Holloway at 75

The main brick building at Holloway Campus is the oldest on the site and one of the last buildings of its kind that were built for schools in Victoria.  Construction commenced in 1947 and by the end of 1948, the main building and workshop were ready for occupation.  Sandringham Technical School officially opened on February 1st 1949. The school was a product of the times, and many government buildings built between 1920-1950 in Victoria share the same architectural characteristics - clean lines and neat brickwork. This is the design work of the Government Architect Percy Everett on display.

Percy Everett was born in Geelong and after finishing his initial schooling, studied architecture at the Gordon Technical College.  He was employed at the Geelong Harbour Trust, and then joined private architectural firms before travelling overseas and then resuming work at another firm.  Unusually for a qualified architect, he was no stranger to the education sector.  Facing a shortage of architectural work in 1916, he was appointed the Headmaster of Brunswick Technical School and was also responsible for writing the architecture curriculum for Victorian technical schools.  While he was a Headmaster, he was also allowed to continue working as an architect.

He was at Brunswick Technical School until 1932 when he was transferred to Brighton Technical School as Headmaster - this school used to be located in the vicinity of Berwick Street in Brighton and was demolished in 1991.  His tenure at Brighton Technical School did not last long as he was made the Government Architect in July 1934, a position he held until his retirement in 1953.  

Everett's design influences stem from the Art Deco and Modernist styles where buildings were characterised by clean lines, brickwork, and plenty of windows to bring light into corridors and classrooms.  As the Government Architect, there are many famous buildings around Victoria that he designed including the Russell Street Police Complex (now apartments), the Frank Tate Building at Melbourne University, and the Chemistry Building at Swinburne University.  There were also numerous schools around Victoria that he designed that were precursors to our campus at Sandringham including Box Hill Girls' Technical School, Essendon Technical School, and Oakleigh Technical School (demolished). These schools followed the same design principle, but Percy Everett was also trying to make the building of schools more efficient by building schools that were based on American designs and freed from the embellishment of the past - he told a Government inquiry in 1931 that previous Victorian schools were "too costly to build". 

There is no doubt that Percy Everett believed his designs of school buildings were efficient builds, but also highly practical for students and teachers.  He wrote an article for The Age newspaper in August 1949 to reiterate his design ideals.  By the time he wrote this article, Sandringham Technical School had been open since February with a main building and workshop - pictured above in the photo. But what Everett could not have anticipated was that this new school would quickly become overcrowded. 

If the school community has any other stories or photos to contribute, or donate (especially Sandringham Technical School yearbooks), please do not hesitate to get in contact with Jeremy de Korte (Teacher-Librarian/School Archives).