W. O'Donnell Engineer works, part 33-47 Batman Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
W. O'Donnell Engineer works, part 33-47 Batman Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 569275
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 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1940-1;ASSOCIATIONS: W. O'Donnell Esq.;DESIGNER: Marsh & Michaelson Architect and EngineerStyle: ModernePeriod: Inter-War___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 2015-16. WEST MELBOURNE HERITAGE REVIEW.What is significant?Building Permit Application made in 1940 for the erection of a brick factory for Mr W O'Donnell engineer to the value of ₤6450 as designed by well known architects, Marsh and Michaelson Architect and Engineer, Collins Street, Melbourne. Plans showed a large open plan factory with offices on the street front at the west end. The site had been occupied by D. Gordon, coach builder and motor body builder in the 1930s.Marsh and Michaelson designed many significant Moderne or Modernistic style buildings in the Interwar period. Founded in 1933, W. O'Donnell Engineer is still headquartered in Melbourne (as Heldon Products), and is a privately Australian owned manufacturer of components used in the commercial refrigeration and air conditioning industries.Contributory elements at 33-43 Batman Street include:parapeted face brick single storey Modernist style factory;manganese and body brickwork, with heeler bricks to wall piers;steel framed windows, with multi-pane glazing and hopper sashes set between piers;glass brick window groups;6"x6" terracotta tiles to façade (painted over) as backing to Gill Sans style metal lettering `W. O'Donnell Engineer' and applied to piers at entry;roller shutter entry to factory floor with stone kerbed crossing;gabled front roof bay, and formerly steel sawtooth trusses with matching parapets, now modified but seen in profile in part on east face; andcontribution to an Interwar industrial streetscape and precinct with factories adjoining on the west and south.A major multi-storey development, set behind the first roof bay, has been added since 1985, reducing the integrity of the place and focussing on the façade and side-wall sawtooth profile.How is it significant?The W. O'Donnell Engineer factory is significant historically and aesthetically to West Melbourne and the City of Melbourne.Why is it significant?The W. O'Donnell Engineer factory is significant.Historically, as representative of the growth in industrial and engineering uses in West Melbourne as the central business district grew, located near the railway and additional transport nodes developed at North Melbourne; andAesthetically, as a superb and well-preserved example of Moderne design by the style's renowned practitioners, Marsh and Michaelson.___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cited as Moderne in style, noted for glass bricks and tiled facade___________________________Building Permit Application1940 21632 ₤6450 erection of building: Marsh and Michaelson Architect and Engineer, Collins St, Melb. `Brick factory … Mr W O'Donnell engineer, shows large open plan with offices at front on west end. Steel-framed windows, hopper sashes, 6"x6" tiles to facade, roller shutter to main floor, glass bricks, steel sawtooth trusses, fibre cement sheet roofing, guttering.___________________________Newspapers:`The Argus' (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Monday 21 February 1949 p 13`ENGINEERS. Process Workers. Good conditions. W. O'Donnell 323 Batman street. West Melbourne.'`The Argus' (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Monday 28 March 1949 p 15`PRESS HANDS. Good wages and conditions, w. O'Donnell. 323 Batman street. West Melbourne.'___________________________Zoominfo web site, 2015`Heldon Products25 Tullamarine Park RoadTullamarine, Victoria 3043Heldon Products was founded in 1933 as W. O'Donnell Engineer, headquartered in Melbourne Australia, and is still a privately Australian owned manufacturer of components used in the commercial refrigeration and air conditioning industries. The company is now marketing its products worldwide to leading original equipment manufacturers of refrigeration systems and wholesalers of commercial and air conditioning products. Heldon now has manufacturing locations in Melbourne Australia, China and Thailand.'___________________________Victorian Heritage DatabaseMarsh and Michaelson:`GLENFERRIE OVAL GRANDSTAND, 34 LINDA CRESCENT HAWTHORN, Boroondara City, Completed in 1938, the Glenferrie Oval Grandstand was built more than a decade after the Hawthorn Football Club was admitted to the Victorian Football League …'___________________________City of Stonnington web site 2015Coolullah and Quamby Avenues Precinct`The Coolullah Avenue roadway was completed by Council in May 1936 and by December of that year 'Staunton' flats had been erected at 1 Coolullah Avenue (8). Development of flats had begun slightly earlier on Williams Road, with Graceville Flats at no.249 and Vaughan Flats at no.251 first listed in 1929 directories. Building activity progressed rapidly so that by the end of 1938, flats had been completed at nos. 3-5, 4, 6, 7 and 19-23. In the same year prominent architectural firm Marsh and Michaelson designed the block of flats at 2 Coolullah Avenue (10). Substantial villas had also been built at 11 and 13 Collullah Avenue, the former to a design by noted architect Geoffrey Sommers (11).THE ALEXANDRA AVENUE PRECINCT 2011`Another block of flats at 83 Alexandra Avenue, South Yarra was constructed in 1941, possibly todesigns by architects, Marsh & Michaelson. It is currently included in HO122'___________________________St Kilda Historical Society web site 2015`Surrey Court, 71 Ormond Road, Elwood'`...In St Kilda, Old English was a fashionable and romantic style for flats, from 1919-41: a cheery tonic after the rigours of the Great War. The earliest, pioneering the style in Victoria, was Arthur Plaisted’s Hampden, 74 Barkly Street of 1919-20, well before Liberty’s in London and contemporary with Bournville. He followed this with Hartpury Court, 11 Milton Street (1923), and the Tudoresque, Le Chateau flats in 1925. Next, chronologically, is Surrey Court, then Askolat, 301 Carlisle Street, by Leslie J.W.Reed (1934); 628 St Kilda Road, by Marsh & Michaelson (1936)…'___________________________MMBWDP c1895: shown as row house pair 319-321 and building group to west (325) set well back, adjoining `paper mills' further to west.___________________________1945 Aerial ImagesShown as original sawtooth.___________________________Heritage Places Inventory June 201533-47 Batman StreetB-___________________________i-Heritage search resultsMarsh & MichaelsonA.N.A. Building, 28 TO 32 ELIZABETH STREET MELBOURNE 3000: Marsh and Michaelson'sTheosophical Society Building, 181 TO 187 COLLINS STREET;Montgomery flats, 106 W TO 110 W TOORAK ROAD SOUTH YARRA Marsh & Michaelson.i-Heritage search results: Abstract of Building Identification Form, [BIF]33 TO 47 BATMAN STREET WEST MELBOURNE 3003Heritage GradingsBuilding Grading Streetscape Level Laneway LevelB 2Central Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 AdoptedArchitectural Style ModerneIntegrity GoodCondition GoodOriginal Building Type FactoryDescription/Notable FeaturesNotable features include unpainted decorative brickwork. Glass bricks / tiles.Recommended AlterationsNew entry glass screen ( inappropriate - reinstate sympathetic alternative or reinstate original design.___________________________City of Melbourne Municipal rate books [RB]1937,1781 Gordon, Daniel & Douglas 317-25 B warehouse, 99x165 ₤3501788 Donnell, William Michael, at 23, 25 Franklin Pl 2x B w'shops 33x72, 70x50, ₤180/140.1930, 2046-Excelsior Manfg Wks x-out, Gordon Bros, Daniel & Douglas 317-325 B warehouse 99x165 ₤400___________________________Sands & McDougall Directory of Victoria1942BATMANS SIDE319-325 O'Donnell, W., engineer327-29 Excelsior Can Works, canister mkrs1935315 Atchison, Bernard319-323 Gordon, D., mtr body bldr327-329 Excelsior Manfg Wks, canister mfrs.1930S SIDEOff 415 King st301 Longland, Arth. G.303 Wrout, Herbt305 Phillips, Ernest307 Dew, Oliver E.309 Kennedy, Thomas311 Farmer, John313 Smalinsky, Will315 Bonfield, Stanley A.319-323 Gordon, D., chbldr & mtr body bid:327-329 Excelsior Manfg Wks, canister mfr;335 Moore, Leslie339 Keep Bros. & Wood Pt y Ltd, hrdwr merchsSpencer st
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Research and reports
Record number:
1267519
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 569275 | 1 PDF : 319 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |