Griffith is an early inner-south suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Griffith contains the Manuka Shopping Centre, one of the earliest shopping areas built in Canberra. Noted buildings in the suburb include the Russian Embassy and St Paul's Anglican Church. Griffith, sized at approximately 3 km², is one of Canberra's oldest suburbs, with several of its streets designed according to Walter Burley Griffin's original designs for Canberra. The suburb has 20 parks covering nearly 12% of the total area.
History
Settlement of the Blandfordia 5 Precinct southwest of Manuka began in 1926 and 1927. In 1928, southern Blandfordia (named after the Christmas Bell) was renamed Griffith and northern Blandfordia became Forrest. Griffith is named after Sir Samuel Griffith, who was chosen in 1903 as the first Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia and retained his position until retirement in 1919. Streets in Griffith are named after explorers.
Griffith includes several areas that are listed by the ACT Heritage Council:
A post-colonisation Ngambri-Ngunnawal campsite is registered on Flinders Way. According to the ACT Heritage Council, "the traffic island at the intersection of Hayes Crescent, Durville Crescent and Flinders Way is associated with Aboriginal use of the area prior to and following European settlement and includes one of the most recently used traditional Ngunnawal camping grounds [used in the 1940s-1950s]." The Blandfordia 5 Precinct (bounded by Bougainville and Furneaux streets, Arthur Circle Monaro Crescent and Flinders way, but including houses north of Furneaux Street in Forrest), the first stage of which was developed on Garden City principles in 1926 and 1927 to meet the urgent need for housing for public servants for the opening of the new Parliament House in Canberra in 1927. It was planned by Sir John Sulman (and departs from Walter Burley Griffin’s intent for the area) and the planting was guided by Thomas Charles Weston. Griffith Oval No. 1 at the corner of Captain Cook Crescent and Austin Street, the home ground of the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club, which is ringed by mature trees planted between the 1930s and the 1950s.
The Whitley Houses at the corner of Canberra Avenue and the corner of Cunningham Street and Burke and Leichhardt streets, modernist houses designed by Cuthbert Whitley and built in 1939, considered by the ACT Heritage Council to be "among the first government designed and built single-storey detached houses in the Functionalist style in Australia." The Heritage Council has permitted flats to be built behind the houses, but views of the houses from the streets have been partially preserved. St Paul’s Church on the corner of Canberra Avenue and Captain Cook Crescent, which the Heritage Council considers to be an excellent example of an Inter-War Gothic church with Art Deco influences. The church was designed by Sydney Architects Burcham Clamp and Son and dedicated on 6 August 1939. The former Petrov residence at 7 Lockyer Street, which was occupied by Vladimir Mikhaylovich Petrov and his wife, Evdokia prior to the Petrov Affair. The Heritage Council considers that "the house and its grounds preserve the outward picture of suburban normality and domesticity that the Petrovs presented to 1950s Canberra, a picture that belied the important ramifications their defection had in Australia and internationally. Their defection was a defining event of the Cold War in Australia".