Mitchell House, 273-285 Elizabeth Street & 352-362 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Mitchell House, 273-285 Elizabeth Street & 352-362 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
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Date of work:
1985
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BIF-CITY 105743
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Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
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Graphic materialsTextual material
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Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER 2022:__________________________________________________Style: ModernePeriod: Inter-WarNotable features: 1. Corner site, bold massing. 2. Strip glazing, columnless construction - terra cotta facing, lettering to facadeDATE: 1936;ASSOCIATIONS: Mitchell, T & Co;DESIGNER: Norris, Harry A.;BUILDER: Hansen and Yuncken.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceMitchell House354-358 Lonsdale StreetHistoryIn the 1880s, Thomas Mitchell's brush manufactory was close to this site, in Little Bourke Street near Elizabeth Street, later occupying nearby 355 - 357 Lonsdale Street. By early this century, Mitchell had part of the present site, extending the holding in 1902 and 1916 to comprise the total area of today's 354 - 362 Lonsdale Street. A permit application was lodged mid 1936, the old Commercial Hotel which had occupied the site was demolished and six levels of the Harry A Norris limit-height design were constructed by builders, Hansen and Yuncken. When complete the new building housed the showroom of Thomas Mitchell & Co Pty Ltd (2nd floor), then wholesale brush and broom makers, hardware and tank merchants and nail and barbed wire manufacturers, while the company's offices lay next door (360 - 362) in a renovated four level building.Early Mitchell House tenants included Mrs Etheridge's cake shop, film distributors United Artists and Atlas Films, Electrolux Pty Ltd and a selection of solicitors and debt collectors on the top floor. These tenants enjoyed erstwhile unparalleled natural lighting to all floors, individually controlled hydraulic radiant heating and automatic (gearless) electric lifts. 'Never before have so many natural advantages been grouped in one building in the heart of Melbourne' said the brochures.DescriptionBecause of its 'vertical features' (applied purely for visual effect to the south and east facades), the style was Streamlined Moderne. Nevertheless the building offered many Modern advantages, particularly the ample natural light afforded by the near continuous horizontal metal-framed glazing strips which encircled two main elevations. Achieved by cantilevering perimeter floor slabs, this aspect also greatly enhanced the buildings streamlined futuristic character. Yule House (1932), Little Collins Street, was the first horizontal column-free metal-framed glazing strips, in the Moderne manner, but over one structural bay and across what was a two-dimensional facade. Mitchell House was the first large commercial building to achieve this over two opposing elevations and, as a result, achieving the rounded off cube form also pursued in contemporary household products such as radios and today termed as 'Art Deco'.IntegrityGenerally externally originalStreetscapeA major corner element in a style well designed to the site also related tothe contemporary Askew House to the west.SignificanceThe first multi-storey office building to achieve full Moderne styling, inthree dimensions, also (with 360-362 Lonsdale St) the most tangible reminder of a major Australian firm..VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER H2232See https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/2662Statement of SignificanceWhat is significant?Mitchell House was designed by the architect Harry Norris and built in 1936-37. It was built for Thomas Mitchell & Co, a leading and long-established local firm of brushware manufacturers. The company had owned land in Lonsdale Street since the 1890s and acquired the adjacent site of the Commonwealth Hotel on the corner of Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets in c1912. In 1936 the company commissioned Norris, then Melbourne's leading designer of modern, large-scale commercial and retail buildings, to design a new ten-storey building, rising to the then height limit of 132 ft (40 metres). Only six storeys were built, with three storeys proposed for a future stage. There were elevated links to connect the building to the company's original premises on the other side of Mitchell's Lane, whose facade would be remodelled at a later date. The contract price for the building was £25,000 and it was built by Hansen & Yuncken in only five months. Mitchells had their showroom on the second floor of the new building, and the other floors and the shops on the ground floor were tenanted. They vacated the building in 1940 for use by the cartographic section of the Australian Survey Corps, and Mitchells never moved back. The building was sold in 1970 and the Mitchell Company was dissolved in 1986.Mitchell House is a six-storey reinforced concrete commercial building in a Streamlined Moderne style, with a matching two-storey section to the north on Elizabeth Street. The main building has a dominant horizontal emphasis, typical of the style, with alternating bands of steel-framed windows and incised spandrels across both frontages and wrapping around the corner. On each of the street frontages is a contrasting vertical element in the form of an off-centre bay defined by a pair of fluted piers enclosing recessed windows. Prominent signage appears as a decorative feature on the building. The name Mitchell House appears on the Elizabeth Street parapet in moulded letters, and also in projected steel lettering along the second floor spandrel on each elevation, and on the second floor balconette is a moulded escutcheon with the words 'The Victor' in a wreath, the company logo of Mitchell's leading brand. Across the end of Mitchell lane to the west of the building is a pair of ornate Art Deco wrought iron gates, also with 'The Victor' logo. The ground floor shopfronts all retain at least some of their original fabric, including tiled spandrels and copper-framed shop windows with matching highlights. The entrance foyer is notably intact, with the original doors, mottled green faience tiling, inlaid terrazzo floors in a pink and green striped pattern and with the initials MH, a striking plastered barrel-vaulted ceiling and the original tenants' directory. One of the two lifts is original, the other has been replaced. The lift lobbies at the upper levels are similar in appearance, though some have been altered. The office areas are more utilitarian in appearance, with rooms opening off corridors defined by simple partitions with steel-framed highlight windows above. The individual office spaces have largely been altered to suit changing needs.This site is part of the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people.How is it significant?Mitchell house is of architectural significance to the state of Victoria.Why is it significant?Mitchell House is of architectural significance as an outstanding and intact example of a Streamlined Moderne commercial building. The striking Moderne character is enhanced by the retention of the original signage and the original finishes in the entrance foyer and lift lobbies. It is significant as the best example of the prominent architect Harry Norris's work in the Streamlined Moderne style, of which Norris was one of Victoria's best-known exponents..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 81; GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTER.GRAEME BUTLER 1982-3, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (VIC) 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE SURVEY and 20th CENTURY BUILDINGS REGISTERhttps://www.academia.edu/34082803/TWENTIETH_CENTURY_ARCHITECTURE_AND_WORKS_OF_VICTORIAMitchell House 352-362 Lonsdale Street MelbourneArchitect: Norris, Harry ABuilt: 1936DescriptionNorris's taste for the Moderne and its essential difference from the early Victorian Modern are illustrated well by this building. The horizontal bands, of the facade, alternating as streamlined cemented spandrels and steel-framed glazing, are unexpectedly interrupted by two much maligned 'vertical features'. One holds the company's logo out over Elizabeth Street; another is a guide to the ground level entrance in Lonsdale Street. It honestly marks the stair well in the Modern manner but, because the vertical elements in Elizabeth Street have only a decorative function(Except for the useful cupboards they supplied internally), the building fell from grace in Modernist eyes. To its credit Mitchell House was one of the first Modern or Moderne CBD buildings located on a corner site: hence the claim: '…no city building has such perfect natural lighting...there is no necessity for artificial lighting anywhere in the building till after sunset'. Mitchell House was also centrally heated via 'hydraulic radiators' in much the same way as the Port Authority Building and other earlier office buildings. Lettering and cladding, shopfronts and some interiors are remarkably unchanged .SignificanceAmong the biggest and most obvious Moderne style office buildings in Melbourne, at its construction, which has remained in near original condition..YUNCKEN FREEMAN ARCHITECTS P/L 1976.. HISTORIC BUILDINGS PRESERVATION COUNCIL MELBOURNE CBD STUDY AREA 5(source 82)Mitchell House352-362 Lonsdale Street (cnr ElizabethStreet)1937Harry A. NorrisHansen and YunckenBuilding UseOffices (Original)Offices (Present)Constructionreinforced concrete and steelHorizontally banded steel framedwindows, cement rendered floor beamtreatment.Conditionexterior - original, interior - intactHistoric BasisSite first bought. by Hugh Glass (1846)The `Family Hotel' was built on this site in 1851 and remained under various names until being demolished for Mitchell House in 1936.Streetscape related to Askew HouseAwards: noneRegistration recommendedHISTORICALThe owners of the building Thos. Mitchell & Co. Pty. Ltd. have an association with the site since 1901, when Thos, Mitchell purchased the site, the portion adjacent to Mitchell Lane for the expansion of part of his Brush manufacturing business initially :established in 1876. In 1902 the company acquired the five storey warehouse across the lane, and followed in 1916 by purchasing the Commonwealth Family Hotel and adjoining 'Assembly Room' on which Mitchell House is now built.The site of Mitchell House, Allotment 8 of Block 29 of Robert Hoddle's plan for Melbourne, was originally purchased from the Crown by Hugh Glass-on August 12th, 1846 for £375 ..Business was rapidly expanding up Elizabeth Street by 1850 and on 13th Mav 1851, Joseph Passmore was granted a licence for the Family Hotel built on the corner and leased from Glass Passmore held the lease for seven years, but transferred to William Hockin in 1852 who purchased it from Gl~~ in 1853 for £12,000 and retained possession for 20 years as the Commercial Family Hotel, Hockin purchased additional frontage of 50 ft and 30 ft in 1854 and 1858, and established his Assembly Room, adjoining the hotel in 1858. Hockins became one of the main centres of social life of this period, at a time when the north end of Melbourne, between Elizabeth Street and flagstaff gardens, was the most fashionable quarter of the city.By far the most important historical association of the site however is the link with the famous coaching firm of Cobb & Co., the stables, stores, coach houses, harness rooms, smithies and booking offices being directly at the rear of the hotel Portions of these building including the old archways giving coach access to the stables were demolished in 1936, along with the hotel, to make way for Mitchell House.From Passmores Family Hotel on the 6th of October 1851 the first stagecoach left for the Ballarat diggings. It was run by James Watt of the Border Inn at Bacchus March, and later taken over by Cobb & Co.ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATIONRecords of Mitchell House and its construction have been made available by the Mitchell family and copies are included in the Appendix. This includes the letting procedures, original contractors and sub-contractors' tenders, pre and post construction photographs etc.At the time of construction, the building was styled as Melbourne's most modern and centrally located building. It was designed as a ten storey two stage project by Harry Norris the Architect, although the second stage, involving four additional floors, was never built. An overhead causeway across Mitchell Lane was designed to connect the building with the firm's adjacent five storey store which was renovated after the completion of Mitchell House. The second floor of Mitchell House was used as offices and showrooms for the Company with the other floors and the ground floor shops available for tenants.The existing building is generally in sound condition with original shop fronts, metal frame windows, terrazzo, glazed terracotta and ornamental wrought iron fixtures and fittings largely intact. The two lower floors are approximately square in plan 90 ft x 80 ft. with upper floor reducing by one bay to 62 ft. by 80 ft. Access to the upper floors is gained off the main entrance and lift lobby adjacent to Mitchell Lane in Lonsdale Street. This has twin lifts with provision for a third and allows through access to double stairs on the north side of the building. Toilet facilities are provided off the half landing of these rear .stairs on a skip floor principle and bridge over Mitchell Lane.ANALYSISFor its day, Mitchell House was a boldly modern building, by Australian standards. Though fairly derivative in design, historically it appears to fall between the excess of Hollywood Modern and the directness of Mendelssohn and the Dutch schools in Europe, and is most reminiscent of the early 30's commercial buildings of firms like Howe and Lecaze in the U.S. such as the Philadelphia Trust Tower 1931 - 32. This design theme is carried through the building in finishes, fittings and graphics. Comparatively, this building is less significant than other Victorian examples of this period such as the McPherson Building, Collins Street, however, the standard of its design theme in terms of both interior and exterior design and its intact condition warrant conserving.The structure of the building employs reinforced slabs, concrete encased steel eye beams and steel plated columns which are clearly evident from the construction photographs. Exterior walls are rendered concrete and brick with interior fixed partitions in concrete, brick and terracotta block. The building was erected by Hansen & Yuncken in only five months for the sum of £26,475 and was completed early in 1937.RECOMMENDATIONIt is recommended that registration should apply to the whole of this building and to Mitchell Lane because of its historic associations with Cobb & Co. It has not been possible to seek out all the information on this site in the time given and as additional information emerges it will be studied to assess its impact on this report.While Registration of Mitchell Lane is recommended on historical grounds reservations of this consultant firm with regard to the Mitchell House warrant only a "registration desirable" category for this building..NATIONAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA (VIC)An outstanding example of the Moderne style in Melbourne, Mitchell House was built in 1937 as offices for the brush manufacturers Thos. Mitchell & Co. It was designed by the architect, Harry Norris, as a two-stage 10 storey building. The additional four floors of the second stage were never completed. The external render sections were originally finished in white cement which, together with its columnless corners and horizontal bands of glass, gave it a thoroughly modern streamlined look.Classified: 09/07/1987.HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSStatement of SignificanceAn outstanding example of the Moderne style of Melbourne, Mitchell House was built in 1937 as offices for the brush manufacturers Thomas Mitchell & Co. It was designed by the architect, Harry Norris, as a two stage 10 storey building. The additional four floors of the second stage were never completed. The external render sections were originally finished in white cement which, together with its columnless corners and horizontal bands of glass, gave it a thoroughly modern streamlined look.'.VICTORIA HERITAGE REGISTER H2232See https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/2662MITCHELL HOUSE - HistoryThe architect: Harry Norris (1888-1966)Harry Norris was born in Hawthorn, was articled with the architectural office of Ward & Carleton, and from c1907 was a Senior Draftsman under Alfred Carleton, after which he set up his own practice. His first project was a Masonic Temple in Bell Street, Preston, and later many other projects in Melbourne's north and north-east suburbs, including houses in Preston, Northcote and Heidelberg, a motor garage in Clifton Hill, a factory in Brunswick, RSL clubrooms in Preston and Northcote, and another Masonic Temple in Northcote. His first major city building (1923) was the Tattersall's Club, now Curtin House, in Swanston Street.Two major clients of Norris's, who would provide him with countless commissions, were retailer G J Coles and pharmaceutical manufacturer Alfred Nicholas.HISTORY OF PLACE[information taken from the nomination report written by Simon Reeves of Built Heritage Pty Ltd for the Art Deco and Modernist Society]The site on the north-west corner of Lonsdale and Elizabeth Streets was acquired in 1846 by Hugh Glass, who five years later built a hotel, known as the Family Hotel until 1852, when the lease was transferred to William Hockin and the building was renamed the Commercial Hotel. The following year Hockin purchased the site from Hugh Glass and, after acquiring additional land along Lonsdale Street, erected the so-called Assembly Rooms alongside the hotel in 1858. Although the hotel underwent several changes in name, becoming Hockin's Hotel and later the Commonwealth Hotel, it remained in Hockin's ownership (and later that of his estate) for the next six decades.Thomas Mitchell (1856-1926) commenced the manufacture of brushware in 1876 in a modest factory in Graham lane, off Little Bourke Street. By the early 1890s he had relocated to nearby premises at 357 Lonsdale Street. In 1901 he acquired a larger property on the opposite side of the street at no 360, west of Hockin's Hotel, and transferred a portion of the business there, and a year later purchased no 362 Lonsdale Street. More than a decade later he finally acquired the hotel on the corner from the Hockin Estate, with plans to expand in that direction some time in the future, but he died before the planned new building on the site was commenced. By 1929 the business had grown to require a factory covering three and a half acres.The prominent architect Harry Norris was commissioned to design a new city headquarters for Thomas Mitchell & Company in 1936, the year of the company's diamond anniversary. Norris was at that time Melbourne's leading modern designer of large-scale commercial and retail buildings. The proposed design was for a ten storey office block, rising up to the 132 foot (40 metre) height limit that had been imposed in central Melbourne since the 1920s. In order to lure prospective tenants a publicity brochure was prepared that included a perspective drawing of the proposed ten storey tower. Titled "Mitchell House - the Heart of the City', this document proudly outlined the building's appearance and superlative modern appointments:Each floor has complete natural lighting on three sides . no city building has such perfect natural lighting. In place of the conventional window apertures in the upper storeys, Mitchell House has transparent glass enclosed in frames of steel, extending along the full width of the building in both Lonsdale and Elizabeth streets. The interior lighting is therefore perfect throughout the day. There are no dark corners and there is no necessity for artificial lighting till after sunset.The whole building from top to bottom is centrally heated on a new and ingenious plan known as hydraulic heating. Each tenant controls his own hydraulic radiator, and thus can adjust the temperature of his part of the premises to suit himself. The architects had as their constant aim, a bright healthy well-ventilated building and this they have more than succeeded. The most modern, silent, smooth-running automatic electric lifts are installed.Never before have so many natural advantages been grouped in one building in the heart of the City of Melbourne.Designed almost entirely in reinforced concrete, steel and glass, the building included input from leading structural engineer Clive S Steele, who had worked with Norris on a number of earlier projects, including the new G J Coles store in Bourke Street and the house Burnham Beeches in Sherbrooke.The final drawings submitted to the MCC show that the building had been reduced to six storeys, with three additional levels indicated as a proposed future stage. The Elizabeth Street frontage had also dropped down to two storeys at the northern end. The drawings also indicated a series of elevated links that connected the new building to the company's original premises at no 360, on the other side of Mitchell's Lane. Its facade would be remodelled at a later time. A building permit was issued by the MCC in June 1936 and demolition of the old Commonwealth Hotel on the corner began in September 1936. The contract price for the new building was £25,000 and it was built by Hansen & Yuncken in only five months.Mitchell House appears in the Sands & McDougall Directory for the first time in 1938, listed at both 271-281 Elizabeth Street and 354-8 Lonsdale Street. The company had its showrooms on the second floor, while other tenants included a blouse manufacturer on the first floor, a vacuum cleaner supplier on the third floor, a commercial artist on the fourth floor and the offices of United Artists on the top floor. The shops on Elizabeth Street were occupied by a shoe shop (no 273-5), a vacuum cleaner showroom ( no 277), a tobacconist (no 279) and the Spot Cafe (no 281), and those on Lonsdale Street by Mrs Gillooly's boot repairs (no 354), A L Campbell & Coy (no 356) and a cake shop (no 358). Thomas Mitchell & Co was still listed at nos 3602, as 'wholesale brush and broom manufacturers, hardware and tank merchants, nail and barbed wire manufacturers'.Mitchells spent only a brief time in the building. In 1940 they vacated their showroom on the second floor for use by the cartographic section of the Australian Survey Corps as a drawing office, and Mitchell's never moved back. The firm was until the late 1960s one of the five largest brush manufacturers in Australia, but it declined after the abolition of tariffs for imported products. The building was sold in 1970 to the prominent property developer Henry Krongold, and the Mitchell company was dissolved in May 1986.Plans were prepared by Krongold's company in the 1980s for the redevelopment of the site, with Mitchell House to be retained and a high-rise building constructed on the remainder of the block, to the west and north of Mitchell House, but this never went ahead..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Friday 26 February 1937, page 14 illusthttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244898062
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| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
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| Original | 105743 | 1 PDF : 2,121 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |