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Clapp and W G Sprigg's shop and residence row, 209-215 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme01/01/1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

01/01/1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 101133

Level of description:

Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)

Type of materials:

Graphic materials

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:

Period: VictorianNotable Features: Relates to 201-207; 215 shopfront c1915 - 1920.ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEW.STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEWHAT IS SIGNIFICANTThe row of four three-storey shops/residences at 209-215 Bourke Street, and built in 1876, issignificant.HOW IT IS SIGNIFICANT209-215 Bourke Street is of local historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Melbourne. It is alsoa representative example of a row of shops/residences from the late Victorian period, and hasresearch value as an archaeological site.WHY IT IS SIGNIFICANT209-215 Bourke Street is historically significant as a mid Victorian building that represents a keyphase in the development of Melbourne when increasing numbers of investors developed retailpremises in the city during the building boom of the 1870s and 1880s. Built in 1876 for investmentpartners F B Clapp and W G Sprigg, who developed up to 12 similar properties along Bourke Streetbetween 1873 and 1885, 209-215 Bourke Street is typical of retail buildings of the Victorian era thathoused retail outlets at ground level with residences and workspaces for business-owners providedon the floors above. (Criterion A)209-215 Bourke Street is part of the archaeological resources of the central city. These sites have thepotential to contain relics and archaeological deposits. It is assumed that such deposits have thepotential to yield knowledge not available from other sources, and that may contribute meaningfully toour understanding of the occupation and settlement of Melbourne. Evidence on other archaeologicalsites has shown that there is also potential for Aboriginal sites to exist in relatively undisturbed areas.(Criterion C)209-215 Bourke Street is a representative example of a row of shops with residences above built inthe mid-Victorian era and characterised by rich decoration. Built as one unified arrangement withItalianate influences, the upper façade of the four shops retains the classical styling typical of theperiod where flat wall space was diminished to a bare minimum in favour of decorative stuccoelements. (Criterion D)The building retains its Victorian characteristics including an elaborate classically styled upper façade.Attributes include a balustraded parapet is intersected by engaged pilasters which run the full heightof the upper façade, and extend to the parapet, marking out the four shops in the row. Ball finialswere originally located over each pilaster but are no longer intact. The composition is enhanced by adeep cornice below the parapet with large and elaborate scroll brackets. The group is aestheticallysignificant for the consistent window arrangements that are identical on all four shops. These includeon the upper level, paired segmented arched windows have moulded arched cornices to the upperedge. On the mid-level, a single rounded arched window has a decorative moulded arched cornice.(Criterion E).CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSITE HISTORYThe land at 209-215 Bourke Street, part of the Crown Allotment 13, Block 11, was purchased byThomas Walker, merchant, banker and benefactor, after his arrival in Melbourne in 1837. It was oneof four Bourke Street allotments Walker owned (Joy 1967). In the 1850s, four commercial andresidential buildings owned by G K Johnston, auctioneer, were in existence on the subject land (Bibbs1856; RB 1873-4).Replacing the earlier buildings, the current four shops with dwellings above were erected in 1876 forthe investment partnership of F B Clapp and W G Sprigg (RB 1876). Each of the three-storey brickshops, constructed for Clapp and Sprigg by builder James Moore at 209-215 Bourke Street, had aground retail space and a five room residence on the upper levels (RB 1876-7). The adjoining row offour shops and dwellings at 201-207 Bourke Street, completed two years earlier for Clapp and Spriggby the same builder, were constructed in the same manner (MCC registration no 6640, as cited in AAIrecord no 73786).William Gardiner Sprigg (1832-1926) was the Melbourne Omnibus Co’s secretary from 1868 until hewas appointed assistant manager in 1890, and by 1909 he had become a director following theresignation of H A Wilcox. Sprigg was engaged with the operation of the Melbourne Omnibus Co untilit dissolved due to liquidation in the late 1910s (Argus 14 June 1919:10; 16 October 1920:20).With his colleague at the Melbourne Omnibus Co, Francis Boardman Clapp (1833-1920), Sprigg wasinvolved in developing at least 12 other premises along Bourke Street between 1873 and 1885,including the rows of shop and dwellings at 146-150 and 201-207 Bourke Street (also part of thisstudy) (MCC registration no 6299, 1054 & 5597, as cited in AAI Index record no 76823, 73836 &73774; RB 1874-1877).Clapp and Sprigg held the subject properties for no longer than two years. Between 1876 and 1927,the City of Melbourne rate books noted that the owners were the executors of the late Mrs MarthaMcIntosh (RB 1877-1926). With the last life tenant dying in 1926, as instructed in Mrs McIntosh’s will,the subject property which was valued at £50,000 at the time was passed to the Royal MelbourneHospital (Age 23 June 1926:13). In 1926, the four shops produced an income of £2,827 per annum(Age 23 June 1926:13).The first tenants of the shops at 209 to 215 Bourke Street, respectively, were Mrs E G Abbott,confectioner; Mrs F Shuttleworth, fruiterer; Downie Brothers, tailors; and C Hoffman, tobacconist(S&Mc 1876-7).The shops were then occupied by businesses including manufacturers and retailers. In 1900, the twoshops at 209-211 Bourke Street were occupied by Mary Williams’s luncheon room, and in the early1910s, the three shops 209-213 were merged into one for the Posner Bros, jewellers, who formerlyran a same named shoe and boot manufacturing business at the shops at number 209 and 207 in theearly 1900s (S&Mc 1901-1904). According to the City of Melbourne Fire Survey plans published andedited during the 1910s, not only were the shops internally merged, but the shop fronts at 209-213Bourke Street were extensively altered at this time to include a central doorway and large windows onboth sides (Mahlstedt Map Section 1 No 11, 1910).Posner Bros leased the properties until the mid-1920s when the building was again refurbished tohouse four shops (Mahlstedt 1910; Mahlstedt 1925; RB 1891-1920). From the early 1910s, a mercershop, operated by G Mountford Jnr, son of George Mountford, hatter, at the neighbouring building at205 Bourke Street, occupied 215 Bourke Street (S&Mc 1915-1930). In 1942, the same business wasstill trading in the shop (Figure 128) (S&Mc 1942).In July 1938, 209-215 Bourke Street was auctioned. The property was withdrawn without a bidder andwas still owned by the hospital in 1945. It was during the 1950s that it came into the possession of theMelbourne City Council (RB 1945-50; Age 8 July 2000;45).Throughout the rest of the twentieth century, the subject property was leased to retailers, and nowcontains two shops (CoMMaps). Today, the shops at number 209-211 remain interconnected with theneighbouring shops at 205-207 Bourke Street.See Figure 128. 209-215 Bourke Street in the 1940s. Wall painted signage for G Mountford junior’s mercer shop is at215 Bourke Street. (Source: Commercial Photographic Co c1940s, State Library of Victoria)REFERENCESAge, as cited.Argus, as cited.Australian Architectural Index (AAI), as cited. Copyright Miles Lewis.Cannon, Michael 1995, The Land Boomers, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, retrieved fromGoogle Books 2013, https://books.google.com.au/, accessed online 24 March 2018.City of Melbourne Interactive Maps (CoMMaps) 2017, http://maps.melbourne.vic.gov.au/, accessedMarch 2018.City of Melbourne Municipal Rate Books (RB), as cited.Commercial Photographic Co c1940s, ‘205-215 Bourke Street, Melbourne, Victoria’, State Library ofVictoria (SLV): Harold Paynting collection, accessed online 22 March 2018.Context Pty Ltd 2012, Thematic History: A History of the City of Melbourne’s Urban Environment,prepared for the City of Melbourne.Hone, J Ann 1969, ‘Clapp, Francis Boardman (1833–1920)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography,National Centre of Biography, Volume 3, Australian National University, originally published 1969,http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography, accessed online 7 March 2018.Joy, W 1967, ‘Walker, Thomas (1804–1886)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre ofBiography, Volume 2, Australian National University, originally published 1967,http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography, accessed online 7 March 2018.Lovell Chen 2017, ‘Melbourne Planning Scheme Amendments C271 and C301 – Guildford andHardware Laneways Heritage’, prepared for the City of Melbourne.Mahlstedt, G 1910, Index to City of Melbourne detail fire survey, Mahlstedt, Melbourne.Mahlstedt's Pty Ltd 1925 City of Melbourne detail fire survey. Section 1, Mahlstedt Pty Ltd,Melbourne.Young and Spearritt 2008, ‘Department Stores’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical and PhilosophicalStudies, The University of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/, accessed 16 June 2017.Sands & McDougall, Melbourne and Suburban Directories (S&Mc), as cited.

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesMid-late Victorian period (1875-1900)Retail trade

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1180289