Dalgety & Co Ltd, motor garage (rear wing 654-664 Bourke Street), later Bush, W. J. & Co Ltd. Manufacturing chemists, 625-627 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Dalgety & Co Ltd, motor garage (rear wing 654-664 Bourke Street), later Bush, W. J. & Co Ltd. Manufacturing chemists, 625-627 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 558316 1
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 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1912;ASSOCIATIONS: Dalgety & Co. Ltd.;DESIGNER: Charles D'Ebro;BUILDER: F.E. ShillabeerPeriod: EdwardianSee https://flic.kr/p/2pCZf8P for image___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of Significance for 654-664 Bourke StreetHistoryCompanion to the numerous wool stores occupying the western half of the city, this building and the single-storey store which preceded it served primary production in Melbourne for over 100 years. T. McPherson owned the land during the 19th and early 20th Centuries and firms such as New Zealand Loan & Mercantile occupied the building.Charles D'Ebro designed this building for new owners, Dalgety & Co. Ltd., in mid-1912, and the Footscray builder, F.E. Shillabeer, constructed it in the follow months. Built on three levels, the offices and showrooms were located at the front of the building and storage behind. By 1925, H.V. McKay, Pty. Ltd. (manufacturers of Sunshine harvesters), were the new owners of the site, commencing renovations in April, 1925, estimated to cost 5000 pounds (McKay died in the following year). It was to be the Sunshine Harvester Building (later Sunshine Building) for some forty years to follow, although occupied by other firms such as Bakelite (Australia), the Victorian Manufacturing Company, British Standard Machinery Co. Ltd., and Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Ltd.Work done in 1925 appears to have had a minor effect on the facade, with timber stairs and floors being replaced in part by reinforced concrete. The architect was J. Raymond Robinson, of Sunshine. Further work, to a sum of near 11,000 pounds, was necessary to reinstate the building after an extensive fire in 1945. Another 17,000 pounds was to be spent on new partitions in 1957 and a general refit for greater office use (false ceilings, mechanical ventilation) in 1964, was estimated to cost 30,000 pounds.Hugh Victor McKay is perhaps best known for the development of the combine harvester (stripping, threshing and cleaning) at Raywood (1884- ) and Ballarat (1891-) and finally (1906-) at their extensive Braybrook works(Sunshine from 1908 ) where the Sunshine Harvester was manufactured, eventually forexport. Massey-Harris Pty. Ltd. took over McKays by 1955, after being co-resident with McKay in this building since the later 1930s. Prior to the take-over, the McKay company had broadened their Manufacturing base beyond the combine harvester to include self-propelled harvesters (c1909- , tractors (c1916- ), the stump-jump disc plough and earth moving machinery, in conjunction with another co-resident, British Standard Machinery Co. Ltd. The McKay complex survives (as of December 1987) at Sunshine, along with offices constructed in the same period of the McKay acquisition of this building, as their city showrooms. Little is known of the Ballarat works.Dalgety & Co. sprang from a wool export agency commenced in 1846 by F.G. Dalgety. With the growth of pastoralism in the 1870s and 1880s, many limited liability companies arose from the early wool broker firms but, in this case, Dalgety & Co. Ltd. was created in 1894, a year after the withdrawal of English money led to the bank moratorium and the reconstruction of many of the established firms. Previous occupiers of the site, New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. Ltd. merged with Dalgety & Co. Ltd. in 1961.DescriptionIn a similar manner to the adjoining Eliza Tinsley Building, this former warehouse rises to two upper levels and one high ground level, possibly including a mezzanine. It is also parapeted, but with a central raised entablature adorned with linked garlands. The facade is divided by giant order Ionic pilasters which are ornamented in the French manner with garlands and blocks at the capitals. Between, at the upper level, are window pairs with exaggerated keystones and rustication, with the more conservative lower level windows possessing austere implied pilasters for mullions. The ground level top lights are also divided into threes by colonettes. Two entrances possess implied porticoes with egg and dart mouldings and cemented architraves surrounding each.In between these there are currently large glazed show windows. Faint lettering is visible at the two entablatures, (parapet and first floor level).External IntegrityGround level openings have been altered subtly, with new window frames, new less subtle glazed screens at the eastern entrance and a form of shuttering at the western entrance, which may have been for goods entry originally. Otherwise, like the Eliza Tinsley, the building is surprisingly intact.StreetscapeRepeats the Edwardian Baroque seen in the adjoining buildings to the east and resembles them in scale, fenestration and, in part, materials.SignificanceAn unusual design for its construction date, being more typical of the Greek revival current at the time of themajor renovation in 1925, the building and site have a long association with Victorian primary production,particularly the important H.V. McKay company, although of less consequence to the surviving Sunshine works.___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM___________________________Victorian Heritage Inventory D7822-14221880 - site appears to be vacant. 1888 and 1905 - vacant (yard area).___________________________MAHLSTEDT FIRE INSURANCE PLAN SERIES STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIASeries 1, map 221888 vacant site1910 shows 3 storey masonry backing onto main building 664-666 Bourke St, Dalgety & Co motor garage- plan pasted in (added after 1910) with Dalgety pasted over as occupier, revealing 'machinery depot' under; turntables, offices, showroom, steel girders and columns, no basement, covered concourse or carriageway to west side Bourke Street to Little Bourke.___________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATION1931, June13100 £375 alterations to building etc___________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE):1910...Saloon amidships. All large, cool, two-berth cabins, fitted with electric fans. Surgeon carried.SPECIAL THROUGH BOOKING TO EUROPE,Via Japan, Canada, and U.S. America. G. S. YUILL and CO. LTD., Agents, 9 Queen street....BUTCHERS' AND STATION PRODUCE. G. S. Yuill and Co. Limited, hide,, skin, andtallow brokers, 664 Bourke street.1917https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/90865574Mr. George Shelton Yuill, of Messrs. G. S. Yuill and Co. Ltd., well-known incommercial and sporting circles, died in Sydney ....THE SEASON ENGINEERING CO. LTD., 627Little Bourke street, Melbourne...1923MOTOR Panel beaters wanted ; good wages and conditions, permanent job. James Motor Industries, 625 Little Bourke st.1929Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973) Thu 19 Dec 1929 [Issue No.118] Page 2605 LEASES.or the acquisition by agreement of the lease of premises situated at No. 625 Little Bourke-street, Melbourne, for the purposes of the Postmaster-General's Department, for theperiod from the 9tli December, 1929, to the 28tli December, 1929, at a rental of £30 per week...,1931Advert for knitting mill___________________________DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1910625-627 Yuill, G. S.. & Co, hide & skin merchants.1915611-623 Lloyd Bros & Maginnis, merchts , tannersTinsley, Eliza, iron, steel , & machinery yard625-627 Dalgety & Co Ltd, motor garage.....1920611-623 Lloyd Bros & Maginnis, merchte, tannersTinsley, Eliza, iron, steel, & machinery yard625-627 Dalgety & Co Ltd, motor garage.1925Lang's la611-623 Lloyd Bros & Maginnis. merchts. tannersTinsley, Eliza. Iron. steel. & machinery yard625-7 Bush, W. J. & Co Ltd. Mnfg chmsts.1930Lang's la611-623 Lloyd Bros & Maginnis, merchants, tannersEliza, iron, steel, & machinery yard625-27 Vacant....
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Research and reports
Record number:
1267441
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 558316 1 | 1 JPEG : 263 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |