Victorian Printing Works, 17-23 Wills Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Victorian Printing Works, 17-23 Wills Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 110168
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 2024:__________________________________________________DATE: 1937;ASSOCIATIONS: Victorian Printing Works Pty Ltd,;DESIGNER: Eric C. Beedham;BUILDER: Swanson Bros.Style: Streamlined ModernePeriod: Inter-War___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM_______________________________________Melbourne Planning Scheme Amendment C198 Panel Report 11 July 2014...Another notable building in the City of Melbourne by Beedham is the former Printing Works building at 17‐23 WillsStreet of 1937 in the Streamlined Moderne._______________________________________City of Melbourne Maps (COM Maps):see Interwar elevation onto Singers Lane_______________________________________Built Heritage web sitehttps://www.builtheritage.com.au/dua_beedham.htmlERIC C BEEDHAM (1895-1947)Biographical OverviewBorn in Hobart on 4 September 1895, Eric Claude Beedham was the youngest child (and second son) of Frederick Wescott Beedham and the former Isabel Sara Kipling. He was educated at the Friends' High School (a denominational Quaker school, founded in Hobart in 1887) and later attended the short-lived Queen's College (a private school, which operated from 1893 to 1912). Eric commenced his professional career as an articled pupil of his elder brother, Lancelot Kipling Beedham (1889-1944), who had established an architectural practice in Hobart in 1912. Completing his articles in 1916, the younger Beedham joined the Hobart City Council as an Assistant Engineer & Architect. During this period, he undertook at least one private commission under his own name - the design of a church hall in Goulburn Street, Hobart (1918), for which the then 23-year-old Beedham was credited as "honorary architect". Later that year, Beedham moved to Sydney and joined the office of John & H G Kirkpatrick, which, at that time, was the preferred architectural firm of the Commonwealth Government. Beedham rose to the position of Managing Assistant for Australia, which required him to oversee the firm's projects undertaken outside New South Wales. In that capacity, Eric Beedham supervised the construction of the Banknote Printing Office in Fitzroy (1923) and the new Commonwealth Bank buildings in Collins Street, Melbourne (1920-24), Moorabool Street, Geelong (1925) and Queen Street, Brisbane (1927-28). Beedham was also involved in the development of the Commonwealth's ambitious War Service Homes programme to provide architect-designed dwellings for returned servicemen.Concurrently, Eric Beedham had maintained a private architectural practice in both Sydney and Melbourne. He was was still residing in Sydney in 1923 (when he married Nellie Godfrey) but had settled permanently to Melbourne by 1927. There, his private practice initially concentrated on residential commissions. One large house in Toorak, designed in 1925 for prominent businessman Louis C Moore, attracted much press attention both locally and interstate. In early 1926, the Hobart Mercury reported that "news has been received in Hobart of the success on the mainland of Mr Eric C Beedham, FLIA, a young architect and native of Hobart. He has received very considerable commendation for his design of the residence of Mr Louis C Moore, Byroyna, of Toorak. The Australian Home Beautiful of December 12, 1925, has many illustrations of this residence, and speaks in glowing terms of Mr Beedham, one of Melbourne's youngest architects, who has set his mark on Toorak and is likely to be heard a good deal of in the future". This would indeed be the case.Eric Beedham's professional practice was still thriving by 1930, although he had already begun to move away from residential projects towards larger-scale commercial and industrial ones. In 1934, he entered into partnership with architect John W Wright (1892-1962), who had maintained his own practice in Melbourne from 1921. In partnership for about four years, Beedham & Wright undertook a string of commissions of various types, although the bulk of their output was factories - most of which, moreover, were located in the booming industrial heartland of South Melbourne. These were invariably designed in the then-fashionable Streamlined Moderne style, with multi-paned strip windows alternating with continuous spandrels to provide a dominant horizontal emphasis. By mid-1937, Beedham was again practising on his own, although he continued to specialise in factory design. As was typical for many, Beedham's architectural practice diminished during the later years of the Second World War, but, unlike some, it re-emerged afterwards, when he resumed designing factories in Melbourne's inner industrial suburbs. These, however, proved to be his last projects. On the evening of 9 May 1947, Beedham collapsed at St Kilda Railway Station, and died as he was being taken to the Alfred Hospital. He was 52 years old. Beedham's elder brother, Lancelot, who had followed him to Melbourne in 1922 and gained a position in the Public Works Department, predeceased him by four years.Select List of ProjectsEric C BeedhamSunday School for St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Goulburn Street, HobartResidence for Louis C Moore (Byronya), Toorak Road, ToorakResidence for A B Sanders (Carn Brae), 429 Glenferrie Road, MalvernResidence for Arthur Stallwood, 8 Monaro Road, MalvernFactory for Schempp Textile Mills Pty Ltd, Ballarat [with L W Vernon]Alteration to shop front for W Owen, Armstrong Street, Ballarat [with L W Vernon]Film Exchange for Universal Film Company, Lonsdale Street, MelbourneFactory for Flax Corporation (Aust) Ltd, Port FairyExtensions to Bank House, Bank Place, Melbourne1937 Factory for Victorian Printing Works Pty Ltd, 21-29 Wills Street, MelbourneFactory for Rola Company (Aust) Pty Ltd, Yarra Boulevard, RichmondFactory for Jex Pty Ltd, 77 Burnley Street (cnr Doonside Street), RichmondFactory, Weston Street, BrunswickService station, 311 North Road (cnr Bambra Road), CaulfieldFactory, 177 Queensberry Street, CarltonWarehouse for Joseph Lucas (Aust) Pty Ltd, 81-85 Bouverie Street, CarltonResidential flats, Lalbert Crescent, PrahranAdditional storey to factory, Clarendon Street, South MelbourneFactory, South MelbourneFactory for Farrow Falcon Press Pty Ltd, Chapel Street, PrahranFactory for Austral Battery Works, 19-25 Marine Parade, CollingwoodBeedham & Wright (1934-37)Block of flats, Mercer Road, MalvernService station & workshop for Pioneer Tourist Coaches Ltd, Sturt Street, South MelbourneFactory for Sanderson & Cheney Pty Ltd, 4 Kavanagh Street, South MelbourneFactory for Messrs James Edwards & Sons, Kavanagh Street, South MelbourneFactory for Rola Company (Aust) Pty Ltd, 81-83 City Road, South MelbourneResidential flats, 15 Cowderoy Street (cnr Park Street), St KildaPresbyterian Church Hall, Glenferrie Road, HawthornService station for Melford Motors, 112-118 Sturt Street, South MelbourneFactory for C W Vail, 9-15 Moray Street (cnr City Road), South Melbourne.Select References"Successful Hobart Architect",Hobart Mercury, 22 February 1926, p 8.Who's Who in Australia (1927), p 864."Fatal collapse", Age, 10 May 1947, p 9.Miles Lewis (ed), Australian Architectural Index_______________________________________NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1937The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)Tuesday 28 December 1937 - Page 11https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205553293 illustNew Printing Works.RECORD FACTORY JOB.Careful thought has been given to future requirements in the planning of the new factory for Victorian Printing Works Pty. Ltd., at 10-12 Wills-street, off Latrobe-street, between Queen and William streets. Lighting .and .lay-out are on the most modern lines, and the building which has been designed to ware house loading requirements (providing for extra structural strength), will be erected In sections. Work is now In progress on the first two floors, shown In the accompanying perspective, but the architect (Mr. Eric C. Beedham) has planned the structure with a view to the ultimate addition of three more stories, as occasion demands. The concrete framed building, panel filled with steel and glass, will rise above a handsome brick base. Above the base 80 per cent, or the" exterior will be in glass, the continuity of which will, be broken only by ;he cement rendered piers and horizontal bands. Each floor, of 8000 square feet, will thus be exceptionally well supplied with daylight, and the only internal obstructions will be the concrete piers supporting the higher structure. Lighting, in fact, has been made a special feature of the building to ensure the best facilities for the owners, who specialise In modern decorative printing, it Is their intention, at first, to confine their business to the ground floor and lease the rest of the premises. With this idea in view, the ground floor has been planned to provide office accommodation, paper store and shop and to house the printing works and main entrance and staircase. In addition to Wills-street, the premises will be served by 20-feet roads at the side and rear. The site was recently purchased at auction through Abercromby and Beatty Pty. Ltd., and the builders are Swanson Bros. Pty. Ltd.
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Record number:
1266011
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 110168 | 1 JPEG : 653 KB ; A4 | Single Item (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |