Norwich Union Insurance Societies, 53-57 Queen Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Norwich Union Insurance Societies, 53-57 Queen Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 108063
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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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UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________DATE: 1957-8;ASSOCIATIONS: NorwichUnion Insurance Society;DESIGNERS: Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths & Simpson;BUILDER: Hansen & YunckenPeriod: Post Second-WarNotable features: Stressed floor slabs; stressing gables end decoratively on facade panels..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryNevill Quarry's guide to Melbourne architecture, published in March, 1965, illustrated this building and the former Union Insurance Society of Canton Building (43 Queen Street, 1957) as having evolved 'simultaneously the first pair of adjacent curtain wall facades in a Melbourne Street'. Another aspect of this building was its post-tensioned, prestressed floor slabs, expressed almost decoratively on the outside of the building as cable ends, centred on coffered metal plates. Architects, Yuncken Freeman Brothers, Griffiths & Simpson, applied to build in January, 1956; the parent firm which gave the building its name (Norwich Union Life Insurance Society Ltd) having been established in Britain some 48 years before. Both Norwich Union Fire and Life Insurance Companies tenanted two floors of the building with other early tenants, including a number of Shipping Estate and Commissioned Agents, Sharebrokers, the Swan Brewery Co Ltd, the Life Officers Association and the Mercantile & General Reinsurance Co of Australia.Description(Notable Features include intact shopfront; stressed floor slabs; stressing cables end decoratively on façade panels.)A refined early curtain wall facade which successfully achieves the medium's minimalist visual character, as defined by a regular pattern of the lines across the glass pane and the spandrels of opaque glass. At ground level, there was also the Travertine to appease the Traditionalists and add 'dignity' to the entrance. Another traditional aspect is the high ground and mezzanine floors, reflecting the Renaissance podia of old, and seen more blatantly apparent on the adjacent 37 - 41 Queen Street (1937). It is however, the stressing cables and their escutcheons which most distinguish this building. This evident (early) air conditioning of the building is a further factor, allowing a less cluttered facade than the adjoining 43 Queen Street, with its openable sashes.External IntegrityGenerally original, except for new signs.StreetscapeThe minimalist Modern edge up to the ornate Gothic of Goode House, it is the end building of a trio of Modern and proto-Modern designs.SignificanceA successful minimalist Modern curtain wall design and an early starter in the Insurance Company architecture boom of 1950-60's Melbourne, (see Federation Insurance, Flinders Street), also, part of a notable Modern and proto-Modern streetscape..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSTATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEWHAT IS SIGNIFICANTThe (former) Norwich Union Insurance Building at 53-57 Queen Street, completed by 1958, anddesigned by architects Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson, is significant.HOW IT IS SIGNIFICANTThe former Norwich Union Insurance Building is of local historic and aesthetic significance to the Cityof Melbourne. It is significant as a representative example of a curtain-walled office building of theearly post-World War Two era (1950s-60s) and has technical significance.WHY IT IS SIGNIFICANTThe former Norwich Union Insurance building at 53-57 Collins Street is historically significant for itsassociation with the same site since establishing its business at 53-55 Queen Street in 1903. It issignificant as part of the post-World War Two development and the rapid growth of the insurancearchitecture of the 1950s-1960s, continuing the expansion of large companies opting for constructionand naming rights of new city office buildings as a form of promotion and fund investment, andcementing Melbourne's pre-eminent role in the state for financial institutions. The Norwich Insurancebuilding is significant historically as a good reflection of the growth of insurance and assurancecompanies in Victoria during the 1950s-60s resulting in many company named buildings beingerected. (Criterion A)The former Norwich Union Insurance Building is a representative example of an early curtain-walledoffice building of the early post-World War Two era (1950s-60s). The building was designed byarchitects Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson. Later known as Yuncken Freeman, thefirm played a significant role in re-shaping the city form in the 1960s and 1970s. The building is one ofa group of commercial buildings built for insurance and finance companies in the city centre duringthis period. The Modernist aesthetic expressed the ambition and corporate image of thesecompanies. (Criterion D)The twelve-storey Modernist commercial building is characterised by its concrete construction with aglazed curtain wall and its cubic form. Aesthetic interest is derived from the expression of structuralcomponents and the rhythm of structural elements. Horizontal bands comprised of rows of evenlyspaced aluminum window framed windows over dark glass spandrels are repeated over the entirefaçade, and correspond directly to the floor levels internally. (Criterion E)The former Norwich Union Insurance Building is an early example of the use of pre-stressed, posttensionedconcrete floor plates for a multi-storey building in Melbourne. In line with the Modernistaesthetic, this key structural component was expressed on the building’s exterior, with the cable endscentered over coffered metal plates across the building façade. (Criterion F).GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTER cites A+A 1959 70_________________________________________BUILDING IDEAS (CSR) March 196533 Norwich Union Insurance Societies 53 Queen Street, 1957Yuncken Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and SimpsonThese two buildings (43, 53) were completed simultaneously, the first pair ofadjacent curtain wall facades in a Melbourne street._________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSUMMARYThis twelve-storey Modernist office building was built for the Norwich Union Insurance Company by1958. Designed by architects Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson, it is one of a groupof early Modernist office buildings built in the city centre for insurance and finance companies aroundthis time. The building is distinguished by its concrete and curtain wall construction, with primaryaesthetic interest derived from the expression and patterning of structural elementsSITE HISTORYNorwich Union Insurance SocietiesInsurance has been a vital part of business activity in central Melbourne for many years.As described by the Encyclopaedia of Melbourne:Over the course of its history, a growing and prosperous population in Melbourne andVictoria insured their lives, and their houses, personal property and motorcars against fireand theft, while business people insured against fire and loss, and their employees againstwork-related injuries. A host of life and non-life insurers, and insurance brokers andspecialist re-insurers have competed for the business…The transition from public to privateownership was part of a major shake-up of the industry that commenced in the mid-1950s.The divide between life and non-life business was increasingly crossed as companiesoperated in both camps. The rise of brokers and specialist re-insurers undermined thepower of the tariff to limit rate competition, as alternative forms of re-insurance wereavailable to those who competed on price. In the deregulated financial system of the 1980sand 1990s banks owned insurance companies and vice versa (Merrett 2008).Norwich Union Society was founded in 1797 in Norwich, England, for the ‘Insurance of Houses, Stockand Merchandise from Fire’. Formed as a mutual society owned by the policyholders who received ashare of the profits, it became known as the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Office. In 1808 a secondmutual society, the Norwich Union Society for Insurances on Lives and Survivorships, wasestablished and renamed the Union Life Insurance Society in 1893. By the start of the twentiethcentury, Norwich Union societies were operating worldwide, including in Australia. In 1997, NorwichUnion Fire Insurance changed its name to Norwich Union Insurance, and Union Life InsuranceSociety to Union Life Insurance Company Ltd. In 2000, Norwich Union Insurance merged with CGU tobecome CGNU, which, in 2002, was renamed Aviva, and in 2009, Aviva Insurance UK (Aviva 2017).In Australia, the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society had established offices in Melbourne andregional Victoria by the early 1870s. In 1903, the Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society opened newoffice premises at 53-55 Queen Street, Melbourne. The Argus reported that the fire company hadrejected the tall ‘sky-scraper’ and had instead built ‘a simple two-floored structure, with basement, ofthe best materials and workmanship’ (Argus 1 August 1903:18).In the mid-1950s, at a time when skyscrapers were designed to deliberately express corporate imageand ambition, Norwich Union Insurance Societies (combining fire and life insurance) employedarchitects Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson to design new Melbourne officeheadquarters. The 12-storey building with basement, constructed at 53-57 Queen Street and openedin 1958, incorporated panels of opaque black glass, an early example of the curtain-wall (see Figures397 and 398). The Norwich Union Insurance building also featured post-tensioned, pre-stressed floorslabs expressed on the outside of the building as cable ends (Butler 1994). The construction of theNorwich Union building entailed the demolition of two buildings: the Norwich Union Fire Insurancebuilding at 53-55 Queen Street, and the Russell Garven Mercantile Company building at 57 QueenStreet.When the Norwich Union Insurance Societies building opened in 1958, Norwich Union Insuranceoccupied two floors; other office tenants included shipping, estate and commission agents, sharebrokers, the Swan Brewery Co Ltd, the Life Officers Association, and the Mercantile and GeneralReinsurance Company of Australia (Butler 1994).Currently known as SDA House, the building now houses a number of businesses.Figure 397. Norwich Union Insurance building, 1958,photo by Wolfgang Sievers. (Source: SLV).Figure 398. From left, Switzerland General, EmployersAssurance Building, Union Insurance Society of CantonLtd., and Norwich Union Insurance Society, c1960s,photo by Commercial Photographic Co. (Source: SLV).Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson, architectsThe architectural and planning practice known as Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpsonwas established in Melbourne in 1933by Otto Abrecht Yuncken, the brothers John and Tom Freeman, and William BalcombeGriffiths. In the early years an extensive hospital practice was established throughout thestate of Victoria, and the partnership developed a reputation for large domestic work. In1945 Roy Simpson joined the partnership and the practice developed in the hospital,commercial and housing fields, and work was carried out in all of the eastern state ofAustralia and in New Zealand. Following the death of Otto Yuncken in 1951, Barry Pattenand John Gates were admitted to the partnership in 1953. The policy of operating as ateam was developed with the assistance of a group of seniors termed the Executive Staff.In 1963 the Royal Australian Institute of Architects approve the principle of architectspractising as proprietary limited companies. The partnership was disbanded and reestablishedfrom 1 January 1963 as Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd.Buildings and projects designed by the partnership and the company include manyhospitals, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, BHP House, Nauru House and the La TrobeUniversity Master Plan (in Melbourne), the Civic Theatre Centre in Canberra, theAlbury/Wodonga Development Plan, as well as projects in several Asian and MiddleEastern countries (University of Melbourne Archives 2012)._________________________________________Cross-section April 1958 No 66An unusual sight, a sign of the times, was thesimultaneous completion of these neighbouring officeblocks in Queen-st, Melb. On the right is the NorwichUnion Insurance Society's bldg, designed by MessrsYuncken, Freeman Bros, Griffiths & Simpson; on theleft the Canton Insurance Co bldg, by Messrs Bates,Smart & McCutcheon. Both are neat comfortable &dignified. Canton House offers passers-by the pleasureof a mosaic mural at ground floor level. Syd artistEric Smith was commissioned to design it; the finaloutcome so retires into the restrained character ofthe building front that the designer might well havebeen Mr McCutcheon himself. A sculpture over thedoorway is by Tom Bass. Norwich House is fully airconditioned, using a reversible heat pump system; itsinterior features Mountain Ash offset by black, white& bronze trim. (Norwich Union: Hansen & Yuncken,bldrs; £600,000, 60-ft frontage; Canton Insurance, E AWatts, bldrs; £633,000, 82-ft frontage)_________________________________________
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 108063 | 1 PDF : 1,278 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |