Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd, offices, 411-415 King Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd, offices, 411-415 King Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105327
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
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 2021:__________________________________________________Style: ModernPeriod: Post Second-War.GRAEME BUTLER 2015-16. WEST MELBOURNE HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Titled the Flagstaff House project, a permit for this steel-clad, basement and two-level, office building was sought in July 1968 by owners, occupiers and designers, Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty. Ltd.. The proposed building was to replace four Victorian-era row houses, then used as the firm's offices, at an estimated cost of $310,000.As Yuncken Freeman Brothers Griffiths and Simpson Architects, the firm had previously occupied the terrace houses at 411-415 King Street as `Flagstaff House'. The new building, also Flagstaff House, marked a change in the firm's oeuvre if not the name. Balcombe Griffiths and Roy Simpson were from the five original partners, with descendant John Yuncken, but the new Mesian theme (after Mies van der Rohe of Chicago), that this building expresses so well, came with Barry Patten who joined the firm in c1953. Patten led a team for the prize winning Sidney Myer Music Bowl in 1957, marking a new structure-based design theme. The once large office of Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty. Ltd. no longer exists.The new Flagstaff House is inspired by van der Rohe's Farnsworth House (1951), among others. As a `skin and bones' (van der Rohe) architectural concept, the design can be seen as a horizontal parallel to the commercial towers of BHP house (1967-1972) and the aluminium clad Eagle House (1971-2).Meticulously planned on an imperial module of 4'10", escape stairs, toilets and plant were in a service strip located along the south side of an open plan office, forming a square of three 27' structural bays per side. The main open stair was centred on the plan within a generous light well, the steel bar balustrades were minimal and the stair flights appeared to float within the space. Suspended ceilings followed the module with recessed low-brightness fluorescent fittings doubling as air distribution within each module; less was more. Upper floors were suspended reinforced concrete.The south side service strip provided the concrete and masonry buttress for a steel and glass box attached on the north, with a cantilevering upper level, allowing column free façades on two sides. A steel universal-section marked the planning model planted on all glazed facades as structural mullions: exposed columns were also universal-sections painted matte black as was the facade. A shallow gabled steel deck clad roof set behind a minimal fascia gave the illusion of a flat roof. Double aluminium-framed entry doors were symmetrically arranged on the King Street elevation, accessed by minimalist stair flights that abutted a rendered podium that catered for the sloping site.When furnished the interior was among the most elegant Modernist office spaces the City had seen, with flush black modular panelling housing adjustable drafting desks, exposed black steel structural frame, grey tufted carpet, white plaster and block walls and suspended ceilings.Contributory elements include:basement and two upper levels of offices in a rectanguloid form;no expressed roof;the counter play of simple geometric rectanguloid forms, as horizontal elements set again a masonry vertical element, with an offset to allow expression of each;glass and steel modular façade with full-height tinted glazing (floor to ceiling);imposed `structure' as steel universal-section mullions on steel plate fascias;originally an open office plan with modular partitioning (modified);natural grey podium base;original black external colour scheme;floating external open-riser stairs with simple steel bar balustrading as handrails and newels only;flush plaster soffits with recessed downlights; andminimal landscaping, paved setting.Sign panels have been added. External doors and furniture changed. Interior layout and furnishing changed (inspection from street only). Glass bricks added facing the rear car park.How is it significant?Flagstaff House, Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty. Ltd. offices is significant historically and aesthetically to West Melbourne, the City of Melbourne and Victoria.Why is it significant?Flagstaff House, Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty. Ltd. offices is significant.Historically, for the close link with the important architectural firm of Yuncken Freeman Architects designed as their own offices, the firm being nationally prominent at that time; andAesthetically, the most accomplished, early small-scale International Modern office designs in Victoria, serving as a prototype for the design and development of BHP house as well as an advertisement for the firm's design direction; perhaps one of the most faithful of the Mies van der Rohe inspired designs in Victoria, following an internationally applauded design theme..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM.City of Melbourne online maps`A two storey concrete office building with lower ground parking. Designed by Yuncken Freeman Pty Ltd in the Brutalist style (sic) and built in 1970. '.Heritage Places Inventory July 2015411-415 B3.CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSJuly 1968 39876 $310,000 New Building1989 flagpole to side of building1990 $700,000 Refurb and construct internal partitions.VICTORIA HERITAGE DATABASESurvey of Post-War Built Heritage in Victoria: 278(Heritage Alliance, 2008)`040-029 Yuncken Freeman Pty Ltd architectural offices (former)Date/s 1970Designer/s Yuncken Freeman Pty LtdTheme 5.0 Building Victoria’s Industries & WorkforceSub-theme 5.7 Working...'`Significance Architectural; aestheticReferencesArchitecture in Australia, Aug 1970, pp 653 ffNot only one of Victoria’s finest examples of the Brutalist style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, but also of especial note as the designers’ own edge-of-town office for many years. It appears to have been one of the last self-designed architectural offices to be built in Melbourne until a resurgence in the late 1980s.'.City of Melbourne i-Heritagesearch results: Abstract of Building Identification Form (BIF)407 TO 415 KING STREET WEST MELBOURNE 3003Heritage GradingsBuilding Grading Streetscape Level Laneway LevelBConservation Study DetailsPrecinct Conservation Management PlanConservation Study: Study and Date, StatusCentral Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 AdoptedBuilding and History InformationArchitectural Style ModernPeriod 1939- - Post WarConstruction DateSource for Construction DateArchitect F Yuncken FreemanBuilder Not AssessedFirst OwnerIntegrity GoodCondition GoodOriginal Building Type OfficeHistory Not AssessedDescription/Notable FeaturesNotable features include elegant Mies Van Der Rohe design adaptation by Yuncken Freeman architects for own use..WikipediaYuncken FreemanFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia`Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd. began as a practice when Otto (Rob) Yuncken (the son of master builder, Otto Yuncken) and John Freeman left their positions as senior associates in A & K Henderson. They were accompanied in their departure by John's brother, Tom Freeman, and William Balcombe Griffiths, also employees at A & K Henderson. In 1945 Roy Simpson was recruited into Yuncken Freeman on the recommendation of a fellow student during his time at the School of Design in Melbourne University. The new firm, Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths & Simpson Architects, was located in the same Henderson Building, near the Mitre Tavern and its area was a social hub for a community of architectural firms, fellow students and friends from the Architectural Students' Society including Leslie M Perrott senior; Marcus Barlow; Bates, Smart & McCutcheon and others.By the 1940s the operations of the firm was disrupted by World War II, which unavoidably grew to be a much serious threat than before. Rob Yuncken and Roy Simpson eventually enlisted into service, providing planning and design services to the U.S. Army Engineers Corps, for territory reclaimed by General MacArthur’s campaign. When the dust settled in 1946, Yuncken and Simpson returned to Melbourne. Only to find the members of the original group scattered. They did however reunite to continue their practice.In 1947, Yuncken Freeman Brothers Griffiths & Simpson Architects was appointed by the Victorian Government to initiate an emergency housing project in London. Simpson, who had experience during his days in the U.S. Army, headed the project where he provided designs for pre-built housing that could be assembled by unskilled labour. Fifty years later, these homes are still occupied. He was awarded the Gold Medal in 1997 by the Royal Australia Institute of Architects (RAIA) for his significant contribution to architecture.From 1963 the firm was known as Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd. after the Royal Australian Institute of Architects approved the principle of architects practising as proprietary limited companies. Balcombe Griffiths and Roy Simpson (being the youngest of the original group) were the sole survivors of the five original partners, along with descendant John Yuncken, subsequently added Barry Patten and John Gates (1953), Robert Peck and Jamie Learmonth and others. Key staff included Angel Dimitroff (Myer Music Bowl) and Llew Morgan (Eagle Star and BHP House). Patten introduced the firm's characteristic international Modern style, based on the work of Mies Van Der Rohe, as seen in their 411 King Street offices, Eagle Star & BHP House. Robert Peck, as YFA managing director in the late 1970s and a City of Melbourne councillor, chaired the City's new committee on old buildings until he lost his seat in 1979. The advisory committee included representatives from the National Trust, Town & Country Planning Board, Ministries for Planning and Local Government, the Historic Buildings Preservation Council and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).As with many architectural firms, YFA was forced to sack 15 architects and the 8 directors took a 20% pay cut in the mid 1970s, only 5 years after completion of the State Government Offices. Director, Barry Patten told `The Age' newspaper "The situation is very bad- there just isn't any work available". Five years ago about 80% of their work had been in the private sector and the rest in Government but the situation had reversed by 1975, with government budget cuts and the private sector hardly moving. `We have employed people for years and we are now finding it very difficult to keep them occupied. It is very worrying."`.….Flagstaff House 411 - 415 King Street, Melbourne, Australia 1968.Yuncken Freeman officeTypical of the Yuncken Freeman works led by Patten, Flagstaff house is very characteristic of the Chicago Modern. The building uses a simple ribbed steel cage structural system and sits low in Melbourne's skyline. Designed to serve as offices, this building became home to the Yuncken Freeman firm in 1970. The interior was as elegant as the exterior with a vast open plan on two levels, fringed by glazed offices. All of the furniture was modular and black, slab sided to present working boxes as drafting tables. Gone were the jutting arms of drawing office machines, replaced by paralines or parallel straight edges, with adjustable acrylic T-squares.'.DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALLSands & McDougall Directory of Victoria1955Flagstaff House, Yuncken Freeman Bros. Griffiths & Simpson architectsDixon, FC constr nginerNicol, JG accountant1961Flagstaff House, Yuncken Freeman Bros. Griffiths & Simpson architects1974411-415 Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd
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1211924
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105327 | 1 JPEG : 229 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |