MLC Centre, Modernist skyscraper in Sydney, Australia
25 Martin Place, still widely called MLC Centre, is a 228-metre, 67-storey tower designed by Harry Seidler. Its octagonal plan is carried by eight load-bearing corner columns that taper slightly toward the flat top, and the facade is clad in exposed-aggregate precast concrete panels. A separate cylindrical podium structure with three open horizontal bands stands at the base.
Designed by Harry Seidler, the tower was built on a site assembled by demolishing the 19th-century Australia Hotel, the Theatre Royal and the Commercial Travellers Club in 1971 and 1972, a demolition that was controversial. The contractor was Civil & Civic and the Governor-General, Sir Zelman Cowen, officially opened the building in September 1978. It was Sydney's tallest office building from 1977 to 1992 and Australia's tallest until 1986.
The tower appears as the headquarters of the fictional Harper Mining company in the 1980s soap opera Return to Eden, and in 1999 Silverchair filmed parts of the music video for Anthem for the Year 2000 at Martin Place with thousands of fans. In 1991 the first episode of Police Rescue showed a character abseiling from its top.
The tower occupies the block between Martin Place and King Street, with its podium shopping centre and the 1,186-seat Theatre Royal entered from the Martin Place side. Upper office floors are not open to the public, so visits centre on the podium and the theatre's foyer.
The building appears as the headquarters of the fictional Harper Mining company in the 1980s soap opera Return to Eden, and in 1991 its top was used for an abseiling scene in the first episode of Police Rescue. Silverchair filmed parts of the Anthem for the Year 2000 video here in 1999, with thousands of fans gathering at Martin Place.
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