Morris and Walker warehouse. 31-35 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Morris and Walker warehouse. 31-35 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 103914
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 2021:Period: EdwardianDATE: 1909;ASSOCIATIONS: Morris and Walker Pty Ltd..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceHeritage Place: Flinders Lane East PrecinctWhat is significant?The Flinders Lane East Precinct comprising 31-149 Flinders Lane, 11-15 Duckboard Place, 130-148 Flinders Street, 10-30 Oliver Lane, ACDC Lane, Duckboard Place, Higson Lane, Oliver Lane, Sargood Lane, Spark Lane and including the rear of 24-30 Russell Street.Elements that contribute to the significance of the precinct include (but are not limited to):• The commercial and warehouse buildings constructed from c1857 to c1939, as shown on the precinct map.• The pattern of development in the precinct which comprises mixed streetscapes of Victorian, Federation and interwar commercial and warehouse buildings, and the key features and original detailing characteristic of their respective styles.• The high quality commercial and warehouse frontages and some side aspects to Flinders Lane, Exhibition Street and Russell Street.• The industrial streetscapes throughout the fine grain network of laneways intersecting with Flinders Lane, with rear and side aspects and some frontages to ACDC Lane, Duckboard Place, and Higson, Oliver, Malthouse, Sargood and Spark lanes.The buildings at 31-35, 37-45, 57-59, 91-93, 95-101, 103-105, 107-109, 121-123, 133-135 Flinders Lane, and 138-148 Flinders Street are contributory. The laneway rear aspect of 24-30 Russell Street fronting Oliver Lane is also contributory.The buildings at 61-73, 75-77, 87-89, 125-127, 129-131, 137-139, 141-143, 145-149 Flinders Lane, 130-132, 134-136 and 142-148 Flinders Street, 11-15 Duckboard Place, and 10-20 and 22-30 Oliver Lane are significant. The VHR-listed Duke of Wellington Hotel at part of 142-148 Flinders Street is also significant.Non-original alterations and additions to the contributory buildings are not significant.The buildings at 55 Flinders Lane (32 Flinders Street), 114-128 Flinders Street, and 14-22 Russell Street are non-contributory to the precinct.How it is significant?The Flinders Lane East Precinct is of local historic, representative and aesthetic significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The Flinders Lane East Precinct is historically significant for its association with manufacturing and warehousing principally for the clothing and textile businesses, colloquially referred to as the ‘rag trade’, between the 1850s and the 1930s. Far from dealing in rags, Flinders Lane was the hub of a fashion industry with its many small niche businesses that provided specialist finishing services to the clothing manufacturers. The area provided employment in clothing manufacture, and many employees were women. Flinders Lane was the epicentre of the textile and clothing industry and benefited from the Commonwealth tariffs that resulted in further construction of factories and warehouses throughout the 1920s and 30s. Historically, the Flinders Lane East Precinct was the home of several other industries including Melbourne City Council’s Corporation Yard (11-15 Duckboard Place) and 91-93 Flinders Lane, coach and carriage builders Samwells and Reeves at 103 Flinders Lane and box manufacturers Morris and Walker at 31-35 Flinders Lane. (Criterion A)The Flinders Street East precinct is significant for its low-rise built form and street pattern that represents the pre-modern city. The attributes of the precinct include the laneway network that provides additional street frontages for some buildings, and an almost continuous streetscape of up to six storeys in height on Flinders Lane. The precinct demonstrates a great variety of architectural expression developed over approximately 80 years and representing many styles. Several buildings of the Romanesque revival style including nos.31-35, 87-89, 125-127, and 145-149 Flinders Lane are notable. Interwar buildings in the stripped classical style of Pawson House (no.141) or the Gothic revival of the former Bank of New South Wales at no.137-139 are also notable examples. (Criterion D)The Flinders Lane East Precinct is aesthetically significant for its views down Oliver, Malthouse and Higsons Lanes. It is also aesthetically significant for its nearly complete streetscape of small lot buildings up to six storeys in height and built to the property boundaries. The slope to the Yarra River allows some buildings to have basements or additional lower storeys. The open-ended Oliver Lane is aesthetically significant for its views to Flinders Street and beyond to the south, and of 42 Russell Street to the north. ACDC Lane, Higson Lane and Duckboard Place are significant for their enclosed and intimate scale enhanced by the red brick walls. The views along these lanes are significant for the aspects they reveal of the side of nos. 87-89, 91-93, 103-105, 107-109, 125-127, 129-131, 137-139 and 141-143 Flinders Lane.The streetscape is highly varied but includes many buildings of individual architectural importance and high aesthetic value. The three buildings fronting Flinders Street (nos.130-132, 134-136 and 138-140) are of a similar scale and proportion to those in Flinders Lane. (Criterion E)The attributes of the Flinders Lane Precinct include:• VHR listed places at 129-131 Flinders Lane and 142-148 Flinders Street, reinforced concrete warehouses at 10-20 & 22-30 Oliver Lane associated with Sir John Monash and the early use of reinforced concrete as a construction material. The Oliver Lane warehouses are of technical and associative significance.• Significant places with existing HOs at 61-73, 75-77, 125-127, 129-131, 141-143 and 145-149 Flinders Lane and 130-132 Flinders Street.• Places assessed to be significant as part of the Hoddle Grid Heritage Review, 87-89 and 137-139 Flinders Lane, 134-136 Flinders Street and 11-15 Duckboard Place.• All other contributory places noted in the precinct category schedule.• The building height and scale of the precinct up to six storeys, some places with several additional storeys added but not compromising this scale.• The intimate scale and character of Duckboard Place, ACDC Lane, Higson Lane, Spark and Sargood Lanes and the way in which they provide side views of significant and contributory places.• The open-ended Oliver Lane with views to the north and south to the river.Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORYH7822-1952.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW: 35, 39PRECINCT DESCRIPTIONThe Flinders Lane precinct is relatively large, spanning nearly two whole blocks of the Hoddle Grid between Spring and Russell Streets. The borders of the precinct exclude Shell House forecourt and Milton House at 21 Flinders Lane, commencing at 31-35 Flinders Lane and extending to the corner of Russell Street. (contributory )...The former brick warehouse and factory at 31-35 Flinders Lane was built for box manufacturers, Morris and Walker Pty Ltd, c1909 (CoMMaps; Age 24 July 1909:8). Morris and Walker leased the building in 1939 to the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, but continued as owners until 1947 when they sold the six-storeyed brick building for £32,500 to Manchester Unity Fire Insurance of Victoria as an investment (Argus 4 September 1947:16; Age 4 September 1947:14)..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Saturday 24 July 1909 - Page 8IMPORTED Royal Triumph, real good running order, spare tube and seat pillar, spring seat pillar, mudguards, 2 brakes, bell, lamp, pump, tools, good cape, leggings, lot £6 /10/, real bargain,At MORRIS and WALKER'S, 31-35…,The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Saturday 12 June 1915 - Page 12https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/154953894AUSTRALIA COULD SUPPLY EXPLOSIVES.Mr. Rowland Morris, of the firm of Morris and Walker, Flinders-Iane, and managing director of the Commonwealth Board Mills Ltd., expressed the opinion yesterday that it was time Australia undertook a more active- part in the great task of meeting the Empire's demand for war munitions. She had been a spectator quite long enough, it was now her duty to enter the conflict, and lift some of the burden from the shoulders of the mother country. He considered that there were many directions in which the Commonwealth could render assistance in regard to the question of explosives, he pointed out that Australia possessed the necessary materials to turn out an almost unlimited supply of picric acid. The Government could, organise the analytical chemists for this work, in which they would be better employed in the pre sent grave crisis than they were in teaching chemistry to students at school. Assistance could also be given, said Mr. Morris, in regard to the supply of cartridge cases. His own factory would be willing to undertake such work, and there were probably several others which would be only too pleased to help. It was a time of grave national peril, and it was the absolute duty of the Government in the circumstances to immediately organise the war resources of the country. Factories were lying idle which could be turned to great account in connection with the output of munitions. Mr. Morris alluded to the wonderful industrial organisation in Germany, which he personally studied during a tour in that country in 11)09. Describing a visit to an ammunition and war equipment factory, lie stated that in the sample room he discovered that they had in stock rides and equipment of every known type and description in use among the various armies of Europe and America. It was the duty of the manager of the factory to secure the latest war production, of every foreign country, and after examination to improve upon it. 'It is the possession of this wonderful organisation,' added Mr. Morris, that is making Germany such a tough nut to crack. It is only by organising our own forces in opposition that we can hope to emerge successfully from the present conflict.The Bendigo Independent (Vic. : 1891 - 1918)Saturday 20 March 1915 - Page 4Messrs. Morris and Walker, of 31 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, have succeeded in obtaining a supply of the Star Egg Crates, which were practically unobtainable after the outbreak of the war. The prices for these indispensable adjuncts to a well-equipped poultry farm will he advertised in next Saturday's Bendigo Independent..DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL192025 Moore, Dr William, private hospital81-35 Morris & Walker Pty Ltd, box makers37-45 Blencowe, J. R., clothing manufacturers193027-29 Federal Mnfg Co Pty Ltd, costume mnfrs31-35 Morris & Walker Pty Ltd, box makers
Names:
Topics:
Places:
Form/Genre:
Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1208179
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 103914 | 1 JPEG : 730 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |