Customs House later part of The Clarion Gateway Apartments, 1-13 Williams Street & 426-440 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Customs House later part of The Clarion Gateway Apartments, 1-13 Williams Street & 426-440 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 103999
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2021:Period: Post Second-WarDATE: 1965-7, 1998;ASSOCIATIONS: Commonwealth of Australia;DESIGNER: Chief Architect, Commonwealth Department of Works; Peddle Thorp 1998;BUILDER: Civil & Civic Pty. Ltd. 1965-7IMAGE: rear of Building Identification Form image, masked by State Electricity Commission Buildings, later Monash House..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTER -Melbourne Customs House Offices 013 William Street 1965 Chief Architect, Commonwealth Department of Works.BUILDING IDEAS (CSR) March 1965Mapped in guide to Melbourne Architecture for the fourteenth Australian Architectural Convention 1965.University of Melbourne Department of Architecture, Cross-sectionDec 1967 illust.Two new adjacent buildings in William St., Melb., make monumental contrasts with each other and with nearby buildings. The multi-storey Customs House (centre of top photo) has none of the qualities of scale, dignity or approachability of the old Customs House (bottom right, top photo), for it is simply a big slab of curtain wall, broken up into vertical bays by opaque panels which coincide with the column spacing. The curtain wall facade begins abruptly above a preposterously scaled entrance floor which seems designed to admit gigantic customers.Next door, up the street, Monash House (far right, top photo, centre, bottom photo) the new headquarters of the S.E.C. opts for horizontality, in prestigious white marble panels, overlaid with black verticals, a theme similar to that of the National Centre (foreground, bottom photo) which differs in that the horizontal bands are projected continuous balconies and the vertical strips are more widely spaced and gold. (The finishes of the N.M.C. have suffered badly on this site, an island with tramways on three sides. Could it be that fine metal dust or electrostatically charged particles from the trams, lines and overhead wires have caused an unpredictably hostile atmosphere?). Monash House has a modulated entrance — the multi-storey bulk steps over the lower floors and brings the majesty of the enterprise down to pedestrian levels. Despite this, the result is ungainly and melodramatic.For the Customs House, archts: the Commonwealth Dept. of Works; builder, Civil & Civic Pty. Ltd. For Monash House, archts: Meldrum & Partners; builder, E. A. Watts Pty. Ltd..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW128. The Clarion Gateway Apartments / 1-13 William Street / 103999Identified in previous heritage review (Central Activities District Conservation Study, 1985, Central City Heritage Review, 1993)Date of construction: 1967Built in 1967 as Commonwealth office and converted in 1998 to apartments.Explanation for exclusion: Low integrity.There are better and earlier examples.Does not warrant individual Heritage Overlay..McClelland Gallery web site 2016:`Lenton PARRMelbourne, Victoria Australia 1924 -2003`Customs House screen 1966.Customs House screen 1966 reflects many of Lenton Parr’s ideologies surrounding sculpture, as a member of the Centre 5 group of sculptors who actively promoted collaborative projects between artists and architects. A further ideology explored by Parr involved the enhancement of vast voids between shapes, in an attempt to reject the traditional assumption that sculptural forms must have a solid core. Parr has stated his aim for his sculpture was to possess and promote a personality, moving beyond mere inanimate objects by embracing a more gestural aesthetic..His early steel works have a distinct biomorphic quality, an element which later shifted to an engagement with geometric abstraction, before creating increasingly organic shapes, such as his delicate ribbon-like forms. Customs House screen embraces this aesthetic, with its delicate intricacies and series of abstract components..Customs House screen was commissioned by and installed at the former Customs House 1-13 William Street in Melbourne in 1966, where it was situated at the entrance until the building was eventually sold. Within this framed and densely urban location of the Melbourne CBD, Parr’s sculpture provided this desired personality to Customs House. Having been relocated to McClelland in 2005, Customs House screen is now reinvigorated in the open expanses of the Sculpture Park, where its scale and materials are juxtaposed with the surrounding environment.'.City of Melbourne online MAPS (COMMAPS) 2015The Clarion Gateway Apartments:Former site of the of the Yarra Family Hotel. The site was purchased by the Commonwealth Govt in 1960 for 52,500 pounds and developed into a twenty storey concrete office block named Customs House in 1967. The building was refurbished, subdivided and converted into a mix residential units, serviced apartments and parking in 1998 to a design by Peddle Thorp.
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Research and reports
Record number:
1209486
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 103999 | 1 JPEG : 627 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |