pressed metal ceiling modern

and public buildings in Australia.

The first decorative panels sold in Sydney and were imported from Germany and designed by Mr. F. Peters of Berlin. The initial success of installations in such buildings as the Colonial Secretary’s Building in Macquarie Street and the Beale’s and Paling’s piano showrooms in George Street, Sydney, encouraged Wunderlich to patent this new form of ceiling and look for further contracts.

Ernest Wunderlich, now joined by his brother Alfred in the business, was intensely musical and this made them aware of the acoustic advantages of their metal ceilings. They convinced the Sydney City Council to use their product for the projected “Centennial Hall”.
Ernest wrote: “The present Town Hall, at first named the Centennial Hall, was completed about 1889. It was never designed as a concert hall, and the immense organ must have been an afterthought, because the architects had specified an elaborate plaster ceiling with console and pendentives, that certainly would have fallen on the audiences as soon as the 64ft lower C pipe sounded. After a long canvass of mayor and aldermen, I induced the City Council to substitute stamped zinc for the ceiling and all its decorations.”

The Wunderlich company’s work on the Sydney Town Hall was an enormous success and by the time their 1899 Catalogue was produced, it credited the company with an enormous list of achievements.15 hospitals and asylums, 14 law courts, 11 public offices and buildings, 5 schools, 8 theaters, 27 insurance offices and other commercial buildings, 35 warehouses and showrooms, 11 municipal buildings, 11 museums and libraries, 10 miscellaneous public buildings and railway stations, 9 churches, 20 banks, 41 hotels and over 150 private residences!

Wunderlich panels were produced until the 1950s when the effect of the two World Wars and changing tastes finally secured the demise of this very special decorative product.
Visit http://www.wunderlite.com.au/history