creative Vocation Roger Pegrum , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 October 2009; (p. 17)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Briefing Books Stephen Matchett , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 3-4 October 2009; (p. 22)

— Review of Grand Obsessions : The Life and Work of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin Alasdair McGregor , 2009 single work biography
Burley Griffin Bio Wins Prize Henrietta Cook , 2011 single work column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 17 May 2011; (p. 5)
Last amended 17 May 2011 10:12:23
Subjects:
  • Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
  • Melbourne, Victoria,
  • Sydney, New South Wales,
  • c
    United States of America (USA),
    c
    Americas,
  • c
    India,
    c
    South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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