Enrico Taglietti in his studio in Griffith Canberra, circa 1976. Photo: Ted Richards, courtesy Taglietti Archive. Photo: CMAG.
A man who left a deep, visible impression on the national capital is being showcased at Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG).
Born in Milan, Italy, Enrico Taglietti (1926-2019) spent his early years in Asmara in Eritrea, Ethiopia. In 1947, on his return to Milan, he studied architecture at the Politecnico and then spent some time at the Le Corbusier summer school, Marseille, France.
He and his designer partner Franca arrived in Australia in 1955 to design the Italy project at David Jones in Sydney. The following year, they visited Canberra for six weeks and decided to stay for the next 60 years.
Taglietti later recalled in an interview: “As a young architect in Italy, I felt the heavy burden of history. It was an enormous burden. In Italy, everything that you do they referred back to what has been done before or said you cannot do that because of something and the burden is getting heavier and heavier and heavier. Finally, you feel suffocated.”
The Cinema Center, Civic Canberra 1965. Enrico Taglietti Architect. Photo: Enrico Taglietti, courtesy Taglietti Archive. Photo: CMAG.
In contrast, Taglietti felt a great sense of liberation in Canberra.
He observed: “Arriving in Canberra I said finally a city without history, a city without golden domes. I said this is a proper void … you have to fall into the void and start designing, I said this is the place – I won’t have difficulty to go into the void, because it was practically empty, but empty in a pleasant way.”
Taglietti launched himself into this void and set out to design a huge range of commercial buildings, including the Cinema Center in 1964 in Civic, the Dickson Library in 1968, Latham Primary School in 1970 and scores of distinctive private dwellings.
His arrival in Canberra coincided with a rapid transformation of the city with the establishment of the National Capital Development Commission in 1958 that launched the city into a period of planned dynamic growth with its suburban developments. The preceding war years, economic stagnation and material shortages had passed and there was a birth of a modern city with huge opportunities.
Italy at David Jones exhibition, George Street store June 1955. Exhibition design Enrico Taglietti featuring Lucio Fontana painted plates in the foreground. Photographer not known. Hand colouring by Enrico Taglietti. Courtesy Taglietti Archive. Photo: CMAG.
The exhibition at CMAG is a dense presentation with an attempt made to celebrate the enormity of Taglietti’s output, the collaborative design endeavours between Enrico and Franca, and the richness and multifaceted nature of their practice. Plans, models, drawings, contemporary newspaper clippings and photographs jostle for some of the available space.
Some of the more detailed presentations, including the Cinema Center complex and St Anthony’s Catholic Church, Marsfield, NSW, 1968 (a mandatory excursion for many architecture courses in Australia) are some of the highlights of this exhibition. There is also a blacklist of major Taglietti projects in Canberra no longer in existence, including Town House Motel, 1961, Noah’s Restaurant Town House Motel, 1961, Captain James Cook Hotel, 1967 – all now destroyed.
Enrico Taglietti at the Town House Motel Bunda Street Civic ACT 1961 (now demolished). Photographer not identified, courtesy Taglietti Archive. Photo: CMAG.
Having experienced a number of Taglietti’s dwellings and now having explored this exhibition, a question inevitably arises concerning a Taglietti style. Unlike Frank Lloyd Wright or Walter Burley Griffin, where despite their multifaceted practice there was a unified language, Taglietti’s architecture and design (he designed all the fittings from chairs to lighting) has certain properties rather than a distinctive style.
His buildings tap into a sense of wonderment, surprise and a spiritual dimension. He is essentially an organic architect with a feel for nature that surrounds the building as well as an awareness of the needs of people who will occupy the space.
In the final analysis, Taglietti, unlike many international visitors, became an Australian architect with a special relationship with light – the crisp and sharp quality of Canberra’s light moulded the edges of his architectural forms.
He was also an architect with only a modest ego – not one that had to be emblazoned across the facades of his buildings. He observed in 2014: “Everywhere recently, and it is a trend in the world, architects seem to have lost the plot. They design only the external shape of a building. They are doing stupid things, silly things. Just because they want to be seen. You have confusion.”
Dr Silvia Micheli, co-curator of this exhibition, offered more insight.
“For Enrico and his wife Franca, design was far more than a profession – it was a way of life, a totalising dimension they lived and shared with their family, colleagues and friends. That approach was shaped by their formative years in Milan and found its full expression in the vibrant cultural scene of Canberra.”
Life in Design runs at CMAG until February 2026. Photo: CMAG.
Taglietti Life in Design is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 4 pm, Saturdays and Sundays (and public holidays) 12 to 4 pm, at the Canberra Museum and Gallery until 22 February 2026. Admission is free.
Original Article published by Sasha Grishin on Region Canberra.
