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Federation Insurance Ltd, 342-348 Flinders Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 104004

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-WarNotable features include: early or first use of modular pre-cast concrete facadeDATE: 1954-5, 1961-2, 1988-9 refacing;ASSOCIATIONS: Federation Insurance Ltd.;DESIGNER: Meldrum & Noad;BUILDER: Lewis Construction..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryCommencing gradually in the pre - Olympic Games hotel and office boom, the Federation Insurance Ltd. Building was to be at first just three levels. It was five storeys by 1956 and only in 1961-2 did the next five materialise. Architects, Meldrum and Noad, (better known for their pre-War bank designs), conceived a reinforced concrete structure which was entirely of pre-cast units. Lewis Constructions won the first contract with a bid of 186,000 pounds and a nine month construction time. A permit application for an illuminated sign, in October, 1955, signalled its first stage completion, apparently a little over the tendered construction time.Cross-Section Magazine congratulated the building in 1955 for its 'entirely dry-site work', but noted its 'bald, severe appearance'. Another architectural firm, Bridge, Hayden & Associates, submitted a scheme to achieve its present height in c1961. Among the various car parks (2), hotels (2), government offices (2), company and co-operative office blocks (5), and one hospital wing (boiler house and Jessie McPherson block, Queen Victoria Hospital), in construction during this awakening period, the Federation Insurance Building was one of the two insurance financed buildings - the first of many more insurance investment projects to rise in the 1960s boom. The Federation Insurance Ltd. Was established in 1927, a relatively late Company to enter the general insurance field, joining the 120 offices already active. Expansion followed the proliferation of the motor car, particularly when the Third Party Insurance Act was passed in 1939. As a consequence of this and workers' Compensation activity, the offices broadened their business in the 1950s to trap the ever increasing market for fire, marine and general insurance. There were 197 companies in the field by 1979.DescriptionNot visibly a three (or two?) stage building or, for that matter, an entirely prefabricated one instead it appears monolithic or of masonry, taking up (in abstract form) the early 20th Century metaphor of the adjacent Reid and Commercial Travellers Association buildings. The 1953 perspective shows a facade similar to the elegant Guardian Insurance Building (1960-3) with more skeletal concrete framing and opaque sub - still spandrels, creating a more vertical emphasis than the horizontal effect now apparent from the blue rendered bands which encase the building. Compared to the contemporary highly 'featured' designs (i.e.., the late Russell Street Telephone Exchange and the now defaced Graham Hotel), the perspective possessed an international style elegance which could only be matched (on paper only) by Harry Seidler's Associated General Publications Ltd., (c1955) Sydney. As with most of its contemporaries, the traditional pre - war stone facing was reserved to the ground level 'podium' and four shopfronts introduced along the main elevation. The present, somewhat obtrusive canopy appears to be a gesture to the retail content, (but a denial of the office character above it did not appear on the perspective.SignificanceTechnically, a precursor to the pre - cast concrete facades of the 1960s (although not visually progressive of the idiom) and hence the first Melbourne design to take on a deliberate modular masonry appearance, in contrast to the prevailing glass curtain walls and cubist compositions of the new office designs; also, one of the first of the many insurance company head offices rebuilt after the pause induced by the War.(Notes: This building has been refaced or replaced.).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 -Notable features include shop front and post supported shop verandah, early 'non - glass box' concept, popular in 1960s..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW342-348 Flinders StreetIdentified in previous heritage review (Central Activities District Conservation Study, 1985)Date of construction: 1956Federation House an 11 storey office building designed by Meldrum & Noad. Originally of 6 stories, an additional five levels were added in 1962. Refurbished in 1988 including a significant alteration to the facade.Explanation for exclusion: Substantially altered. Low integrity.Does not warrant individual Heritage Overlay..CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONShttps://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60672/images/44777_349574-001061916-1953 Oct 27652 ₤160,000 Erection of building1955 Oct illuminated lantern signs…1961 Jan 34628 ₤280,000 6 additional storeys and superstructure 3421962 Aug cantilever verandah …1988 Sep 65270 $3,570,000 Refurbish building (342)1989 Nov tenancy ground floor..CROSS-SECTION April 1, 1954University of Melbourne Department of Architecture, monthlyFederation Insurance bldg, Flinders-Bond-st-cnr. 3 fls at present: £186,500; 9 mths. Arch'ts: Meldrum & Noad. Bldrs Lewis Const'n..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Friday 30 October 1953 - Page 11https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245040028 illust stage 1The Federation Insurance Co. was formed by the Employers' Federation in 1926 with £ 12,000 capital, a staff of two i and a small room in Temple Court. Today it has a premium income of £975,000 (1953) and assets of £752,982, with branches in all States, and has far outgrown its present offices in Market St.The new building, which is expected to be ready in nine months, will have a structural frame for a limit-height building, but at present only basement, ground and three upper floors will be built, giving i a total floor space of nearly 30,000 square feet. Architects Meldrum and Noad were faced with the problem of erecting the building illustrated above in the shortest time to meet urgent expansion needs of the company.To achieve this, a structural design, based on the use of steel frame with pre-cast concrete floor units was evolved. The floor unit slabs are designed on a modular system, with each unit identical and complete over its own span. This system is new here, though it has been successfully used overseas. It will eliminate concrete work on the job, thus saving about two months' building time. The street elevations have also been designed on a modular unit basis, with vertical pre-cast concrete mullions, floor to ceiling and a solid aluminium panel at sill level.This will give maximum flexibility in interior planning and perfect natural light. Mechanical ventilation and hot water radiation will be installed. The ground floor, however, will be heated with floor panel units.Stawell stone facing will be used to the first floor. The entrance hall and lift lobby will be treated with Australian marble.(Borrie Plan for Melbourne announced in the adjoining article)

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesPostwar periodTwentieth Century Architecture Register (RAIA)1950-1959

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1209790