McLean Brothers and Rigg machinery hall later Hudson Stores, 655-667 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
McLean Brothers and Rigg machinery hall later Hudson Stores, 655-667 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101164
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:
Style: Elizabethan RevivalPeriod: Victorian, Edwardian façadeConstruction date: 1868-1877Notable features: Padlock motif in stucco and 'MR' initialASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistory(Refer also to 107-113 Elizabeth Street)This site, then described as part of the Catholic Church (St. Augustine's) reserve, was first built on during 1876-7 when the ironmongery firm McLean Brothers & Rigg added a 'brick store and iron store at rear' to their already extensive premises in Elizabeth Street (qv) and large basalt store at Port Melbourne. The builder was Peter Cunningham but the architect is unknown; the building bears the date 1876, presumably the starting date of the site's development. Cunningham's notice of intention to build gave this description: ...Walls of brick, roof of timber covered with corrugated iron. Size of store 33 feet and 58 feet over the walls....The site measured 116 x 300 feet deep.Three years later, the architect, Edward Twentyman, designed a 'small house' in nearby Francis Street for the firm and, in 1881-2, an 'additional store' was built in their Bourke Street west premises also to Twentyman's design. The builder was W G Hewitt. An etching of c1874 shows the chimney and twin bowed factory roofs of McPherson's steam saw mills, to the west, whilst a modest cottage occupies this site. By 1880, a similar view shows a single gabled store, extending in two sections, from Bourke to Little Collins Street. The 1888 Mahlsdedt & Gee plan shows today's plan, brick at the front and iron at the rear. However, Victoria and its Metropolis (c1887) described only one 'bonded store 120 x 25 feet' attached to the Bourke Street site, together with a 'small iron yard'.It is possible that a new facade may have been applied to both stores when the second was built in 1881-2, to Twentyman's design.The MMBW Detail Plan (1895) also shows two structures similar to today, each around 58 feet frontage and the eastern store extending the full 300 feet site depth: neither resembles the narrow 25 feet wide store of the 1887description. A 'storing shed' facing Little Collins Street approximates this dimension but is situated on the site's westboundary, not the east as shown in the 1880 etching. Twentyman & Askew also designed the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Co. (1890), next door.Architect, Charles D'Ebro, designed McLean Brothers & Rigg's new Elizabeth Street premises (107-113, qv), built 1888-9 , and it is vaguely possible that the two stores presently on the site were to his design and this was done prior to 1895 and the facade, prior to the Hornsby & Sons Ltd. occupation of the building early this century (given the McLean & Rigg insignia on the facade). This may also explain the Elizabethan revival facade character (see Winfield Building).Hornsby and later Ruston & Hornsby, well known machinery importers, remained there until the 1930s when hardwaremerchants, Hudson's Stores, began in 655-59 and Carlyon's motor garage, in 661-65 Bourke Street.Description(Detailed inspection needed)A cemented facade with brick stores behind, the façade possesses an Elizabethan character with its Flemish parapet line combined with classical mouldings. Incised designs within each cement panel depict allegiance to the queen, the threshold date of the site's development and a padlock symbolising the stock in trade. Further work is required to establish the authorship and facade date but nevertheless the likely date of 1882 makes the elevation (particularly the Flemish gable and incising) unusually ornate for the period.IntegrityGenerally externally original (surviving Bourke Street elevation), with the exception of window details and doorswhich are sympathetic in material and form.StreetscapeThe first of what remains (to date) as a relatively intact warehouse precinct (north side), related by the subtle infusion of Medieval architecture (Flemish gable) to the Twentyman & Askew tramways building next door, the police station and Catholic church to the east.Significance(Preliminary)An apparently early essay in the Elizabethan manner, particularly for use on a warehouse, and as a complex containing high integrity to its continued use as a hardware retailer particularly as linked to Victoria's largest 19th century hardware merchandisers, McLean Brothers & Rigg also related in use and form to the commercial/public building precinct which survives in this part of Bourke Street.'HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSA large single-storey warehouse and constructed in 1876-7 for the ironmongers McLean Brothers and Rigg. It was one of a number of large warehouses established in that period at the western end of Bourke Street that were associated with agricultural implements. It is now a very rare example of its building type in the central city and is of significance in illustrating an important 19th century commercial activity to western Melbourne.'NATIONAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA (VIC) 1980The Bourke Street premises of McLean Brothers and Rigg were built in 1876-77 as an ironmongery and hardware store. Peter Cunningham was the builder and no architect has been identified as designer of this classically derived cement rendered facade of three bay composition, central carriageway and surmounting ornamented pediment. The clear span timber roof trusses enclose a utilitarian interior with brick external walls totally unadorned. The firm McClean Bros and Rigg was established in 1872 and by 1888 was the largest hardware merchant organisation in Victoria. Their Bourke Street premises strategically located near the railyards dealt mainly in agricultural equipment and the building still operates as a retail hardware outlet. The facade is an interesting adaptation of classical elements in a composition which heralds the "boom style classicism" of the 1880's in Melbourne. The ornamental mouldings, including the incised decoration and the stylised "padlock" crest of the owners, is of interest.Hudson's Stores is typical of industrial stores in the western region of the C.B.D. of Melbourne and survives relatively intact.Classified: 14/02/1980NEWSPAPERSThe Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil 11.2.1882 p 43`NEW MELBOURNE BUILDINGS.MESSRS. McLEAN BROS. AND RIGG, BOURKE STREET WEST.This well-known and enterprising firm have just completed an extensive addition to their Bourke-street establishment, in order to keep pace with trade requirements and meet .the wishes of their, constituents. The Bourke-street building is used almost entirely for storage purposes, the wholesale and retail business being carried on in Elizabeth-street and Collins-place. The buildings now cover the whole area at the disposal of the firm, having a frontage to Bourke-street of 116ft., and running back 313ft. to Little Collins-street. A commodious, well-lighted machinery-hall, 150ft. by 58ft., situated on the western side of the old building, is the most, important adjunct to the premises. It has been specially constructed for the benefit of the agricultural community, and its contents are so admirably arranged and classified,, that those in need of agricultural implements may obtain 'what they require without the least inconvenience or delay. - Steam engines, threshers, ploughs, hayrakes, chaffcutters, oatcrushers, &c, have each their respective divisions; in addition for M'Cormack's reapers and wire binders, Fairbank's platform scales, and the Coventry Machinist Company's bicycles, of which Messrs. M'Lean Bros, and Rigg are the Victorian agents. At the rear of the machinery hall is the bar and sheet, iron depot. Here the most striking feature is a large and substantial iron rack capable of holding 2,000 tons, besides giving extensive storage accommodation above. Another section of the building is set apart for the storage of galvanised iron, fencing wire, and heavy packages received direct from the ship. Its holding capacity is, in round numbers, 10,000 tons. One portion, measuring 133ft. by 23,. is partitioned off as a general bond, in accordance with the regulations of the Customs department. There is access for drays to almost every part of the new buildings, and the facilities for the removal of goods are further increased by the erection of a travelling crane in the centre of the hall. This is so simple a contrivance that one man can work it without the least inconvenience. A tramway has also been laid down the entire length of the building. Adequate provision for offices and show-rooms has been made at the northern end, and the contract was completed by the erection of caretaker's quarters on the Little Collins-street frontage. Mr. E. Twentynian was the architect, and Mr. W.G. Hewitt the builder. 'Australia Posthttp://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1593.shtmlMESSRS McLEAN BROS. & RIGG, HARDWARE MERCHANTS, MELBOURNEThe cover has a printed lilac ‘TWO PENCE’ stamp of Victoria cancelled with a duplex MELBOURNE/ 14 A/ OC 19/ 88 with the VICTORIA obliterator over the stamp. It is addressed to Messrs McLean Bros & Rigg, Elizabeth St, Melbourne. The reverse was not seen (Figure 1).William McLean, merchant, was born on 12 January 1845 in Dumfries, Scotland, son of Peter McLean, cabinet maker, and his wife Jane. The family arrived in Melbourne in 1853 and William completed his education. He was employed first by John McTier and later by the hardware firm, E. Keep & Co. After seven years McLean was ready to open his own hardware business and in 1870 he went into partnership with T. E. White. In 1872 the partnership was dissolved and McLean was joined by his brother Joseph as well as William Rigg, and the firm was known as McLean Bros & Rigg, which specialized in wholesale and retail ironmongery, general hardware and machinery importing.The new company grew quickly into one of the successes of 'Marvellous Melbourne'. In 1876 the partners opened an office in London; branches were established at Adelaide in 1879 and Sydney in 1884, also in Perth, and an office in New York in 1886. In 1887 the firm became a limited liability company with the partners holding a controlling interest and McLean as general manager. The company was very prosperous. In 1887 the 'emporium' in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, was claimed to be 'second to none in Victoria'; it specialized in hardware and machinery, but furniture, silverware, clocks and marble and bronze statuary were also featured. A picture of the building opened in Perth is seen in Figure 2. At the rear, McLean Bros & Rigg built a four-storied wholesale warehouse in Collins Place, Melbourne and had an iron yard and bond store in Bourke Street. Imported machinery was assembled in a large bluestone factory at Port Melbourne. McLean had many overseas agencies and with patent rights to many local inventions was able to diversify his business. In the 1880s Victoria's protectionist policy opened a profitable field for investment and McLean, though a moderate free trader, he was quick to exploit the new opportunities, taking large contracts from the Victorian railways, Melbourne Tramway Trust, Telegraph Department and Public Works Department. He described himself as a follower of the 'Conservative Party' but twice resisted pressure to contest safe Legislative Council seats. In 1883 he argued cogently before the royal commission on the tariff, supporting the infant industry argument but detailing many anomalies of the tariff structure.McLean was appointed a justice of the peace for the Central Bailiwick and in 1884 a commissioner of the Savings Banks of Victoria. He served on the Melbourne Hospital Committee in 1882-94, and was chairman of the Melbourne Permanent Building Society, a director of the Federal Bank and chairman of the Melbourne Coffee Taverns Co. A strong advocate for temperance he was treasurer of the Victorian Alliance and a supporter of the Northcote Inebriate Retreat. He was well known for his charity generosity, while the land boom lasted. He was prominent in several banks, as well as the Union Finance Co. The collapse of the boom made McLean's insolvency inevitable. In 1894 he resigned his public offices and filed his schedule for £200,000, most of which was owed to the Federal and Real Estate Banks. He was allowed to retain his general managership in McLean Bros & Rigg and was finally released from sequestration in 1898. In 1900 he resigned from the firm which was bought by Thomas Luxton in 1907.After retirement McLean made the last of his eight visits to Europe and in 1901 set up as a manufacturers' agent in Little Flinders Street. His health was failing and he was ordered to rest but would not follow medical advice. On 6 February 1905 he was found drowned off the Middle Brighton pier. In 1869 he had married Margaret, daughter of Andrew Arnot. Of their eleven children, Oliver was active for some years in the firm's management. A picture of William McLean is seen in Figure 3. No worthwhile information has been found on his partner William Rigg, but McLean’s wife Margaret McLean (1845-1923) was a person in her own right, as a feminist, school teacher, social reformer, temperance advocate and a women’s suffragist; she is seen in Figure 4.The above paper was abstracted from the entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
Names:
Topics:
Places:
Form/Genre:
Record types:
Research and reports
Record number:
1188267
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101164 | 1 PDF : 871 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |