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Clapp and Sprigg's shop and residence row, 201-207 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme01/01/1985

Scope and contents

201-207 Bourke Street is historically significant as a late Victorian building that represents a key

phase in the retail development of Melbourne when increasing numbers of investors developed retail

premises in the city during the building boom of the 1870s and 1880s.

Record details

Title:

Clapp and Sprigg's shop and residence row, 201-207 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

01/01/1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 101131 101132

Level of description:

Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)

Type of materials:

Graphic materials

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: VictorianASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSITE HISTORYThe land at 201-207 Bourke Street, part of Crown Allotment 11, Block 11, was purchased by SirStuart A Donaldson, a Sydney-based businessman, who sent James Graham as his agent toMelbourne to buy town and suburban lands (CoMMaps; Draper 1972). By c1852, there were twowooden shops built on the allotment, then addressed as 122-128 Bourke Street East (Bibbs 1856).Arriving in Melbourne as an agent of Sir Donaldson, by the 1840s Graham established a successfulbusiness in Melbourne, which included investments in land and buildings for Donaldson’s clients, andby the mid-1840s, he was in business on his own account. According to the Australian Dictionary ofBiography, he was a director of the Port Philip Steam Navigation Co, the Melbourne Fire and MarineInsurance Co and the Melbourne Auction Co, treasurer of the Commercial Exchange, member of themanagement committee of the Port Phillip Theological Education Society, secretary of the AustraliaFelix Immigration Society, a trustee of the Government Savings Bank and a commissioner forinsolvent estates (Strahan 1972). In 1858, he founded Graham Bros & Co with his brothers Edwardand Charlie. The partnership dissolved in c1870, but Graham retained the firm’s title (Strahan 1972).For almost 80 years between the 1840s and the mid-1920s, the subject property was in thepossession of James Graham, and later Graham Bros & Co and the executors of Graham’s estate,except for a short period around the time of the construction of the current shops at 201-207 BourkeStreet, during which time the ownership of the property was transferred to Clapp & Sprigg (RB 1874-5).A building application for 201-207 Bourke Street was lodged with the Melbourne City Council in April1874. In the same year, the current row of four three-storey shops at 201-207 Bourke Street wasdeveloped by the investment partnership F B Clapp and W G Sprigg (RB 1874-5).William Gardiner Sprigg (1832-1926) was the Melbourne Omnibus Co’s secretary from 1868 until hewas appointed assistant manager in 1890, and by 1909 he had become a director following theresignation of H A Wilcox. Sprigg was engaged with the operation of the Melbourne Omnibus Co untilit dissolved due to liquidation in the late 1910s (Argus 14 June 1919:10; 16 October 1920:20).With his colleague at the Melbourne Omnibus Co, Francis Boardman Clapp (1833-1920), Sprigg wasinvolved in developing at least 12 other premises along Bourke Street between 1873 and 1885,including the rows of shop and dwellings at 146-150 and 209-215 Bourke Street (also part of thisstudy) (MCC registration no 6299, 1054 & 5597, as cited in AAI Index record no 76823, 73836 &73774; RB 1874-1877).Each of the three-storey brick shop and dwellings, constructed for Clapp and Sprigg by builder JamesMoore at 201-207 Bourke Street, had a ground retail space and residence with five rooms located onthe upper levels (RB 1876-77). The adjoining row of four shops and dwellings at 209-215 BourkeStreet, completed two years later for Clapp and Sprigg by the same builder, was constructed in thesame manner (MCC registration no 6640, as cited in AAI record no 73786).The shops at 201-207 Bourke Street may had been designed by the architect Francis M White, whohad worked for Clapp and Sprigg in the previous year on other commercial premises and invitedtenders for erecting shops in Bourke Street in March 1874 (MCC registration no 5850, as cited in AAIrecord no 73776).Clapp and Sprigg held the subject properties at 201-207 Bourke Street for no longer than two years.After their completion, the shops were transferred back to the original owner James Graham, by thattime, the director of Graham Bros & Co (RB 1874-1877).A number of businesses occupied the subject premises. At its completion, 201 Bourke Street wasleased to a flower and seed merchant, who had been trading since c1852 from the wooden shop thatformerly existed on the subject land. Commenced by William McDonald, the business was transferredin 1868 to William Ireland who was formerly based in Collingwood (S&Mc 1859-1876; Leader 26December 1858:15). Ireland occupied the shop at 201 Bourke through to the late 1890s, until Miss MDeegan’s confectionery moved in (S&Mc 1876-1899).The remaining shops were occupied by various retailers and businesses, including a chemist,watchmaker, tobacconist, bookseller and stationer, and boot manufacturer. While many of thesebusinesses only remained for short periods of time, notable early tenants included Henry Drew’spastry shop and coffee palace, which occupied the two middle shops at 203-205 Bourke Street duringthe latter half of the 1880s; and the Cyclorama Company who briefly occupied number 207 in theearly 1890s (S&Mc 1874-1920). The cyclorama appeared in the eighteenth century, showing wellknownscenes on a 360-degree canvas, and became popular at the turn of the twentieth centurybefore the emergence of cinema. Popular in Melbourne from 1889 to 1906, cycloramas were shownin two circular buildings: one in Fitzroy on Victoria Parade, the other at today's 166-186 Little CollinsStreet (Colligan 2008), which was constructed in 1891. The cyclorama in Little Collins Street, whichshowed the Siege of Paris from 1891 to 1896, was connected to the subject premises at 207 BourkeStreet, which was used as its office, through a long corridor (see Figure 120). It is likely that thefaçade of 207 Bourke Street was altered to include more windows around this time when the shopunderwent extensive changes (see Figure 121).See Figure 121. 201-207 Bourke Street in the 1940s. Note 207 Bourke Street on the right-hand side with alteredwindows. (Source: Commercial Photographic Co c1940s, SLV)After the closure of the cyclorama in 1896, 207 Bourke Street was separated from the Little CollinsStreet site, and the passage that once connected the two sites was removed to make way for a newright of way, which doglegged around the former Kings Theatre, currently occupied by 133 RussellStreet (Mahlstedt Map Section 1, no 8, 1910).Throughout the twentieth century, the shops at 201 and 203 Bourke Street continued to housevarious retail businesses. In the mid-1920s, the shops at 205-207 Bourke Street were purchased byGeorge Mountford, hatter. In 1935, the whole block was also part of the estate of the late G Mountford(RB 1877-1935). The Mountfords, then hatters and now shoe retailers, had occupied three shops at203-207 Bourke Street at one point until the mid-1930s when the firm renovated and occupied the twoshops at 205-207. Today, the same business remains in the subject building and currently occupiesthe two shops at 205-207 Bourke Street, which are interconnected with the neighbouring two shops at209-211 Bourke Street (RB 1935; MBAI ‘Bourke Street, 205-207’, Ancestry.com).The shops at 201 and 203 Bourke Street, then housing a fashion boutique and the Mocca CoffeeRestaurant, were auctioned in November 1984 (Age 7 November 1984). Between mid-1980s andtoday, the buildings were merged as one shop, which currently houses a food outlet (CoMMaps)..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW.STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEWHAT IS SIGNIFICANTThe row of shops/residences at 201-207 Bourke Street, built in 1874, is significant.HOW IT IS SIGNIFICANT201-207 Bourke Street is of local historic, aesthetic and potential social significance to the City ofMelbourne. It is also a representative example of a row of shops/residences from the late Victorianperiod.WHY IT IS SIGNIFICANT201-207 Bourke Street is historically significant as a late Victorian building that represents a keyphase in the retail development of Melbourne when increasing numbers of investors developed retailpremises in the city during the building boom of the 1870s and 1880s. Built in 1874 for investmentpartners F B Clapp and W G Sprigg, who developed up to 12 similar properties along Bourke Streetbetween 1873 and 1885, 201-207 Bourke Street, likely designed by architect Francis M White, istypical of retail buildings of the Victorian era that housed retail outlets at ground level with residencesand workspaces for business-owners provided on the floors above. The building is also historicallysignificant for its connection with the Cyclorama Company, who showed the siege of Paris in itspremises in Little Collins Street between 1892 and 1896. The building at 201-207 Bourke Street wasused by the Cyclorama Company as an office and was connected to its Little Collins Street premisesby a passage. (Criterion A)201-207 Bourke Street is part of the archaeological resources of the central city. These sites have thepotential to contain relics and archaeological deposits. It is assumed that such deposits have thepotential to yield knowledge not available from other sources, and that may contribute meaningfully toour understanding of the occupation and settlement of Melbourne. Evidence on other archaeologicalsites has shown that there is also potential for Aboriginal sites to exist in relatively undisturbed areas.(Criterion C)201-207 Bourke Street is a representative example of a row of shops with residences above built inthe mid-Victorian era and characterised by stucco decoration. Built as one unified arrangement withRenaissance revival influences, the upper façade of the four shops retains the classical styling typicalof the period. (Criterion D)201-207 Bourke Street retains its classically styled upper façade with attributes including abalustraded parapet with pedestals marking the edges of each of the four shops, a deep cornicealong the base of the parapet with squared brackets and a dentil row run below, and quoining to thebuilding edges. The shops at 201-205 Bourke Street are significant for their upper level, with regularrectangular windows with decorative moulded architraves and other mouldings. The façade isenlivened by decorative the window openings at first floor level and deep moulded architravessurrounding the openings and moulded hoods, scroll brackets and a key stone. The windows at 207Bourke Street differ from others across the façade. At mid-level at no.207, elaborate Moghul-inspiredstilted arched windows have been installed and are almost identical to the decorative windows on thefaçade of the former cyclorama building at 166-186 Little Collins Street. To the upper level, a doubleopening is more consistent with the single opening of that on the other shops. (Criterion E)Mountfords at 205-207 Bourke Street is of potential social significance to Melbournians as atraditional retail business offering hats and later shoes for almost a century. (Criterion G)

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Conservation studiesRetail tradeVictorian periodCentral Activities District Conservation Study 1985

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1180159