Kaye Butchart & Co. offices, later Commercial Bank of Australia, 421 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Melbourne's earliest surviving stock and station agency, built for and occupied by one of the two earliest stock and station agencies and, despite the added floor, an elegant, early and well preserved stucco façade.
Title:
Kaye Butchart & Co. offices, later Commercial Bank of Australia, 421 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101150
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:
ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:Period: Early VictorianConstruction dates: 1858, 1920Notable features: Superposed columns uncommon (added floor 1920)GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of Significance`HistoryKaye, Butchart & Co., stock and station agents, owned a `stone house' on this site from 1859 and `a brick house, offices and 3 rooms over...' from 1863. Horse breeder, George Petty, purchased it in 1875 and, after his death (c1881) his trustees leased it to the Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd. Acquisition by the bank allowed addition of a matching storey in 1919- 20, probably re-using the original balustraded parapet as seen in Noone's 1869 panorama. This enabled them to lease small professional offices in the upper storeys.Harry Peck, in `Memoirs of a Stockman', recalls that William Kaye and James Butchart and company were one of Melbourne's two earliest stock and station agencies. They were succeeded by their head salesman, the renowned John Dougharty, as John George Dougharty & Co. Dougharty, Peck wrote, `...was an Irishman with a bell-like voice, perhaps the most seductive ever heard at Newmarket, for John George, in his younger days, must have "kissed the Blarney Stone"...'Kaye and Butchart also dabbled in rural property, running the cattle- fattening station of Tallandoon, above Tallangatta, in the 1860s. Kaye was a member of the Legislative Council whilst Butchart who had arrived in the colony in 1839 leased many runs both singly and with a variety of partners: Tongola at Lyndhurst, Strathfillan, Myer's Creek, McMillan's Bushy Park and Stratford, to name but a few.DescriptionThe facade is almost identical to its 1869 form, save the addition of one floor; the top floor being a replication of the former first floor and parapet. Superposition of Ionic order columns over a base Tuscan order is the trabeation applied to the arched fenestration which exists at all levels. The proportions and mouldings are elegant, the added top floor being suitable reduced in height to preserve the existing graduation of storey height.It is possible that the stucco facade was applied after construction in 1859 but before the photograph of 1869: no building permit application supports this however..External IntegrityThe top floor has been added (1919-20) sympathetically, the chimneys removed, air units added to windows and the shopfront joinery is partly new but sympathetically done. An illuminated sign has been added discreetly.StreetscapePeriod detail and finish are shared by the adjoining building.SignificanceMelbourne's earliest surviving stock and station agency, built for and occupied by one of the two earliest stock and station agencies and, despite the added floor, an elegant, early and well preserved stucco façade.'FURTHER REFERENCES:GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBIF cites source 80,p289;Victoria Illustrated p106;Historc Buildings Council file;LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEXRecord 73603 Kaye, Butchart Melbourne VIC Office Buildings Mitchell, David - 141 Little Collins Street 1857 12 3 1036 - Bourke west - between Queen & Elizabeth - opp. Watson's Horse Bazaar, MCC registration no 1036 [Burchett Index]. Fee 2.10.0 officesCITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONMelbourne Building Application Index-A´Beckett St - Bourke St933/12001920 2532 £32,000 Additions and alts to bank and officesetc to 1976NEWSPAPERSThe Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Tue 17 Jun 1856 Page 4 COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.At the sale of landed property bald this morning at the auction rooms of Mr. William Philpott, the premises in Bourke-street, with a frontage of 52 feet 3 inches, occupied by Messrs. Kaye and Butchart, were sold for £6000. Mr. Hugh Glass was the purchaser.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Wed 27 Nov 1867 Page 1https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5784412THE ILLUMINATIONS IN THE CITY AND SUBURBS.... Duke of Edinburgh... It is difficult to suppose that such a sight was over seen in Australia before, but certainly never was such a spectacle witnessed in Melbourne. When flashes from the electric light over Parliament Houses were at their brightest, and people in Bourke-street could be seen, it was shown that there could not be, from end to end, less than forty thousand people surging through it. Collins-street was not so full, but the difference was small, and the chief cross streets were also densely packed. It is no exaggeration to set down the number of people in the streets last night at not less than 100,000 souls.... Kaye and Butchart, station agents-Letters "A. E. A. " over 2ft high, and star above, in gas...Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954) Sat 20 Nov 1869 Page 12 CITY AND SUBURBS.A WELL-KNOWN and esteemed colonist, Mr. J, Butchart, formerly of the firm of Kaye and Butchart, died at his residence, Mornington, on Friday week. In 1853, Mr. Butchart became a partner with Mr. Kaye in the purchase of the stock and agency business of Messrs. Mickle and Bakewell, from which he retired ten years later with a handsome competency. Though ill health prevented him taking any active part in public affairs, he was well known as a most generous contributor to our public charities.The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Sat 1 Apr 1871 Page 4 SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1871. ...Show Committee meetings of the National Agricultural Society of Victoria were held this week in the society’s new offices, and considerable progress was made in preparing the prize list for the spring exhibition. The society has secured convenient offices upstairs on tho premises formerly occupied by Messrs. Kaye and Butchart, 56 Bourke street west.HERMESHeritage database 64408National Trust of Australia (Vic)File B4512 Kozminsky Galleries`This building has been progressively added to since its original construction as a bluestone office for the stock and station agents, Kaye Butchart and Co., in 1859. By 1869 it was a two-storey building with its present stucco facade. In the 1880s it was leased to the Commercial Bank of Australia who eventually acquired the building and added the top floor, in 1919, which matched the detailing of the earlier building below. This elegant building has a long association with, firstly, the livestock and real estate industry in the early days of the colony and later with banking in the "Boom" years.'Classified: 06/06/1994
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101150 | 1 PDF : 630 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |