‘A glorious anomaly’: would the Sydney Opera House be built today?

Today (20 October) marks 50 years since Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House in 1973. By all accounts, the construction of the Opera House was an unlikely miracle made possible by four premiers, two architects, almost two decades and $102 million (approximately $1 billion in current terms). 

In Benjamin Law’s words, the House is a ‘glorious anomaly’. Law, speaking for the Cynics, praised the Opera House and expressed gratitude for the ‘miraculous one-off [accidents]’ that coalesced to get its development and construction over the line. Law echoed the words of Opera House CEO Louise Herron. In an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald earlier this year, Herron described the Opera House as a ‘succession of miracles’. The Opera House shows us ‘what is possible when a city is prepared to be assertive, not defensive, about its cultural worth’ and what is waiting if we overcome the ‘early sense of scepticism that always attaches itself to new ideas,’ wrote Herron.