Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (R.A.C.V.) Building, 111-129 Queen Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (R.A.C.V.) Building, 111-129 Queen Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 108068
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:__________________________________________________DATE: 1959-1961;ASSOCIATIONS: Royal Automobile Club of Victoria;DESIGNER: Bates Smart & McCutcheon;BUILDER: Lewis Construction Co.Period: Post Second-WarNotable features: Renowned for 'fast track' construction..GRAEME BUTLER & ASSOCIATES 2011, CENTRAL CITY (HODDLE GRID) HERITAGE REVIEWStatement of SignificanceWhat is significant?The RACV Club was erected in 1959-61 for use by members of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria. It was constructed by Lewis Construction Co to designs by Bates Smart McCutcheon.The Automobile Club of Victoria was founded in 1903 and held its first car rally at Aspendale Park Racecourse in 1904. In 1916, it received the approval of His Majesty the King to prefix the title 'Roya'' to its name. Since that time it has been the major promoter of motoring in the State.The Council of the RACV Club purchased a building on the corner of Queen and Little Collins Streets in 1939 with a view to its demolition and the construction of new clubrooms to replace its existing premises at 94-96 Queen Street. The Club council invited the firm of Bates Smart & McCutcheon to carry out an extensive survey of the site and the needs of the growing organisation. Their comprehensive report led to the decision to build and the Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd agreed to advance a loan for the construction. The old building was demolished and the foundation stone laid by Sir Dallas Brooks on 30 October 1959. Sir Dallas Brooks was Chief Patron of the RACV.Believed to be the first building in Melbourne to employ the fast track or staged approach to design and construction, the massive structure was completed in 1961 and incorporated both an office and a club building each serviced by separate entries and lifts to meet the strict licensing requirements. The club offered accommodation, bars, billiard rooms, lounges and dining facilities for members all accessible directly from the basement car park or via a well-appointed lobby. Then regarded as a quiet tree-lined street, the architects provided a first floor terrace to overlook the sylvan scene, now an uncommon element in the Capital City Zone. The terrace would be off the dining and lounge areas and 'a beautiful summer rendezvous before lunch or for after dinner coffee'. Although a romantic concept that did not live up to its promise, the internal courtyard and flexible spaces of the lounge and dining areas, were new to Melbourne at the time. The club manager JJ Kelleher had toured overseas to ensure that the best ideas in bedroom comfort and food presentation went into the plans.The building was opened on 11 March 1961, with the claim as a new accommodation standard for Melbourne. The opening speech was made by Sir Charles Lowe, the club administrator of Victoria, in front of delegates from English, Scottish, American, Canadian and New Zealand automobile associations. Some 200 extra staff were hired after completion to serve the new expanded facilities in all departments of the club, such that by 1970 the club employed over 1000 to service a mere 500,000 members.Although the building was not unduly tall by local standards (215m), the façade width and plan footprint was exceptionally large and provided a floor area of almost 20,000m2 where half that figure was regarded as a good office floor plan area. The club comprises a three storey transparent cantilevering podium, clad in elegant aluminium framed glass, and polished black granite and with its own (added) canopy, surmounted by a fifteen storey manganese brick clad tower free-standing on three sides. The tower is distinguished by a rigidly regular arrangement of formerly brass-framed windows (now white painted reveals) repeated at each floor level that echoes the adjoining Perpetual Trustees Building 100-104 Queen Street. This elevated masonry clad block rests on stilts above the podium as discrete and well formulated massing, the stilts or columns being visible as they pass through the podium on the south side. Not easily seen from ground level, the roof over the tower block has a butterfly form that floats above the façade which, combined with the glazed podium, gives the lightness of purpose much sought by the Modernist designers.The first level has an undercroft that houses shops and allows the two exposed entry stairs to float from ground to first floor. River stones fill the paving strip between footpath asphalt and shopfront entry. On the south side a hit and miss upper-level brick screen masks services, as a textured foil to the other all-glass cladding. The basement was equipped with a car lift and the entry foyer is multi-level. Externally, the building survives largely in original form.How is it significant?Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (R.A.C.V.) Building is significant historically and aesthetically to the Melbourne Capital City ZoneWhy is it significant?Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (R.A.C.V.) Building is of aesthetic and historical significance as a substantial and well-preserved example of elegantly massed post-war Modern architecture and an early example of fast-track design and construction within Melbourne's Capital City Zone. The club building is historically significant for its close link with the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria as custom-built premises for new much expanded club functions, some of which like the first level terrace, being uncommon in the Capital City Zone as is the building type (private club) for that period. The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria was the State's premier road lobbyist and a major tourism promoter: many of its members were highly influential within Victoria society._________________________________________CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWWhat is significant?The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building at 111-129 Queen Street, Melbourne, completed in 1961 and designed by Bates Smart McCutcheon.Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):· The building’s original external form, materials and detailing; and· The building’s high level of integrity to its original design.Later alterations, particularly at street level, are not significant.How it is significant?The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building at 111-129 Queen Street is of historical, representative, aesthetic, social and associative significance to the City of Melbourne.Why it is significant?The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building is historically significant as the headquarters of the large and influential RACV who were advocates for the rights of motorists, including the spending of significant public money on infrastructure for motorised transport. In the 1950s and 60s the RACV was highly influential in the promotion of tourism in Victoria. (Criterion A)The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building is a fine example of a recreational club in the city centre. Built in 1961, and designed by noted modernist architects Bates Smart McCutcheon, it expresses its function through the glazed lower floors for public use and the masonry-clad residential tower above. In design it is a relatively early example of a modern tower departing from the curtain wall of the 1950s. Its construction program was purportedly an early example of the fast-track method that enabled construction to commence concurrently with detailed design. (Criterion D)The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building is aesthetically significant for its composition, of which the three-storey transparent cantilevered podium is a notable feature. Despite some alterations that have filled in the undercroft, the podium is still legible. Other attributes of aesthetic value include the main structural columns visible in a recessed glass clerestorey window above the podium and the butterfly roof over the tower block. (Criterion E)The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building is of social significance for its strong and long-standing association with the RACV Club members, staff and board. Designed as a central city meeting place for members, the club facilities served as a place of social congregation for RACV members for more than 45 years. Members used the Club as a place for business and for personal celebrations and events, resulting in a strong and continuing sense of connection to the premises even after the club had moved to its new premises. (Criterion G)The former Royal Automobile Club of Victoria building is historically significant as the headquarters of the State’s premier road lobbyist, as a major tourism promoter, and as a private club serving Melbourne’s business, professional and social elite that has hosted many significant political and public events for more than four decades. It has remained a highly influential organisation over several decades with many amongst its wide membership also highly influential within Victorian society. (Criterion H)Primary sourceHoddle Grid Heritage Review (Context & GJM Heritage, 2020).RAWORTH, B 2002. REVIEW OF HERITAGE OVERLAY LISTINGS IN THE CBDfor the City of MelbourneHistory and DescriptionThe RACV Club was erected in 1959-61 for use by members of the RoyalAutomobile Club of Victoria. It was constructed by Lewis Construction Co to designs by Bates Smart McCutcheon [Gibb].The Council of the RACV Club purchased the existing building on the corner of Queen and Little Collins Streets in 1939 with a view to its demolition and the construction of new clubrooms to replace its existing premises at 84 Queen Street [RACV].The proposal was shelved during WWII and the building fell into disrepair, serving as the studio of Justus Jorgensen, the designer of Montsalvat, until 1956. In the following year the issue of more suitable clubrooms was revisited and the Council invited the firm of Bates Smart & McCutcheon to carry out an extensive survey of the site and the needs of the growing organisation. Their comprehensive report lead to thedecision to build. The Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd agreed to advance a loan for the construction. The old building was demolished and the foundation stone laid by Sir Dallas Brooks on 30 October 1959. Sir Dallas Brooks was Chief Patron of the RACV.The RACV Club is believed to be the first building in Melbourne to employ the fast track approach to design and construction. The massive structure was completed in 1961 and incorporated both an office and a club building each serviced by separate entries and lifts to meet the strict licensing requirements. The club offered accommodation, bars, billiard rooms, lounges and dining facilities for members all accessible directly from the basement car park or via a well-appointed lobby.Although the building was not unduly tall by local standards (215m), the footprint was exceptionally large and provided a floor area of almost 20,000m2 [RACV 1963].Externally, the building survives largely in original form. It comprises a three storey podium in glass and tiles surmounted by a fifteen storey tower distinguished by a rigidly regular arrangement of brass-framed windows repeated at each floor level. The building is in good condition.Statement of SignificanceThe RACV Building is of aesthetic and historical significance at a local level as a substantial example of post-war modern architecture and an early example of fasttrack design within Melbourne's CBD.Footnotes:Gibb, 2001: Interview, Davina Gibb, Archivist, RACV Heritage Collection, 6/3/01.RACV, Royalauto Journal, March 1958, p.6-7.RACV, Royal Auto Journal, April 1963. p.14-15..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM_________________________________________City of Melbourne i-Heritage:Central Activities District Conservation Study - Graeme Butler, 1984 Building Identification Form (BIF): Notable features include being renowned for 'fast track' construction. (See other RACV building at 94-98 Queen St from 1925 designed by JS Keague.)_________________________________________Graeme Butler, 1982-3, Twentieth Century Architecture Register of Royal Australian Institute of Architects:cites Building Permit Applications, Cross-section 1/3/1960- has image of perspective, states as 15 storeys, builder/architect ₤1,400,000 ;_________________________________________`Cross-section', 89, March 1960: work started etc. perspective_________________________________________CITY OF MELBOURNE BUILDING PERMIT APPLICATIONSBuilding Permit Applications: 6/1/1959, 33014 (prelim); underpinning 27/2/1959; 25/9/1969 33630 ₤1,345,000 staged applications total est. cost ₤1,500,000._________________________________________Priestley, 1983: The Crown of the Road: 116New HeadquartersIn March 1958 the building plans for the RACV's new offices and club rooms were published. The site, nearly diagonally opposite 94 Queen Street, had been bought in 1939 and the three-storey stone building which occupied most of it had been leased out for government and private offices. Rents provided some of the surplus money which was invested in a members' fund account. By 1958, that fund amounted to nearly half a million pounds. Club investments were worth another £300 000, and the value of freeholds, vehicles and plant owned by the Club totalled another half million. This 'extremely strong' financial position enabled a long term mortgage loan for the new building to be secured without difficulty.The building was to be eighteen storeys high with sufficient space for the membership, travel, touring and publicity departments, as well as the bars, lounges, kitchens and a large underground garage to house guests' cars. Full membership lists were opened again, with preference being given to service and country members. Almost immediately 300 people took advantage of the offer.The site in Queen Street offered visitors 'quietness in a tree-lined avenue', which induced the architects Bates, Smart and McCutcheon to provide a first-floor terrace opening off the dining and lounge areas which would be 'a beautiful summer rendezvous before lunch or for after dinner coffee'. While traffic dust, noise and smells obliterated that pleasant idea even before the building opened, the internal courtyard and flexible spaces of the lounge and dining areas, which were new to Melbourne at the time, have continued to adapt well. A visit overseas by Club manager Kelleher ensured that the best ideas in bedroom comfort and food presentation went into the plans; and when the building was opened on 11 March 1961, it was claimed to set new accommodation standards for Melbourne.The opening speech was made by Sir Charles Lowe in his capacity as Administrator of Victoria. But he was also a Club member of forty years' standing, and as a barrister and judge in Victorian law courts he had 'watched the flood of litigation that slowly but surely developed with the arrival of the mass-produced vehicle'. Lowe hastened to add that this was not a lament, merely 'contemporary history', for the motor car had 'become a necessity for a full and modern life'. And since that modern life brought many problems in its train, there was an even greater need for automobile clubs all over the world to serve the motor-car user, to speak for him when he needed a voice and to help with problems he could not solve himself. Listening to Lowe's speech were delegates from English, Scottish, American, Canadian and New Zealand automobile associations, and he courteously acknowledged their presence when he said he had a high regard for motorist organizations which were prepared to serve in this way. The RACV found plenty of occasions to work along the paths Lowe had outlined, in the years after 1961. Old motoring problems loomed larger, and a complex of new ones appeared to cloud the horizon. The dream was becoming tinged with nightmare.'
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1261287
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 108068 | 1 PDF : 952 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |