The Canberra icon returning to life: Inside the remarkable restoration of University House
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When Canberra’s devastating hailstorm struck in 2020, one of the city’s most significant buildings was forced to close its doors. Six years later, as The Australian National University celebrates 80 years, University House is ready to welcome the community back – and its story is more remarkable than ever.
The scars of Canberra’s January 2020 hailstorm are still visible across the city. But while roofs were repaired and buildings reopened, one landmark remained hidden behind scaffolding, quietly undergoing one of the most significant heritage restorations in the capital’s recent history.
For six years, University House at The Australian National University (ANU) has been carefully restored after the hailstorm – and the rain damage that followed – left the much-loved building with shattered terracotta roof tiles, pierced copper roofing and water damage throughout.
Now, the scaffolding has come down.
Reopening this August as part of the University’s 80th anniversary celebrations, University House is once again ready to welcome guests through its doors, reclaiming its place as the ceremonial and social heart of the campus.
For many Canberrans, it will be the first opportunity to step inside one of the city’s architectural treasures.
Officially opened in 1954 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, University House was created during the University’s formative years as a place where visiting scholars, researchers, students and the wider community could come together. Awarded the 1953 Sulman Medal, it quickly became an emblem of Australia’s emerging confidence in architecture and design.
More than 70 years later, that vision still resonates.
“University House is a treasured symbol of collegiality and intellectual community,” Professor Kylie Message, Director of the Humanities Research Centre, told ANU Reporter.
“It is a living history site and the place where people across generations, disciplines and continents gathered to connect.”
Those generations have left plenty of stories behind.
There are tales of lively evenings in the beer garden, celebrations in the Great Hall and, perhaps most famously, the enduring rumour that a young Bob Hawke once took a spontaneous dip in the courtyard’s koi pond.
But University House has always been about more than its colourful history. Every detail of the building tells a story, right down to the chairs people sit on.
Designer Fred Ward believed furniture should be designed with the same care as the buildings it inhabits. A pioneer of Australian industrial design and a champion of Australian native timbers, he created the original furniture for University House while also helping establish what is believed to be the world’s first university-based design unit.
His work remains one of the defining features of the building today.
Rather than replacing the original furnishings during the restoration, specialists painstakingly assessed, repaired and returned around 1,600 pieces designed by Ward. Chairs were strengthened, tables refinished and cabinets restored, ensuring the building retains not only its appearance but also the craftsmanship and philosophy that shaped it from the beginning.
It was an approach echoed throughout the entire restoration.
Walnut flooring and parquetry have been carefully repolished. Copper detailing has been restored. The Great Hall, Fellows Bar, hotel rooms and postgraduate accommodation have all been revived, while courtyards and gardens once again invite visitors to linger.
“The restoration of University House honours the vision of those who created it while ensuring it continues to serve future generations,” Professor Message says.
That sense of continuity feels especially fitting as ANU celebrates 80 years since its establishment.
Founded in 1946 as Australia’s national university, ANU has spent eight decades bringing together people from across the country and around the world to learn, research and exchange ideas. University House has been central to that mission for much of its history, welcoming visiting academics, hosting distinguished guests and creating a place where conversations begun in lecture theatres could continue over dinner or in the beer garden.
As Professor Peter Kanowski, Head of University House, describes it, the building has long been “the University’s front door”.
It is also one of Canberra’s.
For a city that has grown up alongside its national institutions, University House represents a place where architecture, design, history and community remain deeply connected.
Its restoration isn’t simply about repairing a heritage building damaged by hail. It’s about preserving a place designed to bring people together.
University House’s reopening is just one part of the University’s 80th anniversary celebrations, with ANU Community Day inviting Canberrans to experience the campus on Saturday 15 August.
The Kambri precinct will come alive with interactive workshops, exhibitions, presentations, music, face painting and real scientific projects, alongside performances and works by ANU student artists and musicians, food trucks and family-friendly activities.
As the University celebrates 80 years since its establishment, ANU Community Day offers an opportunity to reconnect with one of the city’s most significant buildings. After six years behind closed doors, University House is ready to welcome the community back – and begin its next chapter.
Celebrate 80 years together – and WIN
Register to attend ANU Community Day at anu.edu.au/80, and you’ll automatically go into the draw to win a two-night stay at University House, including dinner for two. Three runners-up will also receive dinner for two at University House.
