Central Mission Girls' Hostel or Princess Mary Club, 118-122 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Central Mission Girls' Hostel or Princess Mary Club, 118-122 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105760
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 2022:__________________________________________________Style: Neo-TudorPeriod: Inter-WarDATE: 1926-;ASSOCIATIONS: Central Methodist Mission;DESIGNER: Eggleston, Alec S.;BUILDER: Wright, J S GIMAGES: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7849945@N02/albums/72157663758145779.Melbourne Central Activities District (CAD) Conservation Study 1985Statement of SignificanceHistoryDenominational charitable bodies, such as the Methodist Home Mission Department (1875 - ), evolved in parallel with Victoria's increasing urbanization as the 19th century advanced. Many were created just to serve the central city. The Central Methodist Mission commenced at Wesley Church in the depression of 1893, under Rev A R Edgar, specifically to combat the urban evils, resulting from unemployment, alcohol, gambling and opium, found in the streets of Melbourne. The mission took charge of the South Yarra refuge for fallen women in 1895, a similar institution at Fairfield and other institutions helping homeless men and boys, inebriates and drug addicts. The Princess Mary Club was built as a preventative adjunct to this work, providing a 'home away from home' for country girls working in the city. The Rev. Dr S J Hoban was the instigator of the project which cost around 35,000 pounds when complete. Alec S Eggleston was the architect and J S G Wright the builder. A S & R A Eggleston also designed an additional floor set back from Lonsdale Street, in 1939, as envisaged in the original scheme. The builder was E A Watts and the contract signed January 1940. An unusual aspect of the original four level reinforced concrete building was the extensive motor show room occupying the ground level, Lonsdale Street frontage and entered through wide Gothic style doors. Behind the show room was a large garage and car wash: the combinations of dedicatedly ecclesiastical architecture and pragmatic commercial sense showing a truly novel approach to charitable works. The hostel itself occupied a comparatively minute and totally separate part of the ground floor, as an entrance hall, but the first floor was proposed as vastly different. An extensive lounge, with leaded domes set into the ceiling, paneled dado's and mouldings, a dining hall and private dining room, matron and sisters' quarters and offices all followed the promise of the exterior.….DescriptionThe building is, externally, executed in a Modern Tudor in an apparent attempt to blend with the old Gothic revival complex adjoining. To achieve this, Tudor hood moulds, oriel and lancet windows, top casement sashes, quatrefoils, and basket-arched doorways were contrived in cement. Retail was focused at the main entry points, both commercial (Lonsdale Street) and ecclesiastical, (facing the Church), whilst upper levels were relatively austere, with implied rather than actual detail. Internally, the entrance lobby retains some of its dark wood paneling and an old lift car, but little remains of the motor car retailing carried out by W T Cottman in the 1930s as, for that matter, the Central Mission Carpark which was presumably at the rear, as 124 Lonsdale Street. In their place, there are now small retail shops and, towards the rear of the building, kitchens and common rooms now occupy the car wash. At first level, the balcony and leaded light doors, which face Lonsdale Street, survive from the earlier lounge area and the dome now sits incongruously over a false ceiling, not above the first floor but above ground level, at a point which was evidently at the rear of the car showrooms.External IntegrityThe heavy twin-light doors into the former showroom are now single fixedpanes and openings on the east side ground-level have been closed in.Internally, the austere upper levels survive in part, but main communalrooms appear to have been altered. Shops now occupy the showroom andcommon rooms, the carwash; the large leaded dome has been sheeted overfrom underneath.StreetscapeServes as a graduation from the low scale Church complex to, the commercialstreetscape adjoining, it shares a Medieval inspiration with the complex,if not its scale and materials. The side entrance and lobby, in particular, evoke an ecclesiastical character.SignificancePart of the continuing development of the site for inner city Mission purposes, a successful and surprising integration of two now contradictory uses with a third existing use on the site and, generally a component essay in Modern (or neo) Tudor and a satisfaction of the need for a contextual design..VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER H0012https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/773Statement of SignificanceWhat is significant?The Wesley Church and Wesley Mission Victoria Complex in Lonsdale Street consists of ten buildings including: The Church (1858); The Manse (1859); and The School House (1859) all designed by Joseph Reed; a Caretakers Cottage (1914); the Princess Mary Club (1926), designed by AS Eggleston and Nicholas Hall (1938), designed by Harry Norris. The North Boundary wall along Little Lonsdale St (1869) incorporates remnants of a stables and also includes a section which was rebuilt in 1914 during the construction of the Caretakers Cottage. The Lonsdale Street boundary is defined by a set of basalt central gateposts, the basalt plinths of a cast iron palisade fence and the bases of a smaller set of gates which led to the Manse(1873). Standing in the forecourt of the church is a bronze statue of John Wesley by Paul Montford (1936). The Methodist Church has had a presence in Melbourne since the beginning of European occupation and the Wesley Church has been at this site since 1858 having moved from a site in Collins Street. The Wesley Church complex has been the core of Wesleyan Methodism in Victoria since this time and the headquarters of the Wesley Mission Victoria since 1893.How is it significant?The Wesley Church and Wesley Mission Victoria Complex is of historical, architectural and social significance to the State of Victoria.Why is it significant?The Wesley Church complex is of architectural and historical significance as a complete and substantial collection of related mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth century ecclesiastical buildings.The principal group of 1858-59 buildings (Church, School House and Manse) are of architectural significance as the earliest intact church complex in the state. Conceived and completed as a single building project, the 1858-59 buildings are also architecturally significant as an early and essentially intact group of ecclesiastical buildings designed in a correct Gothic Revival Style. This group of buildings is of architectural significance as being the work of noted nineteenth century Melbourne architect Joseph Reed. The School House is of architectural significance as the only known Denominational school in Victoria designed by an architect.The Wesley church is of architectural significance as an early and highly accomplished example of Gothic Revival styling and for the unusual combination of a gallery on all sides with a cruciform floor plan. The spire is the oldest surviving, and is believed to be the first, spire built in Victoria. The spire is also significant as having been a major landmark in nineteenth century Melbourne.The Wesley Church is of architectural significance, representing the acceptance of the Gothic Revival style into the mainstream of Wesleyan and other non-conformist churches.Nicholas Hall is of architectural significance as a fine and intact example of a church hall designed in a Moderne style and as the work of prominent interwar architect Harry Norris.The Wesley Church complex is of historical significance as a major focus for Methodists in Victoria. The church itself has a symbolic position and prominence in the history of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Victoria.The site and complex are of social and historical significance for their long association with various welfare initiatives and programs since the 1850s, in particular those of the Wesley Mission Victoria.The Wesley Church site is of historical significance for its associations with A M & G R Nicholas, founders of the Nicholas Chemical Manufacturing Company who had a longstanding philanthropic association with the Wesley Church.The Princess Mary Club is of historical significance in the history of women's employment in Victoria as a rare surviving example of a 1920s hostel for young women coming to the city to work and study, enabling the greater inclusion of women in the workforce.The School House is of historical significance as a representative example of a nineteenth century denominational school.The School House is of social significance as housing the offices of the Wesley Mission Victoria when it was established in 1893..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 77, page 75;.DARYL JACKSON EVAN WALKER ARCHITECTS PTY. LTD 1976 FOR HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL; MELBOURNE: THE AREA BOUNDED BY VICTORIA, SPRING, LONSDALE AND SWANSTON STS (source 77)Building Name Princess Mary ClubAddress 118-122 Lonsdale StreetDate Built 1926...Original UseHostelHistorical1 The site of the steam dye works of John Robertson dating from the 1870s. Owned by the Trustees of the Wesley Church and used as a Methodist Mission Girls Hostel from 1927 (1).2 Architectural2.1 Foundation stone laid in 1926 and completed by 1927(1)..Save PMC campaign, 2015Sophie Patterson Nicholas descendent (great granddaughter) says Nicholas donated money for this building as well as the hall?.Newspapers:The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Wednesday 17 November 1926 - Page 13https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202216436PRINCESS MARY CLUB.This afternoon at 3 o'clock' the Central Mission Girls' Hostel will be formally opened and it will be known in future ns the Princess Mary Club. The chairman will be the Lord Mayor, Alderman S. J.-Morell, who will be introduced by the president of the conference, Rev. H. A. Overend… In the formal ceremony the scissors will be presented by the architect. Mr. 'A. S Eggleston, and the commemorative tablet to Miss. A. M. Nicholas will be unveiled. Rev. G. I. Benson .will take the dedicatory prayer, and the gold key; will be presented by Rev. S. T Hoban. Miss S Nicholas will open the doors of the hostel….The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954) Thursday 18 November 1926`Melbourne's most beautiful hostel' Rev Dr SJ Hoban -raised ₤45,000 of ₤80,000 spent. Hoban notes A & G Nicholas as donors of ₤15,000 and ₤4,000.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)Friday 19 November 1926 - Page 9 illust
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1251859
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105760 | 1 PDF : 1,315 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |