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Guardian Insurance Building, 454-458 Collins Street & 74-82 Williams Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 102122

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:

Period: Post Second WarConstruction date: 1960-1963Notable features: Early in transition from glass - masonry facades.ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.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.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW`Beyond the curtain wallThe dominant glass box design of the late 1950s was challenged in the 1960s as the shortcomings ofthe fully glazed curtain wall became apparent – in particular its poor thermal performance – and newtechnologies became available. Advances in concrete technology, including the development ofprecast concrete, impacted greatly on both the appearance and structure of the commercial towerform from the 1960s onwards.By the mid-1960s, architects were experimenting with a range of solid cladding materials for towerbuildings including precast concrete, stone, reconstituted stone, tile and brick, as well as variousmetals for cladding, screening and detailing. A number of buildings continued to adopt true curtainwall construction; however, a different aesthetic was created by the use of solid external cladding inplace of the typically glazed spandrels of the 1950s. This aesthetic is evident in a number of existingbuildings in the city centre including the Guardian Building at 454-456 Collins Street (1960-61), withits stone-faced precast concrete panelled facades..'.Former Guardian Building [also known as Christie Offices (current name)]STREET ADDRESS 454-456 Collins Street, MelbournePROPERTY IDENTIFIED 102122SUMMARYThe Former Guardian Building on the corner of William and Collins streets was built for owners,Guardian Assurance Co Ltd, in 1960-61, to a design by architects Bates Smart & McCutcheon.SITE HISTORYThe Guardian Building on the corner of William and Collins streets was built for owners Guardian Assurance Co Ltd in 1960-61, to a design by architects Bates Smart & McCutcheon (Goad 2004:180). The Guardian Assurance Co occupied an earlier building on the site from c1955, also called the ‘Guardian Building’, before redeveloping the site. The company appears to have had an earlier presence in the area, occupying an adjacent property 452 Collins Street from c1910 to c1920 (S&Mc). At the time of construction, the Guardian insurance group had long-established branches in all Australian states. An article published in The Canberra Times in June 1960 (18 Jun 1960:11) reported that a Canberra office had just opened, a large building was planned for Sydney, and ‘construction of a new 10-storey building at the corner of Collins and William Streets has just been started for the group’. In September 1959, the University of Melbourne’s Department of Architecture publication Cross- Section reported that a new building was to be erected for Guardian Assurance at the subject site, at a cost of £350,000, to be faced with Stawell freestone. The City of Melbourne received a building permit application for the multi-storey office building in March 1960 (BAI). W E Bassett & Partners were the mechanical engineers and J C Taylor & Sons the builders. The total cost of the building was approximately £500,000 (Cross-Section, Apr 1962). Photos of the newly completed building showed its external form including the entrance and foyer (Figure 3 - Figure 5). Cross-Section published an article on the newly completed building in April 1962, providing the opinion that: This is prestige-type architecture, conservative, dignified, sober, and rather stuffy. Handsomely proportioned windows sit in a natural stone façade. The article stated that the building was serviced by air conditioning that was a ‘high velocity perimeter induction system with individual controls below window sills’, and was built with double glazed windows with heat resistant glass in the outer panes (Figure 6). The 1965, the Sands & McDougall Directory listed the ‘Guardian Building’ at 454-456 Collins Street as being occupied by Guardian Assurance Co Ltd, amongst other companies. In 2019 the entrance on the Collins Street elevation bears the name ‘Christie Offices’.Bates Smart & McCutcheonBates, Smart & McCutcheon was formed when Osborn McCutcheon joined the existing firm of Bates & Smart in 1926. Bates & Smart had itself been born out of previous iterations of a firm that could be traced back to Reed & Barnes, making it one of the oldest practices in the country (Goad 2012:72). By the 1960s the firm had become one of Australia’s largest architectural firms. It exists today as Bates Smart (Goad 2012:72). During the 1930s, Bates, Smart & McCutcheon had earned a reputation for designing Georgian-style residences, but also went on to win RVIA awards for their work on the AMP Building in Collins Street (1926-31), Buckley & Nunn Building in Bourke Street (now David Jones, 1933), and the Second Church of Christ Scientist in Camberwell (1936-37). By the 1950s, Bates, Smart & McCutcheon had become Australia’s ‘expert’ in high-rise office buildings design (Goad 2012:73). Much of their work at this time was large structures with glass curtain walls. In Melbourne this was exemplified by ICI House, which broke the city’s existing 132-foot (40m) height limit in 1955-8 (Goad 2012:73). Other work completed by the firm in the 1950s included the first of the Sleigh Buildings at 158-172 Queen Street Melbourne (1953-55 & 1964), Union House at 43-51 Queen Street Melbourne (1957) and the AMP Building at 402-408 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne (1956-58). Bates, Smart & McCutcheon continued to expand into the 1960s and 70s, with its design approach shifting from glazed curtain walls to facades of artificial stone or prefabricated concrete panels. Works in Melbourne during this period included AMP Tower and St James Building Complex, Bourke Street (1965-69) in association with US firm, Skidmore Owings and Merrill; the Guardian Building at 454-456 Collins Street (1960-61); the Former South British Insurance Company Ltd Building at 155-161 Queen Street (1961-62) and the Methodist Church Centre at 130-134 Little Collins Street (1966-67) with F C Armstrong. In the 1970s the firm designed the Commonwealth Banking Corporation Building at 359-373 Collins Street, Melbourne (c1972-75); the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney Building at 251-257 Collins Street (1971-73) and the double tower and plaza complex of Collins Place, Collins Street (1970-80), undertaken in collaboration with international architecture practice, I M Pei. Other notable works by the firm include the large collaborative designs of Melbourne Central with Kisho Kurokawa (1983-92) and Federation Square with Lab Architecture Studio (1997-2002) (Goad 2012:74). '

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesPostwar periodInsuranceOffices1960-1969Twentieth Century Architecture Register (RAIA)

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1195743