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City of Melbourne Power Station, 204-240 Spencer Street, Melbourne

Butler, Graeme1985

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Butler, Graeme (Name details)

Date of work:

1985

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 105718

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 2022:__________________________________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM cites source 85 Lawrie Wilson & Associates, 1977. Historic Buildings Preservation Council Report on CBD Block No 6 Dec 1977 , page 257.VICTORIAN HERITAGE INVENTORY H7822-1219https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/91341866 map shows building set back from street. 1880 Panorama shows small buildings scattered across largely vacant site.1888 - timber yard 1905 - City Council yards and sheds. Also City of Melbourne Electric Light Station (detailed layout shown)._______________________________________________________________________________.NATIONAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA (VIC)Statement of SignificanceWhat is significant?A power station to generate electricity was established on this corner in 1894 by the Melbourne City Council, initially to supply electricity for street lighting. The establishment of the Melbourne City Council Electricity Supply Department (MCCESD) was a major departure from privately owned power generators at the time, and the City of Melbourne was the first to do so. It was one of only four generators in the State at the time, and produced half the electricity then produced. The popularity of electricity for a range of purposes led to the rapid expansion of the facility, which saw the original turbine room and boiler house greatly expanded and altered many times before WWI. In 1907 the original station manager's residence and offices on the corner were replaced by a large chimney and coal facility. This chimney was dismantled in the 1970s and reconstructed at the Williamstown Railway Museum and the corner used as a coal yard. The Offices facing Spencer Street replaced the front part of the 1894 turbine hall in 1908, and the Economiser Building was constructed in the same year attached to the engine room which ran along Little Bourke Street. They were designed by the MCCESD. In the 1920s the large 1880s cast-iron water tank associated with the operation of the hydraulic power supply in the CBD was installed adjacent to the office buildings / turbine hall, suspended over a laneway (This is separately classified B6983). In the mid 1950s the larger part of the site facing Lonsdale Street was redeveloped as a modern gas fired power station, which operated until 1981. In 2008/9 the 1950s section of the power station was demolished, as well as many other earlier buildings, including the one remaining structure from 1894, the turbine hall behind the office building.The Offices are in red brick with a parapeted facade with cement render dressings forming Renaissance Revival window surrounds on the upper level, large arched windows on the lower level and an elaborated doorway.The Economiser building is in red brick, with a gable roof, in a temple-like form with a prominent rendered cornice, a pediment like gable end, and tall arched windows set in rectangular brick reveals.The coal yard is an open space enclosed by the two buildings and a 1980s Victorian style fence on the street sides.How is it significant?The Offices, Economiser Building and coal yard of the former Melbourne Power Station are significant for historic, architectural, and technical reasons at a State level.Why is it significant?The Offices, Economiser Building and coal yard of the former Melbourne Power Station are of historical significance as the last remnants of Victoria's first municipal electricity supply station. They are also amongst the oldest buildings associated with electricity supply in Victoria.The buildings are of architectural significance as relatively elaborate industrial buildings. The Offices are a fairly typical Edwardian classically inspired facade, while the Economiser building is notable for its almost temple-like form, with a front pediment and regular arched windows on the side elevation.Classified: 06/06/1994.Revised: 29/01/2007Report Revised: 27/09/2010File note May, 2010: Everything demolished except office& economiser buildings and overhead water tank. See (B6983)File note December 2016: Office facade remains, with apartment building behind..HERITAGE BRANCH, MINISTRY FOR PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT 1987 CITY OF MELBOURNE CENTRAL CITY NOTABLE BUILDINGS CITATIONSSTATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCEThe building front Spencer Street on this block are the surviving remnants of the power station established in 1894 by the Melbourne City Council to provide electric lighting in the streets of the city for the first time. The complex also contained the water reservoir and pumps to drive the hydraulic lifts of tall buildings in the city. The brick buildings at the Little Bourke Street corner include the offices and parts of the engine and dynamo rooms. The building at the Lonsdale Street corner was a sub-station built in 1920..CONTEXT (WITH GJM HERITAGE) 2020, HODDLE GRID HERITAGE REVIEWFormer Electricity Supply Store, 602-606 Little Bourke Street, and CitiPower substation, (part of) 620-648 Little Bourke StreetBoth the former Electricity Supply Store (built in stages in 1949 and 1955) and CitiPower substation (built c1910-25) were developed as part of the broader Spencer Street Power Station that closed in 1982.The 2008 redevelopment of the former Spencer Street Power Station site resulted in physical changes and disintegration of the buildings in that complex..NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)1893The complete lighting of the city of Melbourne by electricity will probably be accomplished at the beginning of next year.1897https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/9782784desirableness of expanding the electric lighting arrangements of the Railway department… a comprehensive electric lighting scheme carried out, with the generating works at the Spencer streetpower station... etc

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Central Activities District Conservation Study 1985Conservation studiesFederation/Edwardian styleOffices1900-1909Power supply establishments

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1250718