Austrian architect Franz Johann (Frank) Zipfinger (1923–1969) designed for the KLM airline in the Netherlands and throughout Asia before emigrating to Australia in 1951. He registered as an architect in 1953 and completed a number of residential and commercial projects and interiors. His design of the One, Two, Three Milk Bar, Double Bay (1958), was included in Clive Carney’s 1959 international survey of interiors, Impact of design. Larger projects included the Dominican Hall and Science Block, Santa Sabina College, Strathfield (1961); the Seven Hills Regional Shopping Centre (1960); and The Walk, Hornsby (c1960), an early multi-level shopping complex. Zipfinger was also a panel member of the Small Home Service (NSW), run by Australian Home Beautiful magazine and the NSW Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, providing affordable home plans to owner-builders. He died in 1969, aged just 46.

Posted by:Rebecca Hawcroft

Researcher of architecture and design history, Rebecca curated the 2017 Museum of Sydney exhibition The Moderns: European designers in Sydney and edited the book The Other Moderns (New South Press, 2017)

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