Emil Sodersten

Emil Sodersten
File:Emil Sodersten.jpg Studio portrait of Emil Sodersten in 1940
Born	Emil Sodersteen (1899-08-30)30 August 1899 Balmain, Sydney
Died	14 December 1961(1961-12-14) (aged 62) Manly, Sydney
Alma mater	Sydney Technical College
Occupation	Architect
Spouse	Elsie Vera Wynn ​ (m. 1951)​
Parents	Emil Sodersteen (Snr) Julia Sodersteen
Buildings	City Mutual Life Assurance (1936) Segenhoe Flats (1937) Nesca House, Newcastle (1939)
Design	Brisbane City Hall (1920s) Australian War Memorial, Canberra (1925)
Military career
Allegiance	Australia
Branch	Royal Australian Air Force
Service years	1942 – 1945
Rank	Flight lieutenant
Service number	266387
Conflicts	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". The Australian Institute of Architects presents the Emil Sodersten Interior Architecture Award annually in his honour.

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. 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, 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.

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. 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	Style	Completed	Involvement	Heritage status	Image	Notes
Brisbane City Hall	Brisbane	Civic building	Italian Renaissance	1920s	Co-design		File:StateLibQld 1 190023 City Hall in Brisbane around ca. 1930.jpg
Gwydir Flats	Darlinghurst	Residential apartments	Inter-War Georgian revival	1926	Architect	City of Sydney local register
St Peter's Theatre	Erskineville	Cinema	Federation Romanesque	1927	Architect	City of Sydney local register
Birtley Towers	Elizabeth Bay	Residential apartments	Inter-war Art Deco	1935	Architect	City of Sydney local register
Wychbury	Potts Point	Residential apartments	Inter-war Art Deco	c. 1935	Architect	City of Sydney local register
City Mutual Life Assurance Building	Sydney CBD	Commercial office building	Inter-war Art Deco	1936	Co-architect	NSW SHR	File:City Mutual Building on the corner of Bligh and Hunter Street.jpg
The Hermitage	Vaucluse	Mansion	Victorian Gothic	1936	Restoration (following fire)	Woollahra local register	File:(1)The Hermitage Vaucluse Sydney.jpg
Segenhoe Flats	Newcastle	Residential apartments	Inter-war Art Deco	1937	Architect	NSW SHR
Marlborough Hall	Elizabeth Bay	Residential apartments	Inter-war Art Deco	1938	Architect	City of Sydney local register
Nesca House	Newcastle	Commercial office building	Inter-war Art Deco	1939	Architect	NSW SHR City of Newcastle local register	File:217 - Nesca House (5045739b2).jpg
Bryant House	Sydney CBD	Commercial office building	Inter-war Art Deco	1939	Co-architect	City of Sydney local register	File:Sydney Bryant House windows.jpg
Seven Elizabeth Street	Sydney CBD	Residential apartments	Inter-war Art Deco	1940	Architect	City of Sydney local register
Oakes Centre	Westmead	Shopping centre			Architect
Broad Oakes building	Ermington	Shopping centre			Architect
Australian War Memorial	Canberra	War museum	Inter-war Art Deco	1941 (Involved: 1925-1938)	Design	Commonwealth Heritage List	File:AWM canberra 1.jpg
Reid Building, St Andrew's College, University of Sydney	Sydney	Residential college		1953	Architect	City of Sydney local register