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Colonial Mutual Life Building, 87-95 Elizabeth Street & 308-334 Collins Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 102137

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:

Period: Post-WarConstruction date: 1963Notable features: Set-back for 'pedestrian precinct'. sculptures forecourt - Tom Bass.ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWWhat is significant?The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building, built in 1959-63 to a design by Stephenson& Turner, and publicly accessible plaza with bronze ‘Children’s Tree’ sculpture, created in 1963 by TomBass at 308-336 Collins Street, Melbourne, is significant.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):• Original building form and scale;• Original publicly accessible plaza setting with bronze ‘Children’s Tree’ sculpture, created in 1963 byTom Bass;• Original pattern of fenestrations; and• Original double height building base with granite cladding and aluminium windows.Later alterations, particularly at street level, are not significant.How it is significant?The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Building with Plaza and ‘Children’s Tree’ sculpture at308-336 Collins Street is of local historic, representative and aesthetic significance to the City ofMelbourne.Why it is significant?The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building, constructed in 1959-63 to a design byStephenson & Turner, for the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society (founded in Melbourne in 1873), issignificant as part of the post-World War Two development and the rapid growth of the corporatearchitecture of the 1950s-1970s. Its development reflected the expansion of large national andinternational companies opting for construction and naming rights of new city office buildings as a formof promotion and fund investment. The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance building is significanthistorically as a reflection of the growth of insurance and assurance companies in Victoria during the1950s-60s resulting in many company-named buildings being commissioned and constructed. (CriterionA)The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building and plaza is also historically significant asan example of a postwar office site that provided a publicly accessible plaza, demonstrating one of thekey aspects of the postwar corporate buildings in Melbourne. Many postwar office towers also played agallery role as sculpture, paintings and tapestries were installed in their foyers, meeting rooms andforecourts. The provision of the forecourt or plaza in the curtilages of building allotments created aspecific urban form in the central city. The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building andplaza is an important example that still retains the ground level plaza and commissioned artwork bysculptor Tom Bass, ‘Children’s Tree’. (Criteria A and D)The former Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society building is a good example of post war developmentin central Melbourne that retains its original form, scale and characteristic stylistic details which reflectthe era and original design in which it was constructed. It exhibits a design aesthetic characteristic of itstype, medium/high rise commercial office buildings that combine expansive glazed panel with solidsections to achieve a distinctive expressed aesthetic. Key stylistic details include the regular grid patternof windows above ground level and the original double height building base, clad in granite and retainingthe original aluminium framed windows. It is unusual in retaining its original plaza and bronze sculpture‘Children’s Tree’ created in 1963 by Tom Bass specifically for this space. (Criterion D)The bronze sculpture ‘Children’s Tree’, created in 1963 by celebrated Australian sculptor Tom Bass, andset within its original plaza setting is aesthetically significant. The aesthetic qualities of the place areenhanced by the incorporation of an outstanding piece of publicly accessible artwork in the plaza, whichwas commissioned by the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society. The sculpture and plaza wereintegral parts of the original design of the building at 308-336 Collins Street, by architects Stephenson &Turner. (Criterion E)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW`The Public PlazaThe AMP Tower and St James Building Complex was noted in 1993 as the ‘first project to enclosespace with a mix of high and low rise in the CBD’ (Goad, Lewis, Mayne, Raworth & Turnbull ‘CentralCity Heritage Study Review’ 1993). The creation of large open plazas in association with postwarmulti-storey building development was uncommon, although a number of multi-storey building designs incorporated small plazas, usually to gain council approval for additional building height.These included the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Building, 308-336 Collins Street (Stephenson &Turner 1963) as well as later buildings such as the CBC of Sydney Bank, 251-57 Collins Street (BatesSmart & McCutcheon 1968-73) and the Commonwealth Banking Corporation Building, 363-71 CollinsStreet (Bates Smart & McCutcheon 1972-75).….'Stephenson & Turner, architectsStephenson & Turner was formed in 1921 as Stephenson & Meldrum by A G Stephenson and PercyMeldrum, who had met at London’s Architectural Association. In 1925, the firm employed KeithTurner, who was well known for his design skills and headed up the newly-established Sydney officefrom 1934.Stephenson & Meldrum specialised in hospital design. During the 1930s alone, the practice gained 20major hospital commissions. In Melbourne, this included: Mercy Hospital, East Melbourne (1934),Freemasons’ Hospital, East Melbourne (1935-36) and the Royal Melbourne Hospital (1938-39).Meldrum split from the practice in 1937, having become uncomfortable with the firm’s heightenedfocus on hospital work. It continued as Stephenson & Turner from this time, and from the 1940sonwards witnessed an extensive period of expansion. Offices were established in Newcastle, NSW(1947) and Adelaide, SA (1955), and internationally in Singapore (1949) and Wellington (1956).Offices in Auckland, Dunedin, Canberra and Hong Kong soon followed.Though Turner retired from the practice in 1956, the firm continued to be known as Stephenson &Turner. Beyond their hospital work, the firm also designed industrial complexes, commercial officebuildings, banks, town plans (including Shepparton in 1946) and the Australian pavilions at the ParisExposition (1937) and the New York World’s Fair (1939-40). Office buildings designed by Stephenson& Turner in Melbourne in the postwar period included 390 Lonsdale Street (1959); the Colonial MutualLife Assurance Building at 308-334 Collins Street (1963); Wales Corner at 221-231 Collins Street(1964-66) and Embank House at 325 Collins Street (1965)…SITE HISTORYPrior to the present building, the subject site on the key city corner of Elizabeth and Collins streetswas occupied by the Equitable Building, built between 1891 and 1896 (MV 2018a) (see Figure 1). TheEquitable Life Assurance Society (USA) paid £360,000 for the site in 1890, towards the end of theeconomic boom of the 1880s (MV 2018a). The Equitable Life Assurance Society had wanted to build‘the grandest building in the Southern Hemisphere’, and commissioned the large structure to a designby American architect, Edward Raht. The building was constructed by David Mitchell (MV 2018a) andthe Equitable Life Assurance Society owned the building until 1923, when it sold it to the ColonialMutual Life Assurance Society (MV 2018a).The Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society was founded in Melbourne in 1873, and by 1874 hadestablished offices in other Australian cities. Offices in British colonial outposts, such as New Zealandand South Africa, followed (MV 2018b). By the late 1950s, new headquarters were required by theSociety. Consequently, the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society demolished the Equitable Buildingat the corner of Elizabeth and Swanston streets and constructed the current office block (MV 2018b).Parts of the old Equitable Building can be found in various locations around Melbourne, with Harcourtgranite blocks situated outside the Melbourne Museum, and the statuary above the portico moved tothe grounds of the University of Melbourne (MV 2018a).See Figure 1. The Equitable Building, which stood on the subject site (Source: General sequence postcard 1906, SLV)Construction started on the existing building on the subject site in 1959, with the Colonial Mutual LifeAssurance building opening in 1963 (MBAI 33728; Sievers 1963, SLV). Gold lettering on both theElizabeth and Collins street facades of the building promoted the company’s name. Stephenson &Turner were the architects for the building, which was constructed by Lewis Construction Co Pty Ltd(Cross-Section 1963:np).The Cross-Section architecture journal described the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance building inDecember 1963:[The building] is conservatively clad, in panels of cream travertine Italian marble, greyHarcourt (Vic.) granite and black Imperial (S.A.) granite. The C.M.L. building sits back 20 ftfrom the Elizabeth Street frontage, providing the currently conventional street-sidepedestrian precinct...The pavement space outside the C.M.L. is yet to be enlivened by aTom Bass sculpture…On the skyline, the C.M.L. building fits into place without looking like araw and independent intrusion…C.M.L. cost approx. £3 million. Construction: rigid steelframe. 21 floors above ground, 3 basements. Air conditioned (Cross-Section 1963:np).The building was set back, which allowed for a ‘pedestrian precinct’ and the installation of a TomBass sculpture in the forecourt of the building facing Elizabeth Street (National Trust 2014) (seeFigure 2 and Figure 3). The Bass sculpture in the forecourt, installed by 18 December 1963, is knownas ‘Children’s Tree’ and was commissioned by the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society as part ofthe site design (Canberra Times 18 December 1963:35). Tom Bass later evaluated the work asfollows.Another really important part of my work has been children’s sculpture…The next thing that camealong was the Children’s Tree in Melbourne. I had been asked by an insurance company to do asculpture for a space that had been created in the forecourt of their new building, right in the heart ofthe city…When they first said they wanted a children's sculpture there, I thought how inappropriate itwas to have something for children in such a busy, noisy place. But…the more I worked on it themore realised how important it was to create this little incident in the heart of a great bustling city thatwould remind people of their childhood. It would also be where children brought into the city could findsome little thing that related to them. So, again, I was really drawn into it and had a thoroughlymarvellous experience doing it (Bass and Smart 2006:108-109).The building was refurbished in 2003, and this is presumably when substantial alterations to thefaçade were made (CoMMaps).Tom Bass, sculptorTom Bass was a prolific Australian sculptor, who completed many public and private commissions,including the ‘Trial of Socrates’ at Wilson Hall at the University of Melbourne and another children’ssculpture ‘Genii’ in Queen Victoria Gardens. Bass’ community-focused work is featured in manyprominent Australian public spaces and institutions, including schools, universities and churches, aswell as government and corporate sites. In 1974, Bass established the Tom Bass Sculpture StudioSchool (still in operation), where he taught until his death in 2010. He was made a Member of theOrder of Australia for his contribution to public art. A retrospective of Bass’ work was held at theSydney Opera House, where it was claimed that ‘no artist has done more to shape the face of publicart in Australia’ (Brown 2010; Design and Art Australia 2011).….REFERENCESBass, Tom and Smart, Harris 2006, Tom Bass : totem maker, Australian Scholarly Publishing.Brown, M 2010, ‘Bass, Thomas Dwyer (Tom) (1916-2010)’, Obituaries Australia, National Centre ofBiography, Australian National University, originally published 2010, http:/ /oa.anu.edu.au/, accessedonline 12 December 2018.Canberra Times, as cited.City of Melbourne Interactive Maps (CoMMaps) 2018, http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au, accessedonline 12 December 2018.Clinch, R J 2012, ‘The places we keep: the heritage studies of Victoria and outcomes for urbanplanners’, PhD thesis, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne.Context 2018, ’Hoddle Grid Heritage Review Volume 2: Built and Urban Heritage – Assessed placesand precincts’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Contextual History references contained within City of Melbourne Hoddle Grid Heritage Review:Postwar Thematic Environmental History 1945-1975Cross-Section 1963, December 1, No 134, University of Melbourne Department of Architecture,https://digitised-collections.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/24057, accessed 28 December 2018.Design and Art Australia Online 2011, ‘Tom Bass’, https://www.daao.org.au/bio/tom-bass/events/,accessed 28 December 2018.‘Equitable Building Collins Street’ 1906, postcard, State Library of Victoria (SLV) General SequencePostcards Collection, accessed online 12 December 2018.Lewis, Miles 2012, The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, NewYork.Marsden, Susan 2000, Urban Heritage: the rise and postwar development of Australia’s capital citycentres, Australian Council of National Trusts and Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra.Melbourne Building Application Index (MBAI), retrieved from Ancestry.com 2015, Victoria, Australia,Selected Trial Brief and Correspondence Registers and Other Images, 1837-1993 [database online],http:/ /ancestry.com.au, accessed online December 2018.Miller, Peter 2016, ‘The Trial of Socrates - Tom Bass’, via Flickr www.flickr.com, accessed onlineJune 2019.Museums Victoria (MV) 2018(a), Colonial Mutual Collection,https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au, accessed online 13 December 2018.Museums Victoria (MV) 2018(b), Colonial Square, Melbourne Museum,https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au, accessed online 13 December 2018.National Trust of Australia 2018, National Trust Database.National Trust of Australia 2014, ‘Melbourne’s Marvellous Modernism’, prepared for the National Trustof AustraliaRamsay Consulting 2012, A History of Built Form Control in Central Melbourne, Central City BuiltForm Review, prepared for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.Sievers, Wolfgang 1963, ‘New Colonial Mutual Life Building’, State Library of Victoria (SLV),Wolfgang Sievers Collection, accessed online 12 December 2018.Storey, Rohan 2008, ‘Skyscrapers’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies,The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01383b.htm, accessed 13November 2018.Victorian Heritage Database (VHD), as cited.Willis, Julie ‘Stephenson and Turner’ in Goad, Philip and Willis, Julie (eds.) 2012, The Encyclopediaof Australian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge..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.FLICKRGraeme Butlerhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/7849945@N02/25719695626/.Cross-section134, Dec 1963, photoThis new building for the Colonial Mutual Life AssuranceSociety Limited, at the corner of Collins and ElizabethStreets, Melb, is conservatively clad, in panels of creamtravertine Italian marble, grey Harcourt (Vic.) granite andblack Imperial (S.A.) granite. The C.M.L. building sits back20 ft from the Elizabeth Street frontage, providing the currentlyconventional street-side pedestrian precinct, which atthis windy, dusty, tram-rowdy corner is a dubious asset. Ifall new city buildings were to acknowledge a similar generosityof ground floor space, Melb would have perhaps thewidest footpaths in the world—and this may be desirable— but it is not necessary to assume that a tall building risingsheer from the building line is a visually evil object in thecity-scape. One block further south on a similar corner,Hosies Hotel, whatever its superficial vulgarisms, is more inkeeping with the busy urban nature of the site. The pavementspace outside the C.M.L. is yet to be enlivened by aTom Bass sculpture. At present two lonely stone benches,as grim as autopsy tables, against a backdrop of the sternblack granite facing of the lower two floors, complete acorner of ghoulish good taste. On the skyline, the C.M.L.bldg fits into place without looking like a raw and independentintrusion — a habit which seems to be more commonamongst Melb's new bldgs west of Swanston Street thanamongst those to the east. C.M.L. cost approx. £3- ,' mill.Construction: rigid steel frame. 21 floors above ground, 3basements. Air conditioned. Stephenson & Turner, archts;Lewis Construction Co. Pty. Ltd., bldrs.

Names:

City of MelbourneBass, Thomas Dwyer, 1916-2010Stephenson & Turner, 1938–1995

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesPostwar periodOfficesInsuranceSculpture1960-1969Twentieth Century Architecture Register (RAIA)

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1197103