Surgery and rooms, later Le Louvre, 72-74 Collins Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Surgery and rooms, later Le Louvre, 72-74 Collins Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 102162
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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Period: Early Victorian, Inter-War, Post Second WarConstruction date: 1855-Notable features: Historical value..ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistory`Le Louvre' is shown on some of the earliest surviving property plans of Melbourne and achieves its first rate-book entry in 1855. Its subsequent occupiers are predictably from the medical profession, with one or two notable exceptions, one being one Professor J. Schott (music teacher) in the late 1860s and Madame Victorine (a milliner) of a few years earlier. The many surgeons who graced its rooms during the 19th Century included T.H. Berigny, A.C. Brownless, C. Evans Reeves, Jacob V. Eccles, G. Addlington Syme and Thomas Rowan.A distinguished occupant of this Century was Dr. Wilfrid Kent-Hughes, (father of Sir Wilfrid Kent-Hughes) in the 1920s, a few years before its surgeries were turned over to Miss Helene Hill's frocks. Thomas Duff's copper shopfronts and a veneer of subtle stucco work changed the building's face from professional to modern retail. In c1936, `Le Louvre' became the style of a gentlewomen's dress salon and stayed.DescriptionThree-storey, simply elevated building, with a new cemented facing, cement window architraves and cast iron balustrading to the balconettes implied at the first level windows. The ground level has been altered c1925, with accompanying panelling, roundels and copper shopfront manufactured by Duff. The side elevation reveals rough stone construction, the chimneys have fine cornices (those that survive) and the window openings themselves are graduated in size from one level to another, comprising an attic storey at the third level.External IntegrityRelates more to the 1920s as a facade, than its original construction date. Vents and signs have been attached since.StreetscapeRelates as a neutral, similarly fenestrated accompaniment to the valuable No. 70 Collins Street. The pair is isolated, but complementary to the buildings opposite and adjacent.SignificanceGiven the original external simplicity and the consequent relatively large impact the new shop front and subtle Greekrevival detailing had upon this, the building no longer expresses externally what appears to be its early constructiondate. More so, it presents a stylish (if miniature) show case for the high fashion which became Collins Street east'sdomain after the spread of international cultural influences, accelerated in Melbourne by the First War, communication advances and the spread of the international magazine..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites MURPHY ARCHITECTS, JOHN AND PHYLLIS 1976. HISTORIC BUILDINGS STUDY OF PART OF THE C.B.D. MELBOURNE : { AREA 1} WITH MURPHY, JOCK, FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL, p2,6; `Victoria Illustrated': 148;.Victorian Heritage DatabaseNational Trust of Australia (Vic)Statement of SignificanceLast updated on - February 16, 2007.What is Significant ?The Le Louvre shop occupies the last remaining townhouse of a terrace row of four similar three storey houses built in 1855. The ground level facade was altered from rustication, windows and a porticoed entry to comprise essentially a copper framed shopfront in 1927, leaving possibly small remnants of rustication on either side. The upper facades were modified and the interiors re-arranged some time soon after 1954. The shop was occupied by the exclusive boutique Le Louvre from 1934 to 2009. It was established by Lillian Wightman, who was a notable identity if not a leader in the field of introducing exclusive 'couture' and up to date Paris fashions from at least the 1940s. She was also famous for not selling the shop to the developers of Nauru House in the 1970s, making an important stand for heritage conservation in what she had termed 'the Paris End'. After her death in1992 her daughter Georgina Wier carried on the tradition.The building arrangement appears to be largely original to its 1855 form; there is a three storey front section with a hipped roof, joined to a two level rear section by a ground level corridor, open to a lightwell.How is it significant ?The building known as Le Louvre is of historical, architectural and social importance at the State level.Why is it significant ?Socially, Le Louvre is well known as the last exclusive couture establishment in Collins Street and as one of the institutions that helps to define Melbourne's distinctive character as a place of elegance and refinement with an appreciation of history and tradition.Historically and socially, Le Louvre was the shop for Melbourne's elite from the 1950s to the 1970s, and its equally famous proprietor Lillian Wightman helped to introduce high fashion European designers to an increasingly cosmopolitan and discerning clientele.Le Louvre was also well known as one of the places that was saved from demolition in the 1970s and represents the turning point in the acceptance of the importance of heritage conservation in Melbourne. Architecturally, the upper facade is significant as an example of 1950s taste for the Georgian style as the most refined 'historic' period, with a nod to the lure of the style of historic Paris. The 1927 copper shopfront is also one of the most intact, attractive and notable from the interwar period remaining in the CBD.The arrangement of the building as a whole also has some significance as the earliest townhouse in Collins Street (on the exterior only the facade has been altered) and is relatively rare as a residential building in the city dating from the mid 1850s.Classified: 09/02/1978Revised: 27/04/2010.HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSOriginally constructed in 1855, this small Georgian town house is of significance as a rare survivor of early Collins Street which was renowned for its residential buildings..VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER REPORTHERMES 4117CONTEXTUAL HISTORYThe first settlement in Melbourne was at the western end of the present city, close to the turning circle on the Yarra and the early wharves. The eastern end was settled later and even in 1840 the east end of Collins Street was an unmade road with wooden shops raised on stumps.From as early as the 1840s, with some landmark institutions coming into existence, including the Baptist, Scots and Congregational churches, the Mechanics Institute and the Melbourne Club, the eastern end of Collins Street became a fashionable residential area. Residents included prominent citizens such as J B Were and his family and Dr Godfrey Howitt, who built a house on the south-west corner of Collins and Spring Streets. It also became the medical precinct of Melbourne and a desirable residential address, away from the mercantile and financial precinct at the other end of the developing town. Collins Street developed quickly with the 1850s boom following the discovery of gold, and substantial masonry buildings were constructed, both residential and commercial. Many owners lived above their ground floor shops. The top end of Collins Street also became the site of some of Melbourne's most prestigious stores, including Georges, set up in Collins Street in 1883, a trend which has continued until the present day.In the inter-war period many of the nineteenth century townhouses were replaced by low-scale professional chambers. From the 1960s more demolitions occurred and commercial office and hotel towers were built. The new buildings at upper end of Collins Street however have continued to accommodate medical suites and exclusive fashion shops.HISTORY OF PLACE"Le Louvre" is shown on some of the earliest surviving property plans of Melbourne and achieves its first rate-book entry in 1855. A row of four three-storey townhouses was built c1855 at numbers 74-82 Collins Street, probably all at about the same time, due to the resemblances in the facades. No 74 was built slightly forward of the others, and also was less deep, as the rear abutted the house at no 83 Exhibition Street. A laneway extended from Exhibition Street to the rear of the house, which had a small court yard in the centre, presumably for light, with the front and rear sections connected by a balcony.Its subsequent occupiers are predictably from the medical profession, with one or two notable exceptions, one being a Professor J Schott (music teacher) in the late 1860s and Madame Victorine (a milliner) of a few years earlier. The many surgeons who graced its rooms during the nineteenth century included T H Berigny, AC Brownless, C Evans Reeves, Jacob V Eccles, G Addlington Syme and Thomas Rowan. A distinguished occupant of this century was Dr Wilfrid Kent-Hughes, former Surgeon-in-Chief of Anglo-Russian hospitals (and father of Sir Wilfrid Kent-Hughes) in the 1920s, a few years before its surgeries were turned over to Miss Helene Hill's frocks.In 1927 a copper-framed shopfront made by Thomas Duff and a veneer of subtle stucco work replaced the rusticated ground floor facade and the entrance portico and changed the buildings face from professional to modern retail.Between 1929 and 1934 it operated as a dress shop known as Miss Helene Frocks, and in 1934 it became Le Louvre, operated by Lillian Wightman. Wightman had been born in Ballarat in 1903, and in the early 1920s worked as a shop assistant for an exclusive dressmaker, or 'Ladies Couturier', in Collins Street. She set up her own shop in c1927 on the corner of Howie Place, moved to 74 Collins Street in 1934 and purchased the building in 1952. The shop became famous in Melbourne as one of the city's most exclusive women's fashion shops, selling fashions by prominent European designers.In 1954 an application was made to carry out alterations to the exterior and interior of the building (which were probably done somewhat later than this), simplifying the Victorian-era facade. Some of the Victorian details were removed, including the upper cornice and the window hoods on the upper levels, and cast iron sill decorations were added to the first floor windows. The facade was painted a dark brown. Alterations were also made to the interior and little of the original interiors remain. These alterations are seen as an attempt to 'Georgianise' or modernise the facade at a time when Victoriana was most unfashionable. Internally a mirrored dressing room was made at the rear of the ground floor and a staircase was added rising from the front salon up to the first floor. The first floor of a Victorian-era warehouse at the rear was leased and an opening (now bricked up) made in the rear wall of no 74 to allow up to thirty skilled needlewomen to make some of the garments sold in the shop.In the mid 1970s the Nauru Government purchased the land at the rear and side of Le Louvre and demolished the buildings for the construction of Nauru House (completed 1975). The adjoining townhouses, Oggs Chemist at no 76, and no 78 were demolished, creating an approach to Nauru House from Collins Street. No 74 was sold in 2009 to the Queensland Investment Corporation, who also own Nauru House and who plan to construct a tower at the rear cantilevering over no 74.Statement of SignificanceThe shop at 74 Collins Street was built by 1855 as one of four adjoining townhouses. As early as the 1840s this part of Collins Street became a fashionable residential area, popular with medical practitioners, and during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the building at number 74 was occupied by a number of doctors and their families, with the surgery on the ground floor and the residence above. The many surgeons who occupied the building in the nineteenth century included T H Berigny, A C Brownless, C E Reeves, J V Eccles, G A Syme and T Rowan, and in the 1920s a distinguished occupant was Dr Wilfred Kent-Hughes (father of the soldier and politician Sir Wilfred Kent-Hughes). In 1927 the ground floor was converted into a shop, and the rusticated ground floor facade and the entrance portico were replaced by a copper-framed shopfront made by Thomas Duff. Between 1929 and 1934 it was a dress shop known as Miss Helene Frocks, and from 1934 until 2010 it operated by Lillian Wightman and then her daughter Georgina Weir as Le Louvre, which became one of the city's most exclusive women's fashion shops, selling fashions by prominent European designers. In 1954 an application was made to carry out alterations to the exterior and interior of the building, and most of the Victorian-era details were removed.The shop at 74 Collins Street is a three storey brick building with a rendered and painted front facade and a copper-framed shopfront with a central entrance on the ground floor. Behind this is a small court yard, with a walkway connecting the building to a two storey section at the rear, with a rear entrance leading from this to a former laneway. The 1920s and 1950s alteration removed the entrance porch and the Victorian-era details from the front facade and internally changed the room arrangements and removed most of the decorative features. The staircase above the ground floor appears to be original. The three others townhouses in the group have been demolished.The shop at 74 Collins Street, although much altered, has local historical significance as one of the oldest of Melbourne's early townhouses. It is a reminder of the many doctors' residences which once occupied this end of Collins Street. It is also historically significant for its association with Le Louvre, one of Melbourne's most exclusive fashion salons, which operated here from 1934 until 2010. The 1920s shopfront is a fine example of its kind..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)Many articles on Le LouvreThe Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Thursday 17 December 1953 - Page 22https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245034173`...The National Theatre is "going to town" on costumes for the Royal Command performance, "Tales of Hoffman."The 19 costumes have been designed by artist Louis Kahan and will be made by the Collins Street salon Le -Louvre. . Le Louvre will be making dresses for- both sides of the footlights. Many Melbourne women will be wearing Le Louvre model gowns to watch the performance…'Kahan see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Kahanalso https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245034227`...MISS LIL WHITEMAN, whose Collins Street salon, Le Louvre, will make 12 costumes for the Command Performance during the Royal tour, made her first stage dresses for Pavlova when that great dancer was here…' illust of gown design.`
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1197672
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 102162 | 1 PDF : 853 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |