The Age Chambers, 239 Collins Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
The Age Chambers, 239 Collins Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 110857
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: 1930-1;ASSOCIATIONS: David Syme Trustees;DESIGNER: Godfrey & Spowers;BUILDER: E. A. WattsPeriod: Inter-War________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM___________________________BUILDING IDEAS (CSR) March 196567 The Age 233 Collins Street -Godfrey Spowers, Huges, Mewton and LobbThe R.V.I.A. Small Homes Service is located on the mezzanine floor. "The Age" has sponsored this service since its inception. The Chair of Architecture at theUniversity of Melbourne is also endowed by "The Age."___________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATION INDEX233-239 Collins Street1916-1930 May 31, 12398, £4000, erection of building1931 Feb 12853, £1780, erection of shopfront 237-239___________________________Victorian Heritage Inventory H7822-1800Part The Block precinct HO502Within this precinct may be found not only the heart of Victorian Melbourne's most fashionable retail area but also the beginnings of its "Chicago end" along Swanston Street. "Doing the Block", a term coined to describe the popular pastime amongst Melbourne's middle classes of promenading outside the plush retail and accessory stores, reached its height in the boom years of the 1880s. The tradition of arcaded shopping was borrowed from nearby Royal Arcade and became a marked feature of this precinct. Block Arcade (1891-93), Centreway Arcade (1913), Block Court (1930), Manchester Unity Arcade (1932), and the Century Arcade (1938-40), as well as the more recent Sportsgirl arcade, testify to the continued popularity of this form. The precinct contains a great number of significant and architecturally impressive buildings dating from the boom years of the nineteenth century through to the period immediately prior to the 1939-45 war. The Elizabeth Street end is dominated by the smaller buildings of the earlier period whereas along Swanston Street may be found the Manchester Unity Building, the Capitol Theatre and the Century Arcade, all based on precedents found in Chicago at the time, and all pushed to the maximum height limit of 132 feet that existed in Melbourne until the building of the CRA building in 1962.___________________________NEWSPAPERS:1931https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203025244 illustThe Age" ChambersNew Building in Collins StreetModem Offices in Utilitarian Style"The Age" Chambers, an eight- storey block of modern offices adjoining the "The Age" Office in Collins-street, has been designed and constructed in utilitarian style, of steel and reinforced concrete throughout. Work was commenced on the structure in July of last year, providing employment for a considerable number of craftsmen and laborers at a time when courage in enterprise is the test of civic stability. The new building has been carried out in Renaissance style, following the lines of the old one, above whose height the plain shaft is superimposed by a truly characteristic Renaissance entablature, with bold projecting cornice to produce a heavy shadow on the plainer shaft below. Internally the efficient equipment and very complete lighting and ventilation make these chambers a worthy addition to the central plan of Melbourne's architecture.Erected for the trustees of the late David Syme, the building was constructed by Messrs. Godfrey and Spowers, architects, and Mr. E. A. Watts, builder. The basement was excavated to the level of the machine rooms in the main building. A heavy party wall was cut away and carried on steel girders and stanchions along the entire length of the basement, to allow the presses to deliver papers on to a conveyor, which runs from front to rear, and now terminates at the ground floor level in a covered right of way, where delivery will take place instead of across Collins- street. Thus the whole direction of publishing has been reversed.The Old Building.The construction of the new building, whose third floor is connected with the main building in which ''The Age" and The Leader" are published, will carry back the minds of many Melbourne residents to 1879, in February of which year "The Age" Office was removed from Elizabeth-street to its present site. Originally this newspaper of stirring vicissitudes printed its first number in 17th October, 1854, in a building, erected in William- street, near the existing site of the Mint. When the Collins-street building was re-constructed in 1899 the frontage of the old building was doubled, and the Italian Reanaissance, in which style the facade was designed, has made of the existing office a landmark among city, buildings. The central arch marked the division of the old and exist- ing structures. It was on the completion of this work that the bronze figure of Mercury, which inevitably catches the eye of most visitors to Melbourne, was placed in position. At night this sculptured image, a reproduction of the statue by John of Bologna, now holds aloft an electric globe which illuminates the en- tablature.Alteration of the old building to allow of extension of publishing activities into the basement of "TheAge" Chambers will, within six weeks or two months develop a scheme of newspaper delivery into the right of way off Manchester-lane which will represent the very latest method in equipment In no branch of mechanical progress has there been such steady and constant improvement as in printing machinery the proprietors of "The Age" were the first to introduce into Australia a machine which not only printed the continuous web of newsprint; but also folded the paper ready for distribution. Coincident with the completion of the main "Age" building 32 years ago, the Hoe sextuple press was brought Australia, having a productive power six times as great as the old style machines, with a capacity of 72,000 8-page papers per hour. If the paper used on that machine were unwound it would have stretched for the full width of two pages of "The Age" over a distance of 57 miles. The latest great Crab- tree press, which is to-day the proud exhibit among the six presses in "The Age" machine room, will print and fold 60,000 20-page papers per hour, while another Crabtree and the Hoe machines will publish 60,000 papers of 16 pages per hour. It may be readily understood that this production involves an efficient scheme of wrapping and delivery, which, however, is actually simple in its complexity. Under the existing system conveyors from the various machines "feed" the publishing tables below the surface of the street on the Collins-street side of the building. The new publishing room in the basement will house a conveyor running the length of the room, about 100 feet, which, rising at an angle of 45 degrees to the despatch room on the south- western corner of the building, is calculated to facilitate handling and develop even greater speed in delivery. A tunnel has also been constructed below the basement floors to provide service from one of the machines on the eastern side of the building. Stapling and guillotine machines used m the publication of "The Leader" will also be accommodated in the new basement.Lifts That Collect by Control. Entrance to "The Age" Chambers is made through the old Permanent Building Society corridor, which has been remodelled and connected to a spacious lift hall. This corridor is tiled with Australian tiles attractively, mid has a dado of Buchan marble, the walls of textured plaster and ceilings modelled in fibrous plaster. The floors are served by two high-speed lifts, installed by Johns and Waygood Ltd. One of the lift cars which were built by J. Kannuluik, is switch- controlled. The other is automatic, with a system of collector control - the first of its Extension of "The Age" Building, with New Offices and Shops on the Right. Help Extension of "The Age" Building, with New Offices and Shops on the Right. kind in Melbourne — which ingeniously collects passengers between floors after the lift, has been set in motion from top to bottom. These lift cars are built of figured Queensland maple panels. Tenants' requirements have been considered in the scheme of subdivision and fitments.The ground floor shop fronting Collins-street will be occupied by the Booklovers' Library, and is provided with a mezzanine gallery above the level of the street. Six other shops open on to Manchester-lane. A plan showing the disposition of the offices on the upper floors is available at the premises of C. J. and T. Ham Pty. Ltd., the actual partitioning on each floor having been left in abeyance until the requirements of tenants are finally known. Access on the third floor of the building has been provided from the second floor of "The Age" Office into retiring and smoking rooms for the proprietors and staff, and into .now etching and camera rooms. . Australian Materials. Throughout the building Australian materials have been used, ranging from the steel produced by the Broken Hill Proprietary, to the bricks supplied by the Northcote Brick Co. Ltd. It is not an exaggeration to say that no other building of reasonable size .in Melbourne has been built and equipped so completely out of Australian materials. Cement Distributors Pty. Ltd. contracted for the supply of "Goliath" cement. The Australian General Electric Company was responsible for the conduit and frosted lamps, while the British General Electric Co. supplied shades and switches, and W. T. Hen- ley's Telegraph Works Co. Ltd. provided the main cables and wiring. Mr. C. W. Norris, of the Morris Electric Co. Pty. Ltd., who supplied other fittings in the lighting system, assisted ''The Age" staff of elec-- tricians in the electrical installation work. Noyes Bros. (Melb.) Pty. Ltd. provided large switches and material for making switchboards. Steel girders and stanchions in the main structure were the product of Australian Iron and Steel Ltd., and the fabric for walls and floors came from Australian Reinforced Concrete Engineering Co. Pty- Ltd. De Marco Brothers laid the terrazzo floors and stairway surfaces. The metal windows are the manufacture of the Crittall Company (Australia) Pty. Ltd. C. J. White and Sons Pty. Ltd. supplied the wrought iron balustrading and other fittings, while the shop front work, short cases and stall lights were carried out by T. S. Gill and Son Pty. Ltd. John Danks and Son Pty. Ltd. completed the sewerage fittings with manufactures from their own factory in Melbourne. The weather-proof roofing material was supplied by Ormonoid Roofing and Asphalts Ltd. Taubman's paints and stains wore used in the decorative finishing within the new building. All the linoleums, which are Australian-made, were supplied by Buckley and Nunn Ltd., Burns, Philp and Co. Ltd., and Hicks, Atkinson and Sons Pty. Ltd. Excellent Workmanship. To have carried to completion this difficult work of construction and reconstruction has called for a good deal of tact and consideration. So as not to interfere with the working of "The Age" in its almost continuous activities, it was found necessary daily to erect and dismantle platforms connecting the two buildings. It says much for the common sense and give-and-take qualities of the Australian workman that those make shift arrangements were undertaken without friction. Credit is due to the builder, Mr. Watts, for a job well done. An average of 150 men was employed on the work throughout, and the skill and energy demonstrated by them augurs well for a revival in the building trade generally, which will in the not far distant future characterise Australia's restoration to nor- mal prosperity. Publishing and Distributing "The Age." The provision of facilities for speedier publishing and distribution of "The Age" under the new building scheme emphasises the organisation and care necessary in this department ot production. More than 90 per cent, of "The Age" copies are delivered daily to the home. Papers are sent all over Australia by almost every means of transport known, the aeroplane being used in urgent cases for the special delivery of single copies. They are sent outback by post, to England, Canada, America, France, South Africa, _________________________DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1935229 Ronalds Central Pty Ltd. florists233-239 AGE CHAMBERS—"AGE, THE," and ,"THE LEADER"233-5 David Syme & Co, proprietorsS I( ME, DAVID, & CO233-5 Proprietors of "The Age" and "TheLeader"239 Godfrey & Spowers, architects239 Edgar, R. T. & Son, est agents239 Dower, Miss M., frocks239 Zimmers, tlrs239 Sydney Newspapers Ltd239 West, F. IL, estate agent239 Bysouth, Miss E., milliner239 Payne & Dale, architects239 Seabrook, N. A.,. architect239 Doyle, V., solicitor239 Burns, P., financier239 Mathieson, C. H., chiropractor239 Straton, J. F., & Co, est agents239 Murray, Jno., accountant239 Wright, E. C., advertising agent239 Little & Bottoms, architects239 Westf old Scott, J., & Co, accountants239 Bruce, J., Pty Ltd. estate agents239 Ferrigno, A., tailor239 Grand Victory Manfrs Pty Ltd, hrdrsrs supplies239 Sanders, Jean, estate agent239 Kauffman, J., photographer239 Antoine Studio, photographer239 Book Lovers' LibraryManchester la
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 110857 | 1 JPEG : 240 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |