Among Australia’s national arts institutions, none is quite so tasked with architectural preservation as the National Film And Sound Archive. 

Famous to older readers as the home of the former Australian Institute of Anatomy where children were dragged to view Phar Lap’s Heart and a scary assortment of shrunken heads, since 1984 it’s been home to the NFSA. CEO, Patrick McIntyre, is happy to embrace the duty of caring for such a unique building.

I’m on a walk with McIntyre, whose sense of excitement about a refresh of the heritage-listed building is palpable. 

It is well known that his predecessor, Dutch archivist Jan Muller, was busy spearheading a move for the NFSA to have its own building, but that is clearly not McIntyre’s intention, as he draws my attention to the extraordinary architecture – “stripped classical,” he thinks, but with more than a touch of Art Deco thrown in.

Geometric Art Deco patterns are evident throughout the building, in suspended light fittings in the gallery and even in the quirky heating and air vents. 

Along the walls are face-masks of famous scientists and the commemorative plaque for founding director of the Institute of Anatomy, Sir Colin MacKenzie. 

When I arrive, a group of workmen are busily cleaning up the patterned floor of the foyer, which features black marble quarried from Acton Flats, now beneath Lake Burley Griffin

The intrusive front desk has been removed and a paint job has given focus to some of the magnificent features, not least the platypus stained-glass skylight.

Sad to say, the identity of the building’s architect, Walter Hayward Morris, has not been so well-preserved, but McIntyre tells me he was only 29 when he got his job with the Federal Capital Commission.

Morris’ building is a living history in itself. His work, completed in 1930, is just the front section of the complex, with the exhibiting areas on the two sides inserted later and the contemporary admin area added in 1999.

While fascinated by the history of the building, McIntyre, who came to the archive from the executive directorship of Sydney Theatre Company in late 2021, is keen to look into the future.

A former music journalist with a communications degree from the University of Technology Sydney in writing and film, he feels he’s come back to his roots.

Research and preservation, he affirms, remain the chief emphases of the archive, and he sees exhibitions as more for larger institutions, such as the National Gallery, Museum and Portrait Gallery. 

Our walk-through is focused on the likely visitor experience. 

The 89-seat heritage theatrette has had a lick of paint. It’s home to the monthly Vinyl Lounge night where people share their favourite records over a drink, and while already popular for lectures, launches and symposia, McIntyre is keen to make it, like the other spaces in the original building, more visitor-friendly. Many of them are open to hire by outside organisations.

The café has new proprietors from a cooler barista generation, the comfortable side room facing it has been turned into The Mediatheque, a lounge where patrons can relax between events, bring a cuppa and watch screen treats from the NFSA’s archives, made possible by the digitalisation of the collection

Along with the ambience, McIntyre’s mind is on the preservation of objects, so pride of place on our walk-through is given to the refurbished library, just next door to the café.

The library, he notes, provides a permanent home for objects, and is based on the private library of producer Tony Buckley, which can be seen aloft beneath striking geometric Art Deco patterns in the skylight. But if McIntyre has his way, it’s likely to become a fun location, one where Canberrans can bring friends who come to visit them.

As he shows me around the more than 280 items on show, like the sketchbooks, the flipbook, the gramophone, iPod Shuffle, the music of Kylie and Kamahl, along with artefacts related to Fat Cat and The Aunty Jack Show, he is quick to remind me that it’s just the tip of archival iceberg, so the library showcase can be refreshed as needed. 

But apart from all the refurbishing, it’s business as usual at the Arc Cinema, where the ever-changing line-up of movies is now thematically arranged, with one of the first themes to be Nefarious Australia, as part of which the black comedy Judy & Punch will be screened on January 19, followed by a Q&A with director Mirrah Foulkes and actors Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman.