Sunday School Union of Victoria,, 100-102 Flinders Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Sunday School Union of Victoria,, 100-102 Flinders Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 104027
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:DATE: 1921-2 (rebuild?);ASSOCIATIONS: Sunday School Union of Victoria 1921-DESIGNER: Kemp, Henry H 1921;BUILDER: Hansen & Yuncken 1921.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWWhat is significant?The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street, built for the Sunday School Union of Victoria in 1921.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):• The building’s original external form, materials and detailing;• The building’s high level of integrity to its original design;• Unpainted red brick walls at the upper levels with contrasting rendered detailing;• Decorative elements including the rendered parapet, red brick piers at the building’s edges, pilasters between timber frame sash windows and spandrel panels, deep bracketed major cornice and minor cornices; and• Stone construction at ground level including rusticated piers with heavy base blocks, stylised capitals and smooth stone banding.Later alterations made to the street level façade are not significant.How it is significant?The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street is of local historic, representative, aesthetic and associative significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street is historically significant for its demonstration of a mixed use commercial premises. Built by and for the Sunday School Union of Victoria in 1921, following a fire in a previous building on the site, 100-102 Flinders Street was occupied by a range of businesses including fabric retailers, clothing manufacturers, and furniture retailers. (Criterion A)The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street is a fine example of a Romanesque revival warehouse, built during the early twentieth century commercial development of Melbourne. It is a notable example of a warehouse typology that demonstrates the city’s evolution from a low-rise to mid-rise city. It is significant as one of several Flinders Street buildings of the same era and scale that form an impressive edge to the city, including the Dreman Building at 96-98 Flinders Street and Epstein House at 134-136 Flinders Street. (Criterion D)The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street is aesthetically significant for its façade of red brick with bands of render detailing forming spandrels and contrasting elements to the vertical brick piers. The ground floor is highly distinctive for its massive stone piers in stylised sculptural form and the higher floor to ceiling indicated by a row of clerestory windows. The composition of the façade is enhanced by the decorative cornice and original window frames that contribute to its integrity. (Criterion E)The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street is significant for its enduring association with the Sunday School Union of Victoria which was established in 1871 and moved to a building at 100 Flinders Street in 1919. The Union instigated a wide program of religious education, including the establishment of a Children's Church in Collingwood for the ‘neglected poor’ (1876-1932); a Teacher Training College (1886 -1943), a union book depot and lending library established by 1903, and the formation of Sunday school unions in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. The current building at 100-102 Flinders Street housed the headquarters of the Sunday School Union of Victoria from 1921 to the early 1950s. (Criterion H)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM identified CAD date c1915see (Smith, Cyclopedia of Vic III,p 78 & Clements Langford Photograph in M.U.archive).- image shows raised parapet removed- se long description..CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSIndexhttps://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/60672/images/44777_349573-01095…29/6/1921June 3436 ₤11,000 reinstatement of office and warehouse buildingowner: Sunday School Union of VictoriaArchitect: Kemp, Henry HBuilder: Hansen & Yuncken- done by Feb 1922etc.NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)Monday 2 May 1921 - Page 6https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/1752853FIVE STORIES GUTTED.ADJOINING PREMISES SAVED.Damage Estimated at £40,000. For the second time within three weeks the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called on Saturday night to a disastrous fire inthe city area A five storied building at No 100-102 Flinders street, owned by the Sunday School Union of Victoria, and occupied by the offices of the union.….(also leased by Edwards & Co, Aussie Trading Co, H McHenry.).Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1929)Monday 2 May 1921 - Page 3https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/165758425BIG FIRE IN MELBOURNE. TEA AND COFFEE FLOWS IN FLINDERS STREET, …fire in 5 storey brick building at 100 Flinders St `the entire building in which the fire commenced had been gutted and some damage done to the top floor of the buildingon the eastern side…'see also https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203966510https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/72756686The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Saturday 24 August 1929 - Page 22https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/204103516…address will be delivered by Rev. A. V. Ballard, assistant director of the Methodist -Young People's Department, on Tuesday next, 27th August, at 7.45p.m.. in the rooms of the Sunday School Union of Victoria, 100 - Flinders-street, Melbourne. Subject: The World's Sunday- School Convention of Los Angeles and American Sunday School Work,superintendents, teachers and all interested in the work of Sunday schools are invited to be present..'..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW· Historically significant for its demonstration of a mixed use commercial premises.· Significant as representative of a Romanesque revival warehouse that demonstrates the evolutionof the city from low-rise to midrise, and contributes to the city’s edge.· Aesthetically significant for its façade of red brick with bands of render detailing and distinctiveground floor.· Significance associated with the Sunday School Union of Victoria headquarters from 1921 to the early 1950s..SITE HISTORYThe land on which the building at 100-102 Flinders Street stands has been used for commercial and residential purposes since 1866. In the period 1877-88, a residence existed on the block. By 1905, a six-storey building and two-storey mill had been built on the land, occupied by R Edwards and Co (Fels, Lavelle & Mider 1993).In 1904, a five-storey building was erected at 100 Flinders Street for Edwards Bros tea and coffee merchants. They occupied the building until 1919 when it was acquired by the Sunday School Union of Victoria. From this year, Edwards and Co continued to occupy the ground, fourth and fifth floors; the Sunday School Union the first floor; Aussie Trading Company (furniture salesmen) the second floor; and H McHenry and Co (linen indentors), the third (Age 2 May 1921:5; Australasian 7 May 1921:34).The Sunday School Union of Victoria purchased the premises at 100 Flinders Street in 1919, from which time it was known as the Union Building. The Union owned the building until at least the early 1950s.In May 1921, a fire destroyed the building, leaving only parts of the external brick walls standing. The damage to buildings and stock was extensive and estimated at approximately £40,000 (Australasian 7 May 1921:34).A new building was constructed, with the Sunday School Union of Victoria advertising offices and a showroom available for lease in September 1921 (Argus 3 September 1921:1). In January 1922, woollen fabric warehousemen, Frederick Houghton and Co, informed customers that they had moved its warehouse from ‘The Lane’ to ‘new, brighter and more commodious premises’ at ‘the recently erected Union Buildings’ at 100 Flinders Street (Argus 31 January 1922:10).The building continued to be owned by the Sunday School Union, who also used the building to house the offices of the Sunday School Union Bush Mission. Other tenants at the time included the United Agency Company (Weekly Times 26 August 1922:8).The textiles industry continued its association with the Union Building when the Bernstein coat factory opened in the building in 1935 (Age 3 April 1935:5).By 1939, the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission’s Mechanical Branch had leased the fourth floor of the Union Building (Age 1 February 1939:4). In the same year, the Sunday School Union advertised 900 feet of ‘bomb proof’ factory or warehouse space for lease in the building (Argus 3 March 1941:8).A newspaper article in 1952 informed readers that the Sunday School Union’s policy had undergone a complete revision, including the adoption of a new set of Articles of Association that allowed all seven denominations to become members of the union council. All seven denominations were thus engaged in Sunday school and Christian youth work, and teacher and leadership training (Age 13 September 1952:16).The same article noted that the union’s ‘fine headquarters’ at 100 Flinders Street consisted of two buildings, one with six and the other with five floors. The ground floor suite of administration offices had recently been remodelled and redecorated (Age 13 September 1952:16). This is the first reference to the fact that the Sunday School Union of Victoria occupied two buildings in Flinders Street and may indicate that the Union had taken over the next-door five-storey Dreman Building at 96-98 Flinders Street by this year.The Union Building at 100-102 Flinders Street has continued to be used for a number of industrial and commercial uses over the years (Figure 1).The building was refurbished and subdivided into a mix of residential and commercial units in 1996.Figure 1. An aerial showing 100-102 Flinders Street, an extract from Aerial View of Melbourne, 1928, by Victorian Railways. (Source: STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA )REFERENCESAge, as cited.Argus, as cited.Australasian, as cited.Banner, as cited.Context Pty Ltd 2012, Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Curiosmith Gospel Heritage Literature 2017, ‘London Sunday School Union’, http://curiosmith.com/index.php/publishers/209-london-sunday-school-union, accessed 5 June 2017.Dingle, Tony 2008, ‘Manufacturing’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00896b.htm, accessed 13 June 2017.Fels, M, Lavelle S, and Mider, D 1993, ‘Archaeological Management Plan’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.May, Andrew 2008, ‘Flinders Lane’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00586b.htm, accessed 13 June 2017.O’Connor, T Maxwell 2008, ‘Sunday Schools’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01447b.htm, accessed 5 June 2017.Victorian Railways 1928, ‘Aerial View of Melbourne’, State Library of Victoria (SLV) Victorian Railways collection. Scenic negatives, accessed 22 June 2017.Weekly Times, as cited..DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1915100 Edwards & Co Pty Ltd, tea , coffee, & cocoa merchantsLothian, Thos, (''Pty Ltd, ....Standard ( The) Publishing Co Pty LtdLothian, Thomas C., pub li sherNelson, Thomas, & Sons, publishersStandard Supplies CoThe St. Abbs PressThe Aust mnfrng & imprtng Co LtdFraser & Co, indentors
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1210465
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 104027 | 1 PDF : 1,292 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |