McCaughan's Coffee Palace, later Great Southern Private Hotel, 10-22 Spencer Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
McCaughan's Coffee Palace, later Great Southern Private Hotel, 10-22 Spencer Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 108972
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 2023:__________________________________________________DATE: 1890-1891;ASSOCIATIONS: McCaughan, Patrick K;DESIGNER: Pitt & D'Ebro;BUILDER: Hearnden, William of Princes HillPeriod: Late Victorian-era_________________________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of Significance -HistoryThis was originally a coffee place, built in the mould of the Grand inSpring Street and close to a railway terminus. No doubt it was hoped to share the trade already flooding from the station Spencer Street to the Menzies and Federal, both close by and in Melbourne's traditional boarding house cum immigrant reception precinct, since the immigration depot wasinitially located in Bourke Street West.Patrick McCaughan, of the Rialto, commissioned his Rialto architect, William Pitt, in conjunction with the adjoining Melbourne Wool Exchange designer, Charles D'Ebro, to prepare a scheme for the proposed palace andat least two shops, adjacent to the Falstaff Cafe and `palace' entrance. William Hearnden, from Princes Hill, was the contractor.Early shopkeepers there were Clement Bourdie a chemist, and Miss Eliza Johnston (conducting a normally male-dominated tobacconist's business). Morris & White conducted the restaurant for at least a generation. There was even a Chinese laundry there in 1895 (Sun On Lee).DescriptionAlthough uncharacteristically (for Pitt or D'Ebro) conservative Classicism below the cornice level, D'Ebro's influence can be still seen on the massive central gabled pediment, with its overblown antefix on the apex.Similar facade compositions may be seen on Angus & Robertson's Building, Elizabeth Street, and George & George's in Collins Street: both are D'Ebro designs, but both employ the central pediment below the parapet line, rather than above it. The use of face brickwork is also a sign of the times.External IntegrityBricks have been painted, signs attached, ground-level altered and a street canopy added.StreetscapeIntegral in scale, general ornament and use to the corner Charles Hotham Hotel which was also designed by Pitt.SignificanceArchitecturally austere, if massive, but given its integrity, it expresses the rise of the railway coffee palace at most busy termini. In Melbourne's case it is the oldest coffee palace to still face the lineswhich fed it; others such as the Federal having been demolished._________________________________________GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2011, CENTRAL CITY (HODDLE GRID) HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?This was originally a coffee place, built in the mould of the Grand in Spring Street and close to a railway terminus. No doubt it was hoped to share the trade already flooding from the Spencer Street station to the Menzies and Federal hotels, both close by and in Melbourne's traditional boarding house cum immigrant reception precinct, since the immigration depot was initially located in Bourke Street West. Temperance hotels or coffee palaces were seen as a distinctive Melbourne phenomena and lauded by the daily press for the civility they brought to the City.Patrick McCaughan, of the Rialto, commissioned his Rialto architect, William Pitt, in partnership with the adjoining Melbourne Wool Exchange designer, Charles D'Ebro, to prepare a scheme for the proposed palace and at least two shops. William Hearnden, from Princes Hill, was the contractor. Early shopkeepers there were Clement Bourdie a chemist, and Miss Eliza Johnston (conducting a normally male-dominated tobacconist's business). Morris & White conducted the restaurant for at least a generation. There was even a Chinese laundry there in 1895 (Sun On Lee).The original choice of face brickwork for the facade instead of typical Victorian-era florid cement render is indicative of the late Victorian-era and Edwardian-era and provided the hallmark in this building of the Queen Anne style, since diluted by the render. With the exception of the giant gabled pediment set above the parapet and the Queen Anne details, the three-bay four-storey rendered symmetrical façade of the building presents as a more mainstream Italian Renaissance revival street elevation with regular window placement, moulded architraves, dentillated cornice, giant-order trabeation with Queen Anne style scrolls as capitals, and rustication to pilaster bases. The Queen Anne style is further expressed by the broken pediment at first floor level, cement scrolls and ox-bow cement mouldings over windows.Although uncharacteristically (for Pitt or D'Ebro) conservative classical below the facade's cornice level, D'Ebro's influence can be seen in the massive central gabled pediment (originally with its overblown antefix on the apex). Similar facade compositions, with three bays and a gabled central pediment, may be seen on Angus & Robertson's Building, Elizabeth Street, and George & George's in Collins Street: both are D'Ebro designs. Pitt had designed Melbourne's first coffee palace in Bourke Street in 1879, followed by his collaboration with Ellerker & Kilburn to design the five hundred room Federal Coffee Palace in Collins Street. His design for the adjoining Edwardian-era Sir Charles Hotham Hotel dates from the closing years of Pitt's career.The former coffee palace is integral in scale, general ornament and use to the later Charles Hotham Hotel which was also designed by Pitt and is part of a travel oriented building group with the Markillies Hotel, and Victorian Railways offices nearby, and the Batman's Hill Hotel to the north.The façade brickwork had been painted by the 1980s but within a decade had been rendered over; the pediment detailing has been changed; double-hung sash windows reglazed; signs attached, the ground-level altered and a street canopy added.How is it significant?McCaughan's Coffee Palace is significant historically and aesthetically to the Melbourne Capital City ZoneWhy is it significant?McCaughan's Coffee Palace is significant architecturally, as an austere but prominent and mannered Queen Anne revival façade design employed by the important architect, Charles D'Ebro, as seen on the massive central gabled pediment and facade details.Historically, the building expresses the rise of the railway coffee palace at most busy termini. The coffee palace was a distinctively Melbourne phenomena that was looked upon by Victorian-era society as an indication of the City's civilisation. This is Melbourne's second oldest purpose-built coffee palace that faces the railway lines which fed them custom. Others such as the grand Federal Coffee Palace having been demolished._________________________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites Lawrie Wilson & Associates, 1977. Historic Buildings Preservation Council Report on CBD Block No 6 Dec 1977 (85), page 244_________________________________________City of Melbourne i-Heritage:Central Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 Building Identification Form (BIF):Bricks painted (inappropriate - remove by approved method), illuminated sign, upper and signs to side (both inappropriate - remove or reinstate sympathetic alternative), canopy and ground level added/altered (inappropriate - reinstate original design or sympathetic alternative)._________________________________________Graeme Butler report 1990s: citesMCC Building Permit Application (BA): 1890, 4388 Coffee Palace, shops etc., cnr Spencer & Flinders; fee ₤20/7/MCC RB1891, 104-110; RB 1895 & 1894, 82 PK McCaughan- owner, Morris & White Restaurant Falstaff- occup._________________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)`The Argus':Tuesday 2 August 1887THE AUSTRAL PLEASURE GROUNDS...The grandest and most startling innovations in modern Melbourne are the coffee palaces . Five y ears ago the notion of a successful coffee palace seemed a delusive fad They had been tried in Sydney, and had failed miserably, or had lapsed into utter insignificance Why should they succeed in Melbourne. There is no doubt that a philanthropic desire under laid their foundation, that they were wedded with good business management, and the result is-we have but to walk along Spring street or down Collins to Spencer street to note the result, There are two temperance palaces approaching completion which would swallow any four of the licensed hotels in Melbourne …'_________________________________________eMelbourne web site:Andrew May`Rialto BuildingThe Rialto Building at 497-503 Collins Street was designed in the Venetian Gothic palazzo style of commercial architecture by William Pitt for businessman Patrick McCaughan and constructed in 1890-91. The building was originally home to merchants and manufacturers' agents and was equipped with the very latest office technology, including speaking tubes, fire-prevention measures and external winches to hoist goods to upper floors. The newly formed Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works was an early tenant. An original bluestone cobbled delivery laneway survives in this heritage-listed complex, as does a rear five-storey external urinal enclosure. The battle to save the urinals in the 1980s reflected an emerging preservationist philosophy that valued social history as well as architectural style.'_________________________________________Visit Victoria web site:`Precinct 2: The Rush To Be RichIn the late 1880’s, shipping moved downstream towards the new Victoria Dock and businessmen began to look for compact offices, with typewriters and telephones, rather than the old bluestone warehouses.Irishman Patrick McCaughan bought up the southern frontage of Collins Street and began to build some of the city’s most ornate buildings. He sold the three middle allotments for Record Chambers (1887), the New Zealand Insurance Company (1889) and the Winfield Building (1891) and developed the ‘bookends’ himself, as the Olderfleet (1889-90) and the Rialto (1890-91). With his white spats, top hat and twirling moustache, McCaughan was as flamboyant as the Venetian Gothic facades of his new buildings. Both captured the high hopes of an era when Melbourne businessmen dominated the South Pacific.'_________________________________________.DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1891- not listed189310 Bourdie, Clement L. M., chemist12 Vacant14 Johnston, Aliss E., tobacconist and hairdresser16 Morris & White, restaurant and cafe18 Vacant20 Vacant2.2 VacantWise 1893-4 10 Clement L Bourdie, chemist; 14 Miss Eliza Johnston, tobacconist; 16 Morris & White, Falstaff Restaurant.Wise 1895-6:10-16 see above, plus 18 Sun On Lee, laundry; 20 Watson & Son, carriers; 22 Inglis & Co grain merchants.190410 Munro, William, tailor and holier12 Vacant14 Colfflc, Madame, tbenst and hairdresser16-18 Morris & White, restaurant keepers20 Wilson & Thurgood, exportersThurgood, Albert J., bark merchant22 Leidwill, Rachel L., clothier(24-38 Blogg Bros, manuf chemists,)191010 William Munro, tailor; 12 Wilson & Flood, exporters of frozen food; 14 Louise Coffie, hairdresser; 16 Morris & White Falstaff Restaurant; 18 Bijou Tea Rooms192410 William Munro, tailor..;12 Brophy Foley & Co produce merchants;14 Birch, GH, hairdresser;16 White Bros Restaurant;18-20 Bijou Tea Rooms…22 Sherry, Thos, boot rep.195510 cameron, hairdrsser14 Harris, JS cafe12-18 Great Southern Private Hotel22 Verris, P café….Municipal rate books [RB]Graeme Butler report 1990s: citesRB1891, 104-110RB1895 & 1894, 82 PK McCaughan- owner, Morris & White Restaurant Falstaff- occupier.
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1263185
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 108972 | 1 JPEG : 496 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |