Ryan and Hammond stock and station agent offices (424), 422-424 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Ryan and Hammond stock and station agent offices (424), 422-424 Bourke Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
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BIF-CITY 101183
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Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1858;ASSOCIATIONS: Hugh Glass;DESIGNER: Unknown;BUILDER: William IrelandPeriod: Early Victorian___________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW.What is significant?422 Bourke Street, Melbourne, a two-storey office building built in 1857-58.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):• The original building form and scale;• The original painted render walls, pattern of fenestration at first floor level, and decorative elements including tapered pilasters, cornices, parapet and decorative elements such as alternating window pediments and console brackets to its Bourke Street façade; and• The original double hung timber frame windows.Later alterations made to the street level facade, including the plate glass shop front, are not significant.How it is significant?422 Bourke Street, Melbourne, is of local historic and representative significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?422-424 Bourke Street, Melbourne is historically significant for its association with the influence of rural industry on the growth of Melbourne city as a financial centre. Constructed in 1857-58 as an office building in the western part of Bourke Street, an area of the city then the focus of horse saleyards, saddlers, whip factories, stock agents, carriage-builders and harness-makers, it was tenanted by stock and station agents’ offices from 1857 to the 1920s. One such tenant was Ryan & Hammond, stock and station agents established in Melbourne in 1856, who occupied the building from 1858 to 1893 at a time when the wool industry played a vital role in the growth of Melbourne. It was built by wealthy and influential Melbourne figure Hugh Glass (d.1871), farmer, livestock and station agent, and property developer, who amassed his considerable wealth from significant landholdings in the 1850s and 1860s, comprising pastoral stations in rural areas of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, as well as numerous allotments in Melbourne city. (Criterion A)422 Bourke Street is significant as a substantially intact example of an early Victorian commercial office building constructed in 1857-58 during Melbourne’s pre-boom period. Built of loadbearing brickwork with painted render finish, it exhibits a refined Victorian Free Classical/Italianate style reflecting the Victorian taste for ornamentation derived from classical architecture. The Bourke Street façade exhibits some characteristics that were more common in larger scale commercial buildings of the 1880s boom period, including tapered pilasters and other decorative elements such as alternating window pediments and console brackets. (Criterion D)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020)___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites Keith & John R Reid, 1976, CBD STUDY AREA 7, page 317: `retention not warranted' cites Sands & McDougall Directory of Victoria for date of c1868___________________________Mahlstedt & Gee 1888Block 20A2 storey 55-57 Bourke St West, north side57 Ryan & Hammond, Victoria; 55 United Victuallers assoc___________________________The Flower Hunter Christine Morton-Evans, Michael Morton-Evans - 2009: 29about Ellis Rowan was one of Australia's most accomplished artists and an incredible--if somewhat unexpected--adventurer... Charles Ryan moving his family to Melbourne 1854 and joined stock and staion agents Ryan and Hammond in Bouke St as a partner; purchased family proerty 16K from melbourne at Brighton etc.___________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWHO1308- Offices 422-424 Bourke Street(1857-1858)SITE HISTORYThe subject building at 422-424 Bourke Street is located on land that was sold to S J Brown in 1837 as part of Crown Allotment 2, Block 20 (‘Plan of Melbourne’ 1838). The site was addressed as 55-57 Bourke Street west until c1889, and 422-424 Bourke Street thereafter (se Figure 1, Figure 2 and Figure 3) (RB 1868, S&Mc 1890).Speculator, squatter and merchant, Hugh Glass, purchased at least 15 allotments in the north of Melbourne city in the land sales of 1847 and 1848 (‘Plan of Melbourne’ 1838). He became the owner of a number of other allotments in later years, including, by 1870, land in the immediate vicinity of the subject site (RB 1870). Between 1850 and 1861, at least 20 buildings, including houses, warehouses and shops, were constructed in the city for Glass. Only two of these buildings comprised offices: the subject building at today’s 422-424 Bourke Street in 1858, and a building in Little Collins Street, near Queen Street, c1859 (AAI records).A notice of intent to build an office building in Bourke Street west, near the intersection of Queen Street, was lodged with Melbourne City Council in December 1857, with Glass listed as the owner and William Ireland as the builder (MCC registration no 1074, as cited in AAI, record no 73606). The building first appears tenanted in street directories of 1858, indicating it had been constructed by this time (S&Mc 1858). Melbourne City rate books of 1861 (the first year of available rate books) show a multi-tenanted office building at the subject site (RB 1861). Glass likely built the offices as an investment, as there is no evidence that he occupied the building himself. Rate books indicate that the subject building was owned by Glass until 1870, and by the 1871 rateable year, it had changed ownership to Mathew Craig (RB 1870, 1871).Figure 1. The two-storey building as it appeared in 1888, addressed as 55-57 Bourke Street. (Source: Mahlstedt Map Section 1, no 20, 1888)Figure 2. The building in 1910. By this time, the property was addressed as 422-424 Bourke Street. (Source: Mahlstedt Map Section 1, no 13, 1910)Figure 3. The building in 1925. The Bourke Street frontage has been altered to create one large glazed shopfront. (Source: Mahlstedt Map Section 1, no 13, 1925)The subject building is located in an area of Bourke Street once known as Bourke Street west, as it was located west of the post office. This area of the city was renowned for the concentration of horse saleyards (such as Bear's and Kirk's Horse Bazaar), saddlers, whip factories, stock agents, carriage-builders and harness-makers (May 2008).The first tenants of the subject building, then addressed as 55-57 Bourke Street west, took up occupancy in April 1858: auctioneers W M Ward & Co occupied number 55 (today’s 422); and a firm of stock and station agents named Ryan & Hammond, who undertook the buying and selling of sheep and cattle stations in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, occupied number 57 (today’s 424) (Age 5 April 1858:8). Charles Ryan, an Irish overlander from New South Wales founded the firm with pastoralist Robert Hammond in 1856. Hugh Glass, owner of the subject building, and Ryan were known to each other through their interests in squatting (pastoral) runs. An advertisement for Ryan & Hammond’s services in 1858 reads:RYAN & HAMMOND have for sale a Station in the Murray District, with 2000 sheep warranted clean, about 1500 of them in lamb. There is a pre-emptive right of 640 acres, with very good improvements. The run will carry about 6000 sheep. Also, a first class well-watered fattening Station, with miles frontage to the upper Darling, by a depth of miles (Age 5 April 1858:8).A solicitor by the name of Nolan was the tenant of today’s 422 Bourke Street from c1861 until 1892, whilst Ryan & Hammond continued to occupy today’s 424 Bourke Street until 1893 (S&Mc 1892, 1893; RB).The occupation of 424 Bourke Street by stock and station agents was continued by Theo H Parker & Co, who remained at the site until c1910, when its occupancy was replaced by C H Nelson, also a stock and station agent (S&Mc 1910). By 1920, stock and station agent William Skelly occupied the site (S&Mc 1920). From the 1920s, the building at 424 Bourke Street was occupied by different cafés and snack stores through until the 1970s (S&Mc 1925, 1942, 1955, 1965, 1974). By 1925, the street-level windows at the Bourke Street frontage had been replaced with a large glazed shopfront (see Figure 3).The Victorian United Licenced Victualler’s Association occupied the building at 422 Bourke Street from c1885 until 1893 (S&Mc 1885, 1893). The Association was established in 1841 to represent the interests of licensed publicans and assist in the granting of liquor licenses, making it one of the earliest professional organisations in Victoria (Age 9 November 1860:6; Higgs 1994:6). During its tenure at 422 Bourke Street, the Association opposed the work of the Temperance movement, which was beginning to peak in the 1880s and, working within an increasingly restrictive Licensing Act, sought ultimately to establish prohibition-like restrictive sales of alcohol across Australia (Swain 2008; Argus 7 September 1854:4). By the end of its tenancy, the Association had become a wealthy and powerful lobby group, with many members of the Association using their positions to further their careers in parliament and other prominent institutions (Higgs 1994:3).By 1897, 422 Bourke Street was used by an employment agency and Cox, Solomon & Co, manufacturing chemists (S&Mc 1897). Cox, Solomon & Co were the manufacturers of ‘Solomon Solution’, a solution for horses which was advertised as a cure for a range of sores and wounds on the animals (NMA 2019). Both the employment agency and Cox, Solomon &Co remained at the site until 1907, however by 1910, the latter had been taken over by C H Nelson & Co (S&Mc 1907, 1910).By 1915, 422 Bourke Street was occupied by Marshall Lyall, a solicitor and Consul General for Colombia, who remained there until 1924 (S&Mc 1915, 1922, 1924). Afterwards, a firm of solicitors under the name Murphy occupied the site, which continued until the 1970s (S&Mc 1970, 1974). In 1979 alterations were made to the shopfront, though the exact nature of works is not known (MBAI).In the early 1980s, the two buildings were addressed as 422 Bourke Street and were occupied by a gem store (Age 31 May 1980:30). In 1985 the Melbourne Fine Art Gallery was established at the property, exhibiting an international array of mediums and styles, and assorted works from the nineteenth century to present (Age 21 August 1999:117; Only Melbourne; Melbourne Fine ArtGallery). The Gallery occupied 422 Bourke Street until at least 2011 (Bourozikas 2011). During this tenancy the ground floor shop was refurbished extensively (MBAI).In 2018, the property at 422-424 Bourke Street contained one business and one shop (CoMMaps).REFERENCESAge, as cited.Argus, as cited.Australian Architectural Index (AAI), as cited. Copyright Miles Lewis.Australian Hotels Association (AHA) 2019, The Beginning, http://aha.org.au/, accessed online 11 April 2019.Bourozikas, Anna 2011, ‘Melbourne Fine Art Gallery’ Weekend Notes, https://www.weekendnotes.com, accessed online 27 March 2019.City of Melbourne Interactive Maps (CoMMaps) 2019, http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au/, accessed online 27 March 2019.City of Melbourne Municipal Rate Books (RB), as cited.Context Pty Ltd 2012, ‘Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Frost, Lionel 2008, ‘Economy’, eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au, accessed online 11 April 2019.Geelong Advertiser, as cited.Higgs, B 1994, Committees of the Licensed Victuallers' Association of Victoria, Victoria University, Melbourne.Mahlstedt and Gee 1888, Standard plans of the City of Melbourne, Mahlstedt and Gee, Melbourne.Mahlstedt, G 1910, Index to City of Melbourne detail fire survey, Mahlstedt, Melbourne.Mahlstedt’s Pty Ltd 1925 City of Melbourne detail fire survey. Section 1, Mahlstedt’s Pty Ltd, Melbourne.May, Andrew 2008, ‘Bourke Street’, eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au, accessed online 11 April 2019.Melbourne Building Application Index (MBAI), retrieved from Ancestry.com 2015, Victoria, Australia, Selected Trial Brief and Correspondence Registers and Other Images. 1837-1993 [database on-line], https://www.ancestry.com.au, accessed online March 2019.Melbourne Fine Art Gallery, About us, www.melbournefineart.com.au, accessed 15 April 2019.National Museum of Australia (NMA) 2019, Solomon Solution Poster, https://www.nma.gov.au, accessed online 12 April 2019.Obituaries Australia, 'Ryan, Charles (1818–1898)', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/ryan-charles-889/text890, accessed 12 April 2019.Only Melbourne, MiFA & Melbourne Fine Art Gallery, https://www.onlymelbourne.com.au, access 15 April 2019.‘Plan of town of Melbourne, 1837 A.D: first land sales held in Melbourne on 1st June & 1st November 1837’ 1838, H E Badman, Melbourne.Sands & McDougall, Melbourne and Suburban Directories (S&Mc), as cited.Savill, Barbara 1987, 'First land owners in Melbourne', Royal Historical Society of Victoria, http://www.historyvictoria.org.au, accessed 12 April 2019.Senyard, J E 1972, ‘Glass, Hugh (1817–1871)’ Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, originally published 1972, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography, accessed online 11 April 2019.Swain, Shurlee 2008, ‘Temperance’ eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au, accessed online 11 April 2019.Victorian Heritage Database (VHD) 2001, ‘Killeen Homestead’ H1098, https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au, accessed 12 April 2019.Victorian United Licenced Victualler’s Association 1876, Annual Report 1876, Melbourne.Significance summary· Historically significant for its association with rural industry and the growth of Melbourne as a financial centre, it was tenanted by stock and station agents’ offices between 1857- 1920s within a cluster of rural focused firms in this part of Bourke Street.· Significant as representative of an early Victorian commercial office building, it exhibits some characteristics that were more common in larger scale commercial buildings of the1880s boom period.___________________________NEWSPAPERS:29 Bourke St west in 185657 Bourke street from 1858.1856FOR SALE, the BULLOCK CREEK STATION,with 9,000 sheep, capable of carrying 15,000.Also the Widdecar Station, with 4000 sheep, capable of carrying 8000.From the close proximity of these stations to the Bendigo diggings, they would be invaluable to a dealer.Apply to RYAN and HAMMOND, 29 Bourke street.1858RYAN and HAMMOND have for SALE, LA TROBE ISLAND, near Alberton. With 400 head of cattle, 1,000 sheep, and 40 horses. Good improvements. Apply 57 Bourke-street west..1868AdvertRYAN and HAMMOND have received Instructions to OFFER for PUBLIC SALE (If not previously sold privately), arrears (late Morton) hotel, Bourke street west, on Friday, the 12th day of June next,at two o'clock p.m., 6 blocks of country, about 65 miles west of Mount Murchison or wilcannia, on the Darling River, consisting of 400 square miles of well-grassed fattening country, watered by two creeks, Together with...14,900 sheep, of the following ages and descriptions,viz :-6000 ewes, from six-tooth to full-mouthed, to lamb in May2000 maiden ewes , ,2500 young wethers4000 mixed weaners.Total, 14,000.For further particulars apply at 57 Bourke street.1926The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Mon 25 Oct 1926 Page 17 SIR CHARLES RYAN.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3816966SIR CHARLES RYAN.DEATH ON MAIL STEAMER.SOLDIER AND SURGEON.Life of Adventure and Service.By the death of Major-General Sir Charles Ryan, which occurred on board the Otranto as it was approaching Adelaide on route from London at half past 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, the career of a brilliant surgeon and a gallant soldier is closed. For 40 years Sir Charles Ryan was a commanding personality in the medical profession in Melbourne while his military career, which began with the Turkish army in the Balkan wars of 1876-78, culminated in splendid service to the Empire during the Great War. Adventure and service had been characteristics of his life. Breezy, witty, and of a vigorous personality, Sir Charles Ryan will be mourned by friends in four continents, while his loss will be keenly deplored by those who served with him for humanity's sake, ether in Melbourne hospitals, or in the wider field of war. For some time Sir Charles Ryan had suffered from heart trouble. On Thursday morning, while the steamer was crossing the Bight, he complained of feeling unwell, and found respiration difficult. He recovered slightly in the evening, and then said that the attack was the worst he had experienced. Sir Charles Ryan was the son of the late Charles Ryan, of Derriwait, Upper Macedon, senior partner in the firm of Ryan and Hammond, Bourke street, stock and station agents, and grandson of the late Henry Ryan, from Kilfera, County Kilkenny, Ireland. He was born on September 20, 1853, at Longwood (V.), and entered the Melbourne Grammar School in 1863, leaving five years later. Graduating at the Edinburgh University in 1875, with degrees of bachelor of medicine and master of chemistry, he continued post- graduate courses at the Universities of Bonn (Germany) and Vienna. In 1876, while he was at Vienna, war broke out between Turkey and Servia. Sir Charles Ryan volunteered as a surgeon in the Turkish army, and subsequently served in that capacity during the Russo-Turkish war o 1877-78. He was present for four and a half months at Plevna, and later went through the siege of Erzeroum. For his services with the Turks he received the war medals, the Fourth Order of the Osmanieh and the Fourth Order of the Medjidie. He had escaped being captured at Plevna through having been sent away in charge of a company of wounded Turks. From that siege he was known as 'Plevan Ryan'' to all his intimate friends. On transferring to the eastern front in Asia Minor he was nominally held a prisoner of war by the Russians who treated him with every courtesy, placing him on parole and allowing him entire freedom of movement. At the end of the Russo-Turkish war Sir Charles Ryan returned to Melbourne, where for many years s he practised as consulting surgeon. He became attached to the Melbourne Hospital soon after his re turn in 1879, and was afterwards senior surgeon. His association with the institution lasted for 34 years. After his retirement from private practice he was appointed consulting surgeon to the Melbourne Hospital and acted in similar capacity to the Children's Hospital. For nearly 30 years he held the position of permanent medical officer in the Victorian railways. He resigned in September, 1924, and was succeeded by Dr John Gordon. Services in Great War. When the Great War broke out Sir Charles Ryan who was then aged 61 years, might well have elected to spend his remaining years in Australia, but it was characteristic of him that he should have thrown his every energy into the struggle over seas. Only the year before he had severed his connection with the Melbourne Hospital, having reached the retiring age of 60 years, but he volunteered for active service, and insisted upon being accepted. He was appointed assistant director of medical services, First Australian Division, and landed in Egypt in December, 1914. On his arrival he was transferred to Sir William Birdwood's staff, and was at the historic landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. On leave from Gallipoli he met Sir James Barett then assistant director of medical services to the Austra___________________________DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1858(53 Thacker etc)57 Treacy, WW cattle auctioneer and commission agent; Williams, TA importer(63 Mackenzie...)186155 Edwards, John, solicitor, and commissioner for taking affidavitsEdwards, John, junr., solicitorNolan, T. C., solicitorGilchrist anfl Catterall, engineers57 Ryan and Hammond, commission agents1864 AlphaHammond, RK (of Ryan and Hammond) Lower Crescent, BrightonRyan, Chas. (of Ryan and Hammond), St. Kilda-road, Btn.....Ryan and Hammond (Ryan, Charles; Hammond, Robert Kennedy stock agents 57 Bourke St West1870 West, north side55 Edwards, John parliamentary agentEdwards, John Jnr solicNolan, and Jordan, solicitorsReid and Brace, Land estate etc57 Ryan and Hammond, stock and station agentsLocke, Charles accountant1875 West, north side55 Lindsay, A. C, solicitorNolan, and Jordan, solicitorsCraig, Matthew ironmongerNagle, VF solic57 Ryan and Hammond, stock and station agents1880 West, north side55 Lindsay, A. C, solicitorFettling, A, watchmakerNolan, and Jordan, solicitorsLicensed VictuallersA'd vocate and Sportsman'sGuide, King, S. A, manager57 Ryan and Hammond, stock and station agents1893(Fenlon, M. J., collarmaker)422 VacantVacantCox, S., & Co.VacantVacant424 Ryan, Hammond & Mates, stock and station agt«(426 Theodossio, Clement, oyster saloou, fruitr & cone428 Altson, David, saddler and haruessntaker1920422 Lyle, Marshall. solr, Consul-Gen for Colombia Keam, John, & Co, house & land agents Hammond & Wallis, property salesmen 424 Skelly, Wm., & Co, stock & stn agt
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
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| Original | 101183 | 1 JPEG : 246 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |