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Lloyd Brothers and Maginnis and Eliza Tinsley Building, 640-652 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 101168

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:

Notable features include: Leadlight top lights to entry and one shopfront.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryDescribed on the contract drawings as `addition,' the 1923 design by architect, Robert Sloan, totally transformed the public view of this warehouse. The work was carried out for tanners, Lloyd Brothers & Maginnis and involved the superposition of two upper levels upon the original ground-level of c1900. This was a segment-arched arcade, arranged in two major bays, each possessing an entrance, central to the composition. This in turn was extended as a major vertical element, in the upper facade, to a raised parapet entablature. The two entry bays differed in width, (one a carriageway, the other via a solid panelled door), and consequently their extensions in the upper levels were also of different widths. A roller-shuttered subsidiary carriage entrance existed on the west. Only the last entrance has survived.Inside were two new herringbone-strutted timber floors and a similarly constructed roof deck, also minor concrete slab areas. Both occupiers, Eliza Tinsley, Pty. Ltd., iron and steel merchants, and Lloyd Brothers, chrome patent leather manufacturers, had been at this address since c1905, and remained so into the 1970s.Lloyd Brothers (G E & L R Lloyd) and Maginnis (James) began, in 1870, as simply Lloyd Brothers, at the rural town of Broadford. They then processed around 25 hides per week, expanding to some 300 hides by this century. Their cousin, Maginnis, joined them in 1886, heralding the manufacture of enamelled and patent leathers used in coach building, saddlery, harness, boots and shoes, both for the local market (including large railways department contracts) and overseas. Their brand was an LBM, set within a diamond.The Broadford factory became larger and premises were established at Lloyd Street, Kensington, for the warehousing of skins and hides from the nearby Melbourne abattoirs. Direction of the enterprise, however, issued from Bourke Street, where they proudly occupied no less than 25,000 square feet site area. Between these two Melbourne buildings passed some 25,000 sheepskin bales, 3400 wool bales, 200 bales of rabbit skins and300 tons of lard.The Lloyds' relationship with Eliza Tinsley began in 1870, when L.R. Lloyd undertook to manage the new Melbourne arm of this established British machinery and iron and steel distributors. With the massive withdrawal of English capital from the Colony in the early 1890s, Tinsley also withdrew, selling the Australian business to Lloyd Brothers in 1892. Tinsleys sold nails, chains, rivets and engineering tools internationally from the 1920s, servicing the needs of implement makers, coach builders, contractors, engineers and blacksmiths.DescriptionA face red brick and stuccoed former warehouse, comprising two upper levels, one mezzanine level and one ground level. The facade is parapeted after a conservative (and late) Edwardian Baroque manner with ox-bow parapet entablatures raised above facade bays which extend to ground level. The string mould and cornice both have closely set brackets, the parapet entablature is panelled and urns still ornament the piers which protrude above the parapet level.Leaded-light and copper framed shopfronts survive in part at ground level, with the words `Eliza Tinsley', faintly painted in gold, above the main entrance. This entrance is recessed and approximates half an octagon in plan. The pressed metal soffits survive, as does some gold window painting and lacquered door joinery. Dressed basalt piers frame the building entrance.The design resembles an austere version of Edwardian warehouse designs by the Tompkins Brothers, built in Flinders Street and Flinders Lane.External Integrity(Given that the shopfronts were replaced at an early date) the shopfront windows have been painted over. The eastern-most shopfront has been replaced with aluminium and an illuminated sign, albeit an old one, added to the upper facade.StreetscapeCommencing at Spencer Street, the grand Edwardian Mail Exchange, and extending through to the more modest 632-634 Bourke Street, the Edwardian flavour is ever present, particularly the Baroque revival, similarly the common building use from 640 onwards to the west is a unifying factor.SignificanceA well preserved and substantial warehouse design, set in a near intact late 19th and early 20th century streetscape, which has strong associations with a major Victorian leather manufacturer and more distant links with the old British hardware firm, Eliza Tinsley.FURTHER REFERENCES: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,p26;City of Melbourne Building Permit ApplicationApplication Number 5890, 1923VICTORIA HERITAGE DATABASENational Trust of Australia (Vic)A three-storey brick warehouse built in 1925 for the hardware and machinery merchants Eliza Tinsley and Co who had occupied the site since 1900. Prior to that it contained the Centennial Coffee Palace. The warehouse was designed by architect Robert Sloan and continued the tradition of large warehouse associated with agricultural machinery established in the western end of Bourke Street in the 1870s.Classified: 06/06/1994HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSA three-storey brick warehouse built in 1925 for the hardware and machinery merchants Eliza Tinsley and Co who had occupied the site since 1900. Prior to that it contained the Centennial Coffee Palace. The warehouse was designed by architect Robert Sloan and continued the tradition of large warehouses associated with agricultural machinery established in the western end of Bourke Street in the 1870s.

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesFederation/Edwardian styleLeadlightsBrickWarehouses1900-1909

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1188290