American architect Walter Burley Griffin beat more than 100 entrants competing to design the nation's capital.

Most people know that Walter Burley Griffin designed the original plan for Canberra. What's less well known is how much of his plan was never realised.

In Griffin's Canberra, a building for the people towered over the city, posing as a symbol of democracy and celebrating the achievements of the nation's citizens.

Yet anyone who's visited the nation's capital would know that politicians eventually claimed the prime real estate on Capital Hill.

External Link: Listen to the story

It's not the only diversion today's Canberra has taken from Griffin's original plans.

Here at Curious Canberra, we've been asked, "What are the coolest and weirdest things in Walter Burley Griffin's plan that have never been implemented?"

To answer this question from Sam G, I went back to Griffin's original plans from 1912.

Before we get to what wasn't built, it's important to understand why the plan was never fully executed.

Griffin's Canberra - what went wrong?

Share Walter Burley Griffin's winning design for the city.

In 1911, the Australian Government launched an international competition for the design of a new capital.

From Chicago, Walter Burley Griffin submitted designs drawn by his wife, Marion Mahony Griffin, and beat 136 other entrants to win the competition.

While Griffin remained in the United States, a government committee started selecting elements from various plans and began reworking the winning design.

Christopher Vernon, an associate professor from the University of Western Australia's School of Design, describes the result as "a real mosaic of ill-fitting puzzle pieces".

"He (Griffin) was absolutely, as you would imagine, beside himself," Vernon said.

Griffin petitioned the government to bring him to Australia to explain his vision.

Share Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.

According to Vernon, the government eventually agreed and appointed him the "czar of the capital", handing him control of the plans.

But this may have been part of his undoing.

"He was only 36-years-old and all the people who were going to work for him were much older," he said.

"He was paid a much higher salary and their noses were going to be out of joint (from) the first day."

The bureaucrats spent several years trying to "white ant" his authority and eventually Griffin was placed on a series of three-month contracts.

Later he was stripped of his authority and offered a place on a design committee.

"Griffin says 'a camel is a horse designed by a committee and I'll have no part of it'," Vernon said.

He believes the bureaucrats created a situation that led to Griffin's resignation.

Brett Odgers from the Canberra chapter of the Walter Burley Griffin Society believes there were other reasons why the architect's plans weren't fully realised.

"There was also the First World War intervening and depriving the planning and construction of Canberra of funds," he said.

With all that in mind, here are the seven coolest things that didn't get built - with two small exceptions:

1. The Capitol Building in place of Parliament House

Griffin wanted a building for the people, in the place where Parliament House sits today.

Drawings indicate it would have been a ziggurat - or pyramid-shaped building - but less is known about the building's internal layout.

Share An illustration of the Capitol Building in Griffin's Canberra.

Vernon says it was meant to be an apolitical building that celebrated the achievements of the citizens and looked out over the city.

"So that wherever you moved around the city you saw a building symbolising and commemorating the people," he said.

Amy Lay, curator at the National Archives of Australia, says Parliament House would have been closer to the lake and beneath the Capitol Building.

"(He used) the idea of putting the people above the parliament by using the landscape to create that kind of response to Australia's population and democracy," she said.

2. A casino of a different kind

While casinos evoke images of gambling tables and betting chips, the word didn't have the same connotations back in the early 1900s.

Griffin's casino would have been a meeting place like a dance hall or a space to gather for political protests.

Share The original plan saw a casino at one end of Anzac Parade, where the Australian War Memorial is today.

"Griffin was a teetotaller and fairly conservative when it came to that sort of thing so I don't imagine he would have ever thought of a big gambling establishment in the heart of the national capital," Vernon said.

Lay says Anzac Parade would have led up to the casino.

"It would have been a really bustling kind of place rather than these sweeping expanses that we see (at the end of Anzac Parade)," she said.

3. A comprehensive tram network

Griffin's Canberra would have been connected by a network of trams that ran on a train line which joined north and south Canberra.

"The idea was that everyone would live within so many hundred metres of some place to get the tram," Vernon said.

He pointed out that Griffin designed the city in a different era and underestimated the impact of the car.

Share An artist's impression of Capital Metro light rail along Northbourne Avenue in Canberra.

More than 100 years on, the ACT government is starting to realise this element of Griffin's plan - the construction of light rail is underway.

"It is funny to see everything old is new again in some ways," Vernon said.

4. More medium density housing

Griffin imagined commercial and apartment buildings lining the lake's foreshore.

Share Developments like the Kingston Foreshore may come close to the housing Griffin initially envisaged.

Odgers says today's Canberra "does not come near" what Griffin planned but believes the construction of six-to-eight storey buildings on the corner of Anzac Parade and Constitution Avenue in Campbell are step towards his vision.

"So you'd have a more communal, collective city (rather) than a suburban city which Canberra very quickly became when Griffin left the scene," he said.

Lay tells me that Canberra developed in line with the Federal Capital Commission's concept of large blocks and single dwellings.

5. An arboretum

Vernon says Griffin's arboretum was modelled on the discovery of Gondwana and the idea that today's continents were once one land mass.

Share An early drawing of Griffin's arboretum, illustrating its layout.

He wanted to have plants from different continents in corresponding regions of the arboretum.

Lay says you can still see some of the early species in Weston Park.

"The only parts that remain of it today are the natives that would have stay in the Australia and New Zealand part of the arboretum."

The National Arboretum Canberra opened in 2013 and while it's home to native trees and species from all over the world, it doesn't fully reflect Griffin's original design.

6. A cultural hub

Share This document detailed Griffin's plan.

Griffin also imagined public gardens dotted with cultural institutions.

In a document detailing his plan for the Canberra, he mentioned baths, a gymnasia, stadium, zoological gardens and an opera theatre.

There would also be museums of archaeology, national history, plastic arts and graphic arts.

Vernon says Griffin wanted to provide opportunities for citizens to congregate and get involved in public spaces.

"Remembering there was no television there was a lot more emphasis on the public realm and doing things public," he said.

The cultural hub would have been located on the opposite side of the lake to the government buildings.

7. Coloured mountains

According to some, Griffin envisaged a city surrounded by colourful hills, each planted with different types of flowers and shrubs according to a colour scheme.

Black mountain slider Share Griffin had selected colours for both Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie. Share The colours of Canberra's mountains would be revealed in spring.

Black Mountain was meant to be yellow, Mount Ainslie would be pink and white, and Mount Mugga Mugga would have sprouted blue flowers.

"Before any of that planting came into fruition Walter Burley Griffin was out the door and off to other things," Lay said.

"But it's one of those lovely kind of ideas to imagine how Canberra could have looked with these different coloured hills in the background."