Atlas Assurance Co Ltd, later Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance building, 404-406 Collins Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Atlas Assurance Co Ltd, later Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance building, 404-406 Collins Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 102129
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
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.
General notes:
Period: Post Second-WarConstruction date: (1) 1957-1958, (2) 1960-1961Notable features: Early curtain wall, marble spandrels.ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2011, CENTRAL CITY (HODDLE GRID) HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?The Atlas Company was a successful insurance company founded in Britain in 1808, with international branches to follow.This steel-framed and reinforced concrete building was erected for the Atlas Assurance Co Ltd by builders EA Watts P/L, initially as basement, ground, mezzanine and six upper-levels, to the design of architects and engineers H Garnett Alsop & Partners in 1957-8. The estimated costs was ₤310,000. Within two years of completion, another four levels were added to take it to just over the limit height of 132 feet. The same architects and builder were commissioned and the estimated cost was ₤238,000 but the company manager had changed.The façade curtain wall system was anodised aluminium framed with marble spandrels and Thermpane double glazed window units (78x39"). The marble and granite work alone were to cost over ₤24,000, including the ground level and Assurance Chamber wall linings. The progression from all-glass curtain walls with opaque glass spandrels to those with stone spandrels such as this example eventually provided reconstructed pseudo-structural stone facades such as that used on the Colonial Mutual Life building, Collins St, 1963. This transition was remarked upon in the architectural periodical `Cross-section'.Inside, the service core was arranged along the west wall with stairs at either end and a light court midway on the east wall. Suspended plaster ceilings were used throughout with full air-conditioning (as an advance on the natural ventilation of the City's first glass box, Gilbert Court) and the floor slabs turned up at the facade edge to provide back-up fire-rated spandrels to sill height, the sills finished in reconstructed granite.This was the company's head office for both New Zealand and Australia and the manager was L Pettitt: they were the sole occupiers of the building. The building coincided with the erection of a number of large insurance and assurance company offices nearby in what was Melbourne's and therefore Victoria's financial centre. Coincidentally one of the Alsop firm's partners was one HL Pettitt, with the others being HG Alsop, ND Alsop and IA Freeland. HG Alsop appears to have been the partner in charge of the project. Alsop's firm was to also design the similarly slick facade of the Southern Cross Assurance building, Market Street, built by 1962.Ground level had a grand folding glass door set across the entry at the west end of the façade, leading to a glass lobby screen and beyond, all with terrazzo paving. The statue of Atlas that once sat on top of the earlier Atlas Assurance Building on the site was reused in the new building but at ground level, set on one end a granite-faced base wall extending for the eastern half of the street ground level façade, and also bearing the incised name of the building and address. As was the practice for the firm Atlas was also attached to the inter-war Perth branch (The Esplanade. 1930-1) as a life-size figure supporting the globe: this was modelled in Architectural Terra Cotta and finished in an ivory colour, the globe being of sheet copper.The ground level interior and façade have been changed and Atlas has been relocated (see application drawings) to a niche at the west end (but a panel on the wall states that the statue is in its original position, as built). However the upper-level façade remains generally as built.How is it significant?The Atlas Assurance Co Ltd is significant historically and aesthetically to the Melbourne Capital City Zone.Why is it significant?The Atlas Assurance Co Ltd is significant historically as a good reflection of the growth of insurance and assurance companies in the 1950s-60s resulting in many company-named buildings erected in this, the financial centre of Victoria. This was the Australian headquarters of a major international company.Aesthetically the building presents a slick and sealed aluminium-framed curtain wall just a few years after the first multi-storey glass box was built in Australia with its natural ventilation and differing aesthetic. The use of stone on the curtain wall and granite at the base of the building emulated in a modern manner the stone clad classical facades favoured by financial institutions in the pre Second War Era. With its marble spandrel panels, this building marks a transition from the all-glass wall to the pseudo structural reconstructed stone and precast concrete facades of the 1960s and later..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSTATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEWHAT IS SIGNIFICANTThe former Atlas Assurance building, now Praemium House at 404-406 Collins Street, completed in1958-1961 by H. Garnet Alsop, is significant.HOW IT IS SIGNIFICANT404-406 Collins Street is of local historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Melbourne. It is alsoa representative post-war modern office building.WHY IT IS SIGNIFICANT404-406 Collins Street is historically significant as a part of the post-war development the rapidgrowth of the insurance architecture of the 1950s-1960s, continuing the expansion of largecompanies opting for construction and naming rights of new city office buildings as a form ofpromotion and fund investment, and cementing Melbourne's pre-eminent role in the state for financialinstitutions. The Atlas Assurance Co Ltd is significant historically as a good reflection of the growth ofinsurance and assurance companies in Victoria during the 1950s-60s resulting in many companynamed buildings erected. A related object, the Federation-era statue of Atlas is historically significantas an artefact form the previous building that occupied the same site, the Mutual Assurance Societyof Victoria. (Criterion A)404-406 Collins Street represents architecturally a more adventurous expression by architects in the1950s to create lively effects by combining curtain walling with solid spandrels of masonry, colouredglass or enamelled metal sheeting in an otherwise conventionally modernist glass-and-metal curtainwall. With its marble spandrel panels, this building makes a transition from the all-glass wall to thepseudo structural reconstructed stone and precast concrete facades of the 1960s and later. (CriterionD)Aesthetically the building presents a sealed aluminium-framed curtain wall just a few years after thefirst multi-storey glass box was built in Australia. The use of stone on the curtain wall and granite atthe base of the building emulated in a modern manner the stone clad classical facades favouredpreviously by financial institutions. Attributes of the building that demonstrate aesthetic value includethe façade curtain wall system with anodised aluminium frames with marble spandrels and ‘Polyglass’double glazed polished plate windows, all of which were remarked upon in the architectural periodicalCross-section. (Criterion E).GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTER : cites Building Permit Applications;.MCC Building Permit Applications:9/6/1957, 31535 ₤310,000 ;24/10/1960, 34487 added storey to 406, ₤238,000 .(not at VPRO).`Building Ideas' March 1965:included on the architectural guide for the Australian architectural convention- `Royal Exchange Assurance 406 Collins Street H. Garnet Alsop and Partners, Six storeys, 1958; additional four floors, 1961..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)`The Argus':Tuesday 3 February 1953CITY PERSONALSir Norman R. Mighell has been appointed 'chairman of the Australasian head office ' board of Atlas Assurance Co. Ltd.Tuesday 10 February 1948`CITY PERSONALMr Harold Harwood has retired from the position of manager for Victoria of the Atlas Assurance Co Ltd after nearly 50 years' service. Mr F. R. McDougall succeeds Mr Harwood Mr L Cutler has been appointed secretary for Victoria, while Mr D L Ross becomes accident secretary for Victoria..'Monday 15 September 1902`It is notified in our advertisement columns that the Atlas Assurance Company Limited, which, has. been occupying temporary premises, in Queen-street,. has. resumed occupation of its offices, at 406 Collins-street. The building was that formerly occupied by tho Mutual Assurance Society of Victoria, but has just been altered, and is now called, the Atlas.-buildings, being surmounted by the familiar figure of the company. The Atlas is an, old London institution, having been founded nearly a century ago. It enjoys a. fire premium income of between £400,000 and, £500,000, and its paid-up capital and reserves exceed £633,000. The head office of the Australian branch is in. Melbourne, as above.'.State Library of VictoriaState Library of Victoria collection:Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance, 406 Collins Street, Melbourne [picture]* Author/Creator: Wolfgang Sievers 1913-2007 ;* Date(s): 1976* Terms of use/Copyright: Reproduction rights: State Library of Victoria* Description: photograph : chromogenic ; 21 x 26 cm.* Identifier (s): Accession no(s) H2004.49/69.Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group -web siteAddress: 30 Berkeley SquareLondon W1J 6EWUnited KingdomTelephone: (020) 7636-3450Fax: (020) 7636-3451http://www.royalsunalliance.comStatistics:Public CompanyIncorporated: 1996Employees: 38,000Total Assets: £59.95 billion ($96.49 billion) (2002)Stock Exchanges: LondonTicker Symbol: RSANAIC: 524126 Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers; 551112 Offices of Other Holding CompaniesCompany Perspectives:Our business purpose: to help our customers around the world protect themselves against the risks they face in their businesses and daily lives by providing insurance and investment related solutions to meet their individual needs as we have done for nearly 300 years.Key Dates:1710: The Sun Fire Office is founded as a fire insurer, based in London.1720: London Assurance Corporation is incorporated as a marine insurance operation.1782: Group of sugar refiners form their own fire insurer, the New Fire Office.1813: The New Fire Office is renamed the Phoenix Assurance Company.1824: The Alliance Assurance Company is formed to offer both fire and life insurance.1836: The Liverpool Fire and Life Insurance Company is organized.1845: The Royal Insurance Company, based in Liverpool, is founded to provide property and casualty insurance, life insurance, and annuities.1847: Liverpool Fire and Life merges with the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Insurance Company, forming the Liverpool and London Fire and Life Insurance Company.1864: Liverpool and London Fire and Life acquires the Globe Insurance Company, forming the Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance Company.1891: Sun Fire Office becomes the Sun Insurance Office.1919: Royal Insurance acquires Liverpool and London and Globe Insurance.1959: Sun Insurance and Alliance Assurance merge to form Sun Alliance Insurance.1965: Sun Alliance merges with London Assurance to form the Sun Alliance and London Insurance plc.1984: Sun Alliance and London acquires Phoenix Assurance.1988: Royal Insurance Holdings plc is created as a holding company for the various operating companies of Royal Insurance.1989: Sun Alliance and London changes its name to Sun Alliance Group plc.1996: Sun Alliance and Royal Insurance Holdings merge to create Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc.1999: Royal & Sun acquires Tyndall Australia Limited, Swedish firm Trygg-Hansa Försäkrings AB, Publikt, and U.S. nonlife insurer Orion Capital Corporation.2002: Radical survival plan is announced, involving a workforce reduction of 12,000 and the divestment of several businesses, including the Australian and New Zealand insurance units.….The Sun had entered the field of marine insurance in 1921 and sought, both by its 1931 acquisition of the Elder's Insurance Company of Liverpool and its 1938 agreement with the Royal Exchange to operate a joint marine underwriting account, to establish itself in a field still dominated by the London….In the 1920s, the Sun had several times reorganized its U.S. operations and this process continued in the 1950s, finally resulting in 1958 in a common management structure in the United States for its own operations and for those of the Royal Exchange Assurance and the Atlas Assurance Company. ….CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWSITE HISTORYThe site on which the former Atlas Assurance building is located was occupied by the National MutualAssurance Society of Victoria.The Atlas Company was a successful insurance company founded in Britain in 1808, withinternational branches to follow.This steel-framed and reinforced concrete building was erected for the Atlas Assurance Co Ltd bybuilders EA Watts Pty. Ltd., initially as basement, ground, mezzanine and six upper levels, to thedesign of architects and engineers’ H Garnett Alsop & Partners in 1957-8. The estimated cost was₤310,000. Within two years of completion, another four levels were added to take it to just over thelimit height of 132 feet. The same architects and builder were commissioned and the estimated costwas ₤238,000 but the company manager had changed.This was the company's head office for both New Zealand and Australia and the manager was LPettit they were the sole occupiers of the building. The building coincided with the erection of anumber of large insurance and assurance company offices nearby in what was Melbourne's andtherefore Victoria's financial centre. One of the Alsop firm's partners was one H.L Pettit, with theothers being H.G Alsop, N.D. Alsop and I.A. Freeland. H.G Alsop appears to have been the partner incharge of the project.Howard Garnet Alsop, architectIn March 1926, seventeen-year old Howard Garnet Alsop became an articled pupil of his architectuncle. Between 1930 and 1932, Alsop studied at the University of Melbourne Architectural Atelier andwas registered as an architect in December 1931. Alsop secured a draftsman's position with theMelbourne Electricity Supply Company (later part of the State Electricity Commission, the SEC). In1934, he left the SEC and gained a position in the office of Godfrey and Spowers. With an eye toestablishing his own practice, Alsop resolved to become a specialist in the nascent field of airportdesign (Built Heritage 2017).In April 1936, Alsop left Melbourne for an extended overseas tour of England (where he worked in theLondon office of Wallis, Gilbert and Partners), Germany, Scandinavia, Russia and the USA. Afterreturning to Australia in July 1937, he opened an office in Melbourne. His first client was IvanHolyman of ANA, who commissioned the young architect to design the new airline terminal andhangar complex at Essendon Aerodrome. Subsequently appointed as the company’s official architect,Alsop continued to design buildings for ANA until the airline merged with Ansett in 1957 (BuiltHeritage 2017).In 1946, renamed his practice H Garnet Alsop and Partners, architects and engineers. The firmthrived in the post-war era, with Alsop’s practice expanding to include factories, multi-storey cityoffices, and health-related projects. In the mid-1960s, Garnet became an expert in the field of zooarchitecture (Built Heritage 2017).In 1978, Alsop retired as senior partner of the firm bearing his name. The business was carried on byfour remaining partners: long-time staff members Hugh Pettit and Ian Freeland, and Alsop’s twoarchitect sons, David and John. Alsop’s brother Dennis and other son Rodney also remainedinvolved, in their respective capacities of consulting engineer and quantity surveyor. In 1982, theoffice merged with another long-running practice of pre-war origin, Leighton Irwin Australia, to createa new entity, Leighton Irwin-Garnet Alsop Pty Ltd, abbreviated as the Irwin-Alsop Group.Howard Garnet Alsop died on 3 October 1994, aged 85 years. His practice continued to operate asthe Irwin-Alsop Group until 2008, when it merged with Whitefield McQueen to form WhitefieldMcQueen Irwin Alsop, or WMIA. The practice was subsequently absorbed in 2012 by Group GSA, alarge international and multi-disciplinary practice that continues to this day (Built Heritage 2017)..REFERENCESGoad, P., 1999 Melbourne ArchitectureGoad, P. & Willis, J.(eds.), 2012, An Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, Cambridge UniversityPressGoogle Street View 2017, 404-406 Collins Street, Google Maps, accessed online 27 June 2017.Lewis, Miles 2012 ‘Curtain Wall’ in Goad, Philip & Willis, Julie (eds) 2012, The Encyclopedia ofAustralian Architecture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Marsden, Susan 2000, Urban Heritage: the rise and postwar development of Australia’s capital citycentres, Australian Council of National Trusts and Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra.National Trust Classification ReportThe following sources and data were used for this assessment (Graeme Butler, 2011). Note that thecitation prepared in 2011 did not provide in text referencing.Storey, Rohan 2008, ‘Skyscrapers’ in eMelbourne, School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, TheUniversity of Melbourne, http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM01383b.htm, accessed 13 June2017..General sourcesThe following data was typically drawn from:Historic Buildings Preservation Council reports on the Melbourne Central Business District from the1970s;Melbourne City Council on-line i-Heritage database;Mahlstedt fire insurance map series held in the State Library of Victoria collection and MelbourneUniversity Archives;Daily newspaper reports such as `The Argus';Australian Architecture Index (AAI), prepared by Professor Miles Lewis and others;Melbourne City Council building application drawings and files held at Melbourne City Council and theVictorian Public Records Office.Twentieth Century Architecture Register of Royal Australian Institute of ArchitectsGraeme Butler, 1982-3, Twentieth Century Architecture Register of Royal Australian Institute ofArchitects: cites Building Permit Applications;Building Permit Applications9/6/1957, 31535 ₤310,000 ;24/10/1960, 34487 added storeys to 406, ₤238,000. (not at VPRO)National Trust of Australia (Vic) File B5345Contains article in Architecture in Australia June 1959 David Saunders, `Office Buildings inMelbourne’ examining recent office construction types and costs.`Building Ideas' 1965 guideMarch 1965: included on the architectural guide for the Australian architectural convention- `RoyalExchange Assurance 406 Collins Street H. Garnet Alsop and Partners, Six storeys, 1958; additionalfour floors, 1961.The ArgusTuesday 3 February 1953 City PersonalTuesday 10 February 1948 City PersonalMonday 15 September 1902Sands & McDougall Melbourne or Victorian Directories..DIRECTORIES OF VICTORIA, MELBOURNE-SANDS AND KENNY, SANDS & MCDOUGALL1944-1955Atlas Building; 404 Cook & Heathcote Pty Ltd, printers406 H.W. Lynch, accountantAtlas Assce Co LtdMadden, Butler, Elder & Graham, solicitorsManchester Assurance CoPacific Insurance Co LtdAustin T. Prince, caretakerProvincial Insce Co LtdWorld Auxiliary Insce Corporation Ltd)1961Atlas Assurance Co Ltd (England)Fire Accident and MarineEastern Insurance CoMarineManchester Assurance Co (Eng)Triton Insurance Co LtdPacific Insurance Co Ltd (Fiji)Leighton Irwin Co architects(various accountants, agents etc)Kettle, FW caretaker
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Research and reports
Record number:
1196897
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 102129 | 1 PDF : 727 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |