Melbourne Working Men's College (part) also Building 4, Workshops and Classrooms, later Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Bowen Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Melbourne Working Men's College (part) also Building 4, Workshops and Classrooms, later Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Bowen Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 105490
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 2021:__________________________________________________Style: Gothic RevivalPeriod: VictorianConstruction date: 1890-1891Materials: Walls - Barrabool Hills sandstone, Waurn Ponds stone dressingsArchitect: Oakden, Addison & Kemp.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryThe technical needs of gold mining inspired schools of mines in rural gold centres such as Bendigo, Castlemaine and Ballarat from 1870, ensuring instruction on trade techniques for the working man. The same principle presumably convinced benefactor, Francis Ormond, to fund the construction of the Melbourne Working Men's College of which this building was part of the second stage of building, with the completion of the grand Gothic edifice, the Francis Ormond Building, facing La Trobe and Bowen Streets. Built from Barrabool Hills sandstone, with Waurn Ponds dressings, the new classrooms and workshops closely matched their predecessor in materials and the 'late Gothic' style used in the elevation.DescriptionUse of three major elevation bays is a typical compositional device for the period but less so is the use of minor vertical bays to link them and the central towered entrance bay with its crenellated oriel rising through two of the four levels. Gothic and its traceried windows were chosen particularly for the superior light they shed upon the modelling and drawing taught in the upper levels. Metal-working at ground level and carpentry in the basement were other activities originally planned for the building.A tall Mansard tower roof and widow's walk lend both a contemporary Melbourne and earlier French Renaissance manner to the otherwise typically northern European Gothic sources of the main facade. Unusual details include the windows which forego traditional ecclesiastical tracery for a series of flat pointed-arch lights. The design compares favourably with stone Medieval revival institution designs at Melbourne University and Melbourne Grammar and numerous brick 19th century schools erected for the Public Works Department.StreetscapeSet between two differing architectural periods, itnevertheless shares scale and siting attributes and a lessobvious aspect is the use of 'natural' materials, (brick,stone).SignificanceIndividually, a successful application of Gothic Revival architecture, purposely and skilfully adapted to a workshop use whilst maintaining in the traditional material (or the style) the traditional educational institution architecture, already demonstrated by the nearby La Trobe Street building. Historically, this is part of the original architectural concept for the College and its second oldest surviving structure..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDY cites source 77,p17;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 NameR.M.I.T. Building No. 4AddressBowen StreetDate Built1890ArchitectOakden, Addison and KempBuilderNot known.Original Use Workshop and classroomsPresent Use Workshop and classroomsAwards:IntactnessFacade and ground floor intact. New partitioning to upper floors.Construction MaterialsBrick walls with Barrabool Hills stone facing and Waurn Ponds freestone dressing. Iron columns and primary beams. Timber floor joists and roof truss.Historical Basis None.Other referencesEnvironment.al Area No. 1Recommendation-That. the building be included on the Historic Buildings Register.1 HistoricalIn 1889 owing to the extraordinary growth of this Institution (The Working Mens' College), it was found necessary to reserve a large block of land on the west side, in Bowen Street, in addition to the site in Latrobe Street.2 Architectural2.1 This building was erected in the centre of the reserved block in 1891. Oakden, Addison and Kemp were the architects (they also did the original W.M.C. building) and the cost was £15,000 financed partly by Francis Ormond's bequest and partly by the Gillies Government (1). It provides accommodation for teaching practical carpentry and metal-working on the basement and ground floors, and on the upper floors are large class-rooms for drawing, modelling, and other kindred subjects. The front is executed in Barrabool Hills stone, in regular six courses, and the dressings throughout are in Warren (sic.) Ponds freestone. The style chosen, late Gothic, is intended to harmonize as far as possible with the other buildings, and at the same time to give larger windows to provide strong light to the various class-rooms." (2)2.2 Late gothic design with a central entrance pavilion and a 2 storey oriel window treatment above the doorway rising to a tower, a steep roof with a small widows walk and a flagpole and, a little to either side, projecting end pavilions being two bays wide and the intermediate area only one bay wide (total width is 5 bays). The windows mostly are in rather flat painted arches in perpendicular gothic style. The most striking characteristic is that the wider windows are divided into 3 bays crosswise and 3 bays vertically, with a total of 9 pointed arch panels. The smaller windows are divided into 2 bays horizontally but still 3 bays vertically on the second level. On the third level there are similar windows, in both cases they have a square head surrounding them, as it were a label mould, but continuing into a horizontal impost mould continuously along the facade. The third level ones have only 2 divisions horizontally and 2 vertically. In the oriel windows there is a bay form with a single division on the canted sides and 3 divisions on the face again with 3 levels so there is a total of 9 divisions in the lower oriel and 2 levels on the upper one, in the third storey giving a total of 6 divisions. Each of the pointed arches in that case are cusped with 5 scallops round the head. As in building No. 1 the fabric of the building is in rough faced stone with dressed stone around the openings and the horizontal bands and mouldings. There is a line of foliated carving around the top horizontal moulding level which still has windows above it in the gable end. There is similar carved work underneath the oriel projection. The entrance door in timber has, like No. 1, a stained glass treatment above the door with 5 vertical divisions with fairly crude lead lighted glazing with the initialsW.M.C. in the central panel.Internally, the secular gothic treatment diminishes as you move further away from the Bowen Street entrance and the architectural interest is more in terms of the iron columns which are in the general character of Industrial Architecture. These are iron columns with cylindrical shape and a bracket formed in the head to carry an "I" beam to run in the east-west direction, and bolted on sections to carry a mezzanine around the sides of the workshops areas. The upper floors have been modernized.2.3 Apart from the multiplicity of windows and divisions the building is in the character of secular Gothic of late C19th English architects like Butterfield. The windows themselves have English precedents including the Guild Hall at Cirenchester c. 1500. As an exercise in Gothic it is less admired than the earlier W.M.C. Building No. 1 by the same architects. The significance of the building is in the juxtaposition of a Gothic model upon a workshop interior, which is very much in the tradition of Industrial Architecture, and it is probably Melbourne's only remaining Gothic workshop.3 RecommendationThat the building be included on the Historic Buildingsˇ Register on the basis of architectural interest. The shell of the building and the ground floor only need be specified.ˇFootnotes(1) F.A. Campbell, The Working Men's College in the Making 1887-1913, Melbourne 1925, p. 6.(2) Building, Engineering and Mining Journal, 17/1/1891,p. 21..National Trust of Australia (Vic)File Number B4621Level of Significance: StateLast updated on - January 13, 2005Erected in 1891 as an extension to the Working Men's College, this Gothic revival building was designed by architects Oakden, Addison and Kemp. Essentially a workshop, it is very much in the tradition of 19th century industrial architecture to have a gothic form applied over it. It is complementary to RMIT BuildingNo 1 and a fine essay in the Gothic style in its own right.Classified: 06/06/1994.HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSErected in 1891 as an extension to the Working Men's College, this Gothic revival building was designed by architects Oakden, Addison and Kemp. Essentially a workshop, it is very much in the tradition of 19th century industrial architecture to have a gothic form applied over it. It is complementary to RMIT BuildingNo 1 and a fine essay in the Gothic style in its own right.
Related material link:
Working Men's College Art Building, Bowen Street, Melbourne (BIF-CITY 105490 1\\)Melbourne Technical College Printing School, also Building 6, Bowen Street, Melbourne (BIF-CITY 105490 4\\)Melbourne Technical College Electrical Trade School and Metallurgical and Mining Building, parts of group Buildings Nos. 9, 7, 5 , Bowen Street, Melbourne (BIF-CITY 105490 2\\)Melbourne Working Men's College Engineering School also Kernot Building, Building No 3 (RMIT), Bowen Street, Melbourne (BIF-CITY 105490 3\\)
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Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1249406
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 105490 | 1 PDF : 838 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |