Queensland Building, 84-88 William Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Queensland Building, 84-88 William Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 110150
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: 1911-1913;ASSOCIATIONS: Queensland Insurance Company;DESIGNER: Butler & Bradshaw;BUILDER: Plowman, A.C.Period: Edwardian_________________________VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER H0445What is significant?The Queensland Building was constructed in 1912-13 as the State Headquarters of the Queensland Insurance Company. Butler and Bradshaw were the architects. Walter Butler was an English architect who had been trained within the Arts and Crafts movement. The Queensland Building is a symmetrical six storey office building on a steeply sloping frontage and is constructed of brick with a sandstone veneer facade. The architectural style combines elements of classicism with the traditions of the Arts and Crafts movement. The form of the building is an exaggerated Renaissance palazzo, of a rusticated base, extended piano nobile and attic storey with a deep cornice. The two flanking oriel bays rising through three storeys of the building terminate with Ionic column loggias. The rusticated base has a giant order entrance arch and recessed entrance, creating an outdoor lobby. The stone jambs to the arch and the window openings on the ground floor are carved with flora and fauna, including depictions of roses, figs and pomegranates.How is it significant?The Queensland Building is of architectural significance to the State of Victoria.Why is it significant?The Queensland Building is architecturally significant as an expression of the changing Edwardian approach to the classical rules of architecture. The building is comparable, within the city, to the Commercial Travellers? Association Building in Flinders Street (designed by the Tompkins brothers) as an example of the Edwardian Baroque and as a revised form of the palazzo model. However, the Queensland Building also confirms architect Walter Butler?s commitment to the Arts and Crafts ideal, particularly in the highly detailed stone carvings of flora and fauna around the ground floor openings. The building is significant and unusual as an idiosyncratic design that merged the prevailing interest in classicism with the architect's interest in Arts and Crafts ideals.________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 80 and RAIA Twentieth Century Architecture Survey 1983-_______________________________________REID, KEITH & JOHN R, 1976, MELBOURNE CBD STUDY AREA 7 (source 80): 85-RECOMMENDATION: Retention of façade is recommended as important._______________________________________HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSSTATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEA Six-storey office building designed by Walter Butler and Bradshaw and constructed in 1912-13. It is an important example of the growing national interest in expressing Australian motifs in architecturefollowing Federation_______________________________________VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-1709First land sale Block 14, Allotment 1, purchased Wilson & Byrne. 1839 - garden area. 1877 - three-storey bond store, Stuart Couche. 1888 - three-storey building. 1905 - three-storey building, WH Crooker, Solicitor; DJ Toumy Wine Merchant._______________________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEX:Records 33629 Butler & Bradshaw; VIC Office Buildings 1911 Butler & Bradshaw designedQueensland Insurance Co. at 84 William St.Errey "Vic. Arch. Ornament",p 25333597 Butler & Bradshaw; VIC Office Buildings 1911 10 Butler and Bradshaw.Eight storeyed building, in William Street, Melbourne.A. G. Plowman, ?27,597.Building 12.12.1911,p 10733598 Butler & Bradshaw; VIC Office Buildings 1911 10 12 Butler & BradshawBuilder A.G.Plowman is to erect new premises for Queensland Insurance Co.in Williams Street, at a cost of ?26,797. Plans by architects Butler & Bradshaw, quantities by J. A. Wood & Son. (Victoria)Building 12.10.1911,p 2675438 Butler & Bradshaw; Queensland Insurance C o Melbourne VIC Office Buildings Plowman, A G - 49 Elizabeth St 1911 11 14 3011-MCC registration no 3011 [Burchett Index]. Fee 6.0.0reinforced concrete office building_______________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1913The Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954)Monday 6 January 1913 - Page 6https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/228695987MELBOURNE BUILDING STORY. (Front Our Special Representative.) MELBOURNE, Monday.There is -a new building in William-street, Melbourne. That, in Itself, is a matter- to which no good Melburnian will neglect to 'draw your attention, but it is not proposed here to weary Sydney with a .mere record of the fact The building holds some special features of Sydney interest. It Is an architectural document which tells how the -owners and the architects dodged the Brick Combine. The structure was erected for the Queensland Insurance Co. It has been built of reinforced concrete, with facings of brick and stone, and the bricks and the stone were all brought from New South Wales …Watchman (Sydney, NSW : 1902 - 1926)Thursday 16 January 1913 - Page 5https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/112377085AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISE IN THE INSURANCE WORLD.MELBOURNE'S MOST MODERN BUILDING.No branch of business in the whole world has increased more rapidly than Insurance, and it is to Australia's credit that her business men have made a notable mark in thevast world of insurance...QUEENSLAND INSURANCE CONTRIBUTORY.'S NEW BUILDING.One of these newer institutions is the Queensland Insurance Company, which started originally in Sydney in 1886, has now located itself in Melbourne...outside it is a graceful example of the Florentine Renaissance; inside it is admirably lighted and finished in the most elegant modern manner. The architects, Messrs. Butler and Bradshaw, claim it to be the most modern in its construction than any in Australia. It is, for instance, much more modern in its construction than the Equitable Buildings In Sydney and Melbourne. …
Related material link:
Names:
Topics:
Places:
Form/Genre:
Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1265328
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 110150 | 1 PDF : 1,926 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |