Ajax Insurance Company, 103-105 Queen Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Ajax Insurance Company, 103-105 Queen Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 108067
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 2022:__________________________________________________DATE: 1956;ASSOCIATIONS: Ajax Insurance Co;DESIGNER: Berry, H D;BUILDER: Hansen & Yuncken Pty LtdPeriod: Post Second-War.Hoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020)What is significant?Former Ajax House, at 103-105 Queen Street, Melbourne, constructed to a design by architect H.D Berry in 1956, is significant.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):· Original building form and scale;· Original pattern of fenestration, including projecting frames around and separating panels of window openings, projecting from a simple recessed masonry form, and pattern of window openings; and· Original openable multipane steel frame windows.Later alterations, particularly at street level, are not significant.How it is significant?The former Ajax House at 103-105 Queen Street is of local historical and representative significanceto the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?Former Ajax House is historically significant as a part of the postwar development and rapid growth ofcorporate architecture in central Melbourne of the 1950s-70s that reflected the expansion of largenational and international companies opting for construction and naming rights of new city officebuildings as a form of promotion and fund investment. The building was purpose-built in 1956 forAustralian company Ajax Insurance Company Limited to house the company’s head office (secondlevel), and its Victorian branch (ground and first level) with the upper two floors reserved as open-planoffice spaces for lease.The Ajax Insurance Company occupied Ajax House until 1976. Located in the financial andcommercial precinct of Queen Street, the building is significant historically as a reflection of the growthof insurance and assurance companies in Victoria during the 1950s-70s, cementing Melbourne's preeminent role in the state for financial institutions. (Criterion A)Former Ajax House is a significant example of early postwar commercial development in centralMelbourne. It retains its original form, scale and stylistic details which reflect the era in which it wasconstructed. It exhibits a similar design aesthetic and quality as other examples of its type, beingmedium-rise commercial office buildings designed to convey a modern and progressive aesthetic.Key stylistic details include the heavily articulated fenestration with projecting frames around andseparating the panels of window openings. It is unusual for this articulation to have a strong verticalrather than horizontal emphasis. It also retains its original openable multipane steel frame windows tothe upper commercial floors. (Criterion D)_________________________________________ .GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM_________________________________________M Lewis, 2012, NML report1993 Review c1935 date- (appears Moderne not modern)_________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWRECOMMENDATIONSRecommended for inclusion in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Melbourne PlanningScheme as an individual heritage place.Extent of overlay: Refer to mapSUMMARYA six-storey commercial office building with a basement, named Ajax House constructed in 1956 tothe design of architect H D Berry for the Australian company Ajax Insurance Company. It was used asthe company headquarters and for its Victorian branch for twenty years, until 1976. The designreflects the new modernism of the early postwar period, emphasising a modern and progressiveaesthetic_________________________________________SITE HISTORYThe L-shaped subject allotment at 103-105 Queen Street is part of Crown Allotment 9, Block 14,purchased by James Connell in 1837 (‘Town of Melbourne’ 1838). The site was occupied by theTemple Court Hotel, which, by 1954, had existed on the subject site for 118 years (Herald 13February 1954:5; Argus 26 April 1855:5).The hotel was auctioned in 1953, with its location being described as ‘a magnificent corner site in thehub of the insurance, commercial and financial world, suitable for immediate development’. However,it was passed in at £62,500 (Age 11 November 1953:6; Argus 22 January 1954:7). Ajax Insurance CoLtd purchased the subject site for £72,500 in January 1954. The plans to demolish the hotel andreplace it with a new building, as tall as the 40 metre (132 foot) height limit, was announced at thesame time (Argus 22 January 1954:7).Australian company Ajax Insurance Company Limited was registered as a company in August 1934(Argus 9 Argus 1934:6). With its head office in Melbourne, the company’s objectives included theprovision of insurance for fire, accident, employers’ liability, fidelity guarantee, and all other kinds ofinsurance (except life insurance) (Dun's Gazette for New South Wales 1934:5). In 1951, the companywas absorbed by the Industrial Acceptance Corporation Ltd (IAC), a closely associated company(Age 17 February 1951:6) but continued to trade as Ajax Insurance Company. In 1981, the companybecame Citigeneral Insurance Australia Ltd, and later, Citicorp General Insurance Ltd. From 2005, thecompany operated as Metlife General Insurance Ltd, closing in 2013 (ABD; NIC).The architectural plans for a building at 103-105 Queen Street, a six-storey office building, wereprepared by architect H D Berry in March 1955, and the building permit application was lodged withthe City of Melbourne in August 1955. Hansen & Yuncken were appointed as the building companyfor the construction work, estimated at £196,000 (Age 21 November 1956:58; MBAI 29299).By September 1956, the building was under construction, with the reinforced concrete framework andexternal panelling underway (see Figure 1). The building was one of the major 40 metre high buildingprojects carried out between 1954 and 1956, when Melbourne saw an office-building boom,especially along Queen Street (Argus 7 August 1956:4).The head office and Victorian Branch of the Ajax Insurance Co Ltd was to operate from the newbuilding. Named Ajax House after the company, the building was opened in March 1957 (see Figure2) (Age 1 March 1957:6).Internally, the ground, first and second floors were purpose-designed for the Ajax Company’sVictorian branch (ground and first level) and head office (second level) operations, with the fourth andfifth floors reserved as open-plan office spaces for lease. The top level contained caretaker’s roomsand a recreation room. The main ground-floor lobby and staircase were paved in terrazzo, while themain office areas were carpeted (PROV VPRS 11200/P7 unit 1066).With the three lower levels of the building occupied by the Ajax Insurance Co, in 1960 the fourth andfifth level offices were leased to financial companies and professionals including Surrey Insurance CoLtd; Ham, P Walter & Co, stock and share brokers; L B Wallace & Son, accountants; and RossWallace & Co, accountants (S&Mc 1960).Featuring a non-loadbearing curtain walled section on each elevation, the building originally had aterracotta tiled finish to the Queen and Little Collins street elevations (see Figure 2 and Figure 3)(PROV VPRS 11200/P7 unit 1066). Only one formal entrance existed on Queen Street, with anopening made to the ground level façade of the Little Collins Street elevation, possibly in 1982, whenalterations were made to the ground floor offices and the basement at a cost of $100,000 (MBAI54805).In 1976, Ajax Insurance Co Ltd sold the building (Age 8 April 1976:23; CT:V9161 F608). Following thesale, the building continued to be tenanted through to the 1990s by professionals such as solicitorsand auctioneers (Age 8 January 1977:99; 21 November 1990:62).The removal of the terracotta tiling and the addition of concrete panels as recladding to today’sground retail spaces fronting Little Collins Street are likely to be alterations from 1996 when thebuilding was refurbished (MBAI; CoMMaps).Today, 103-105 Queen Street houses six business tenants and three food and drink outlets(CoMMaps)Australian company Ajax Insurance Company Limited was registered as a company in August 1934(Argus 9 Argus 1934:6). With its head office in Melbourne, the company’s objectives included theprovision of insurance for fire, accident, employers’ liability, fidelity guarantee, and all other kinds ofinsurance (except life insurance) (Dun's Gazette for New South Wales 1934:5).In 1951, the company was absorbed by the Industrial Acceptance Corporation Ltd (IAC), a closelyassociated company (Age 17 February 1951:6) but continued to trade as Ajax Insurance Company. In1981, the company became Citigeneral Insurance Australia Ltd, and later, Citicorp General InsuranceLtd. From 2005, the company operated as Metlife General Insurance Ltd, closing in 2013 (ABD; NIC).H D Berry, architectAfter serving in World War One, H D Berry passed his Professional Practice Examination inarchitecture in 1921, and by 1927 had opened his architectural practice at his residence ‘Neangar’ inWarragul Road, Oakleigh (RVIA 1921:158; November 1921:119 and March 1927:2). Berry’scommissions included other city developments as well as buildings in Oakleigh. City projects includeda design for a new building ‘Central Hotel’, located on the south side of Bourke Street betweenRussell and Exhibition streets (since demolished) (Argus 24 August 1939, as cited in AAI record no17298) In 1959, after Ajax House, Berry was involved in the reconstruction of a hire car companydepot at 60 Collins Place, Melbourne, for use by new owners the Industrial Acceptance Corporation(the parent company of Ajax Insurance Co), again with Hansen & Yuncken as builders (Cross-Section1 August 1959:4, as cited in AAI record no 89035). The building has since been demolished.Other buildings designed by Berry included the Oakleigh Memorial Hall and RSL at 95-97 DrummondStreet, Oakleigh, opened in 1922; and a second wing for the Camberley Flats, at 17a Milton Street,Elwood (part of HO7, City of Port Phillip)..REFERENCESContextual History references contained within City of Melbourne Hoddle Grid Heritage Review: Postwar Thematic Environmental History 1945-1975Age, as cited.Argus, as cited.Australia Business Directory (ABD), Metlife General Insurance Limited: ACN: 004195895, AUS61Business, https://www.aus61business.com, accessed online 18 April 2019.City of Melbourne Maps (CoMMaps), http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au/, accessed 20 February 2018.Clinch, R J 2012, ‘The places we keep: the heritage studies of Victoria and outcomes for urban planners’, PhD thesis, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne.Dun's Gazette for New South Wales 1934, vol 52, no 11, September 10 1934.Herald, as cited.Lewis, Miles 2012, The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, New York.Marsden, Susan 2000, Urban Heritage: the rise and postwar development of Australia’s capital city centres, 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 on-line], http://ancestry.com.au, accessed online March-April 2018.Merrett, D T 2008, ‘Banking and Finance’, eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au, accessed 7 April 2019.National Information Centre (NIC), Metlife General Insurance Limited (1173732), National Information Centre, https://www.ffiec.gov/, accessed online 18 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.Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), City of Melbourne building plans and permits (1916-1960), VPRS 11200, 11201.Royal Victorian Institute of Architects (RVIA), Journal of Proceedings, as cited.Sands & McDougall, Melbourne and Suburban Directories (S&Mc), as cited.Storey, Rohan 2008, ‘Skyscrapers’, eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au, accessed 7 April 2019._________________________________________Newspapers:The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) Wed 17 Jul 1935 Page 19HD. BERRY, Dip. Arch., Architect,271 COLLINS STREET. MELBOURNE.Phone F3674.Invite TENDERS for Erection of NINE RESIDENTIAL FLATS,Punt Road, South Yarra. Closing 25th July..The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Sat 8 May 1937 Page 1INVITES TENDERSFor the ERECTION of FOUR RESIDENTIAL FLATS,THE AVENUE, PARKVILLE..1956The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)Tuesday 7 August 1956 - Page 4https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71650471 illust.BLOCKS, SHOPS, BANKS THE CITY GETS A NEWAND THE JOB'S ONLY BEGUNTwo blocks away, in Queen st., work is well advanced on the new £200,000 office building of the Ajax Insurance Company Ltd. on the site of the Temple Bar Hotel.
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Research and reports
Record number:
1260357
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 108067 | 1 JPEG : 498 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |