Imperial Hotel and Hart's later John Levy & Sons shops and residences, 2-18 Bourke Street & 43 Spring Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Title:
Imperial Hotel and Hart's later John Levy & Sons shops and residences, 2-18 Bourke Street & 43 Spring Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101238
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:__________________________________________________KEY DATES: 1857,1863;ASSOCIATIONS: John Levy & Sons;DESIGNER: AUSTIN & ELLIS 1863BUILDER: Baker & BryanPeriod: Early VictorianConstruction date: 1st level 1857, 2nd level c1863Builders: Baker & BryanNotable features 1985: Hotel since 1863 (2-6), position opposite Parliament House precinct.___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryJohn Hart commissioned builders, Baker and Bryan, to erect what was then six shops (each with 3 rooms attached) at the corner of Spring and Bourke Streets, in the last month of 1857. This was in addition to three matching shops already on the site (14-18) since 1855, and occupied by Jones & Co., a Miss Comber and Samuel Wolstenholme (ironmonger). The new shops contained one old tenant (Wolstenholme at 14), but eight new ones emerged, including Samuel Flateau (a boot importer), Andrew Armstrong (16, bookseller), Emile Ganyard (12, draper), A.G. Chard (10, hatter), Stephen Sweetland (8, draper), Barrett and Blake (6, confectioners), Alfred Laroome (tobacconist) and another old tenant, Jones & Co. (2, military tailors). Hart had sold to Isaac Levi by the 1860s who, in turn, passed ownership to John Levi & Sons (auctioneers, wine & spirit merchants), commencing the row's association with the liquor trade. By 1864, the Imperial Hotel (containing a bar and 12 rooms) began its trade, taking up two former shop frontages. At the same time, an extra storey was added to both the hotel and the row. Nathaniel Levi (politician, businessman and sugar beet distiller) was the owner in that years, remaining so through another expansion phase when eight rooms were added to the hotel in c1868. The association with Melbourne's Jewish community ended with the tenure of Moses Benjamin (1871-77) whose property further north eventually housed today's Princess Theatre and hotel.Thomas and Robert Walker (later Robert Walker) next owned the row. Another owner, Charles Wilson (1892-), had a street verandah built during his tenure. By 1937 Carlton & United Breweries had detached the hotel (2-6 Bourke Street) from its row, leaving a variety of owners in charge of 8-18 Bourke Street. Other occupants in the 1930s included the Dellas cafe(12) and Gabriel & Costa Cafe (14-16), another two shops being occupied by dentists. Through the 1950-60 period, the row underwent a gradual stripping of detail and remodeling.An 1858 view from the Fauchery-Daintree collection, taken during construction, shows the three existing shops (14-18). The now demolished shop parapets shown as simple panelled and piered affairs and the existing string-mould (then a cornice) and the dividing pilasters are also visible. So is an untidy array of building materials scattered across Bourke Street in what was then an evidently little used traffic way. Another, later view shows the completed single storey row, with a balustraded parapet and three-post street verandah, facing east, on Jones & Company's premises. The signs `HABIT MAKERS' and `TROUSERS' were prominent among a wall covered with commercial calligraphy.By the 1890s, a verandah is shown extended around theperimeter of the Imperial Hotel but no further west in Bourke Street. Both men associated with the shop row's major construction periods were prominent among Melbourne's Jewish community, then centred mainly in nearby East Melbourne. The Levi brothers are remembered perhaps most in Melbourne for their Leviathan Clothing Store (271-81 Bourke Street), while Hart was afoundation trustee of Melbourne's earliest surviving synagogue at the corner of Exhibition and Little Lonsdale Streets.DescriptionA much altered conservative Renaissance revival, stuccoed facade, with most lower openings now replaced. The north side wall, facing a R.O.W., shows bluestone rubble walling of an earlier construction, but the south face, fronting Bourke Street, has remnants of the upper level openings with their gable and segment-arched pediments resting on long brackets and cemented architraves around upper windows. Here the cornice line has metopes and a string mould defines the entablature. No. 14 has a sympathetic shopfront, whilst No. 16's indenteddoorway also is sympathetic with the typical Victorian retail plan.External IntegrityAll upper-level ornament has been stripped from Nos. 2-8, (Imperial Hotel) and ground level openings altered. Ornament has been removed in detail from No. 12 upper level and the window bricked up. Terra-cotta wall vents suggest renovation just past the turn of the Century and all shop fronts to No. 18 have been replaced. The upper-level of No. 18 has a sheeted over upper level, with no ornamentation visible.SignificanceSubstantially altered (in part), but the remaining shops and residences still possess Renaissance revival details of the 1855-8, 1863-4 construction periods and, hence, the row is expressive of the period when Parliament House was being constructed (1857-62) and (by its ownership) when Melbourne's Jewish community was centred in East Melbourne.___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 76,p23;Victoria Illustrated, p164,166;__________________________________________________LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEX:Record 73607 Hart, - Bourke near cnr Melbourne VIC Shops Baker & Bryan 1857 12 16 1078 MCC registration no 1078 [Burchett Index]. Fee 15.0.0 six shopsAUSTIN & ELLIS tenders wanted - erecting an additional storey to nine shops, cnr Bourke & Spring Streets for John Levy & Sons Argus 31.1.1863, p 373675 Austin & Ellis Levy, Bros Bourke near cnr Bourke & Spring Melbourne VIC alterations Cox, George H - Melbourne 1863 03 13 97 [Burchett Index]. Fee 9.0.0alterations & additions to premises
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101238 | 1 PDF : 818 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |