J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd, later A.E.W.L House, 410-412 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd, later A.E.W.L House, 410-412 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105736
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:__________________________________________________Style: Neo-GrecPeriod: Inter-WarDATE: 1922-3;ASSOCIATIONS: J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd;DESIGNER: Tomkins, H.W. & F.B.;BUILDER: Deague, A.F..IMAGE:https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=750753.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?The warehouse at 410-412 Lonsdale Street, a narrow fronted five-storey warehouse building built in 1923 in the interwar Chicagoesque style.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):· The original building form and scale;· The original pattern of fenestration;· The external wall surfaces of painted cement render;· The original steel framed windows to the upper floors; and· The external decoration to the façade, including pilasters, parapet, substantial dentilled cornice supported by a brackets and decorative spandrels.Later alterations made to the shopfront and first floor level spandrels are not significant.How it is significant?The warehouse at 410-412 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, is of local historic and representative significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The five-storey building at 410-412 Lonsdale Street is historically significant for its association with development that proliferated in this part of the city, between Bourke and Lonsdale streets, from the 1880s to 1920s. Commonly comprised of three- or more-storeys these buildings were used for retail, factory and warehouse purposes. The building continued to be associated with hardware and electrical industry for almost 40 years. The building at 410-412 Lonsdale Street exemplifies a key phase in Melbourne's development when, during the economic boom of the 1920s, an increasing number of commercial enterprises constructed architect designed multi-storey premises in the city to house retail and manufacturing outlets and associated warehouses. (Criterion A)The building is significant as a highly intact example of the wave of development in central Melbourne during the early interwar period that replaced the low scale masonry buildings dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This early wave of building most commonly featured the interwar Commercial Palazzo or Chicagoesque styles, which utilised the engineering benefits of steel and concrete frame structures. This allowed for window areas and open floor areas to be maximised, and provided flexibility for external articulation and decoration. The building at 410-412 Lonsdale Street is a modestly scaled, restrained and highly intact example of the interwar Chicagoesque style. It retains key characteristics of the style, such as a strong vertical emphasis resulting from projecting pilasters and mullions, terminating in a substantial cornice, and with large windows separated by recessed spandrels with decorative panels and faux Juliet balcony, and the top floor level is differentiated from the other levels by a flush spandrel and minor cornice at each floor. The building is also notable as a work of the eminent firm of Melbourne architects H W & F B Tompkins. (Criterion D)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 82 YUNCKEN FREEMAN ARCHITECTS P/L 1976.. HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL MELBOURNE CBD STUDY AREA 5 (source 82).LOVELL CHEN 2017. GUILDFORD & HARDWARE LANEWAYS PRECINCT - PRECINCT CITATIONStatement of Evidence and Report to Planning PanelMelbourne Planning Scheme Amendment C271`The building is a five-storey interwar office building, with an altered ground floor, which was previously graded D/E.This building was reviewed in the study, where it was understood to be of the late 1920s. It is not located in either precinct, and it was concluded that it was not of sufficient heritage value to justify an individual heritage overlay control.While the slightly earlier date (c. 1922/23) is acknowledged, Lovell Chen is still of the opinion that this property is not deserving of an individual heritage overlay. Other interwar office and commercial buildings assessed in this study, and identified as justifying an individual control, are of greater architectural merit and distinction.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW: 1233-Significance summary· Historically significant for its 40 year association with the hardware and electrical industry and the retail and manufacturing development that proliferated between Bourke and Lonsdale streets from 1880s-1920s.· Significant as representative of a modestly scaled, restrained and highly intact interwar Chicagoesque style building, including faux Juliet balconies and a differentiated top floor level..SITE HISTORYThe land at 410-412 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne was part of the Crown Allotment 1, Block 29, purchased by Matthew Cantlon (CoMMaps). A map from 1856 indicates that there was a building on the subject site along the Lonsdale Street frontage (Bibbs 1856). The Mahlstedt fire insurance plans show that the subject site was occupied by a two-storey structure in 1910 (Mahsltedt Map Section 2, no. 4A, 1910).The existing building at 410-412 Lonsdale Street was erected in 1923 as premises for J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd (Herald 4 July 1923: 4). J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd was a firm of wholesale ironmongers founded by James Swan Kidd and established in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, in 1881 (Fitzroy City Press 16 July 1881:1). In the 1890s, J S Kidd & Co established several suburban branches, importing ‘English, American and Continental hardware’, including ‘tools of all descriptions for carpenters, plumbers, plasterers, farmers and others; wire netting, fencing and barb wire, wire staples, axes, augers, spades, shovels, crosscut saws, colonial ovens, paints; oils and white lead’. The firm also imported bicycles (Weekly Times 11 July 1896:3).By 1935, J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd relocated to a new two-storey warehouse in Leister Street, Carlton (Herald 13 November 1935:21). The new five-storey premises for J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd at 410-412 Lonsdale Street (see Figure 1) was designed by architects H W & F B Tompkins. The building was constructed from bricks with a cement finish to the front elevation and featured steel frame windows. It also included an electric goods elevator and polished maple office partitions. The basement was protected by a concrete fireproof floor finished with a granolithic surface (Herald 4 July 1923:4). A fire occurred at the warehouse in 1934, causing damage estimated at £20,000 (Weekly Times 20 October 1934:6).The Lonsdale Street building, described as ‘a modern warehouse containing basement and five floors’, was sold in 1935 to Richard R Thomas, chairman of R & C Thomas Brothers Pty Ltd, electrical engineers and machinery merchants (Age 26 October 1935:1).The firm sold ASEA (Allmanna Svenska Elektriska Aktieboaget) electrical equipment and the building had been renamed 410-412 Lonsdale Street ‘ASEA House’ by 1938 (S&Mc 1938). Thomas Brothers supplied transformers to the Department of Civil Aviation in 1951 (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 8 February 1951:360). R & C Thomas Brothers Pty Ltd remained at the premises until at least 1955, and by 1960 the site was occupied by electrical engineers under the name of ASEA Electric (Figure 2) (S&Mc 1955; 1960). It is not clear whether this was Thomas Brothers Pty Ltd under a new name, although given the earlier naming of the building as ASEA House during their occupation, it seems likely.By 1970, the building at 410-412 Lonsdale Street had been renamed AEWL House, and was used as offices (S&Mc 1970). AEW UK Long Lease REIT PLC (AEWL) is a United Kingdom-based, closed-ended investment company (Reuters n.d.).The building permit card indicates that the site had an illuminated sign erected on the façade of the building in 1957 (MBAI 31738). Later alterations followed, mainly pertaining to internal alterations and the erection of partitions (MBAI 40697). The shop front and foyer were renovated in 1986, and the shop was again refitted in 1990 (BP 61092; 67687). Today the building contains four businesses and one shop (CoMMaps).Figure 1. New five-storey premises at 410-412 Lonsdale Street designed for J S Kidd & Co Pty Ltd and built in 1923. (Source: Herald 4 July 1923:4) Figure 2. Group of buildings in Lonsdale Street in 1958, including 410-412 Lonsdale Street then known as ASEA House. (Source: Sievers 1958, STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA )H W & F B Tompkins, architectsThe firm of H W & F B Tompkins, architects, was established in 1898, when the two brothers won the design competition for the Commercial Travellers Association (CTA) Clubhouse in Melbourne. Born in England and educated in South Africa, Henry William and Frank Beauchamp Tompkins emigrated to Australia in 1886. Harry worked under Richard Speight Jnr, and Frank worked with ecclesiastical architects including Evander McIver. The firm grew in popularity after winning the CTA competition, becoming a leading commercial firm in the early twentieth century. Their work prior to World War II reflects the influence of the Romanesque, Baroque Revival and the Moderne, particularly that popularised in the United States. Better known for their department stores, and in particular therelationship established with Sidney Myer from 1913, the firm constructed the different phases of the Myer Emporium in Melbourne. H W & F B Tompkins operated until the 1950s, when they became Tompkins & Shaw and then Tompkins, Shaw & Evans. The firm was acquired in 2003 and became Tompkins MDA Group, and remains one of the longest surviving firms in Victoria (Beeston 2012:707-708).
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1250766
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105736 | 1 JPEG : 429 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |