Centreway Arcade, 259-263 Collins Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
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Total copies: 1
Title:
Centreway Arcade, 259-263 Collins Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 102084
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
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UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
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ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:Period: EdwardianConstruction date: 1912Notable features: early steel frame buildingArchitects: H.W. & F.B. Tompkins.GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYStatement of SignificanceHistoryTwo years before their first Myer design, the Tompkins Brothers designed this retail arcade and office block for the trustees of Frank Stuart's estate. Clements Langford was the builder of what was the Tompkins' second commission of many to come in Melbourne city. Frank Stuart had formerly been the manager of Lincoln Stewart & Co. Pty. Ltd., clothing importers and manufacturers, of Flinders Street. However, this firm was not among the building's many tenants who occupied the six office floors, the arcade's shops and its two kiosks. Cafe Francatelli (later Cafe Navaretti) was in the basement during the 1920s and aloft, in the office floors were sprinkled tenants like Shave the ladies tailor, the Governess's Association, Miss A.B. Coles artist and designer, and the Quamby Club who took one whole floor, as did Alice Mills, a photographer.The RVIA wrote of the building's construction in their journal, noting its all steel frame as among the first built: wrought iron frames having been used as early as 1887 in Melbourne, with cast iron(columns) and steel(beams) mixtures following. Johns and Waygood were the fabricators and engineers for this new steel structure.DescriptionThe distinctive part of this elevation is the giant arch spanning the ground floor but although the balance of the facade adopts a familiar formula (an attic storey above long window strips and placed between bayed oriels ), the applied ornament is slightly different. The Tompkins introduce here a more Baroque inspired approach which was to continue in their work until their neo- Gothic Myer Bourke Street design. By comparison, the architect who pioneered the use of twin and windows to frame a facade in the English Queen Anne styled Austral Buildings (1891), Nahum Barnet, also used a shallow arch at ground level in that design. A later Barnet design, 264-268 Flinders Street in 1905 (qv), takes this formula out of the English Queen Anne revival style into a Baroque inspired manner where broken pediments crown the oriels and a huge arch spans the centre ground floor (see Thornley's Mersey Docks Building, Liverpool, 1903- 7).The Tompkins' approach differs in the use of the attic storey and balconette (see also 14 Collins Street), its wrought iron balustrade, and the huge consoles beneath. French style cartouches decorate spandrels and victory wreaths encircle the two elliptical windows above the main arch. This was a design method which was to repeat in the Melbourne Steamship Company and the Commercial Travellers' Association Buildings (qv).Of note is the early suspended verandah, shaped and clad in a manner more common in later buildings.External IntegrityGenerally externally original, including the unusual, wedge- shaped verandah and its fascia lettering.StreetscapeIsolated.SignificanceAn early and externally well-preserved design in the Edwardian Baroque manner and the first use of a design approach used in later important commercial buildings by Melbourne's most prolific architects of the period prior to World War Two..GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM 78,7.49;Victoria Illustrated: 154LEWIS, M- AUSTRALIAN ARCHITECTURE INDEXRecord 74684 Tompkin, H B & F W -Stuart, Frank - Trustees Melbourne VIC Office Buildings Langford, Clement - 275 Bridge Rd Richmond 1911 07 27 2785, MCC registration no 2785 [Burchett Index]. Fee 7.5.0 arcade & offices, Collins near Collins - 259/63.NEWSPAPERS (TROVE)Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931)Saturday 29 October 1910 - Page 39https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/164709889?OBITUARY.Mr. Frank Stuart.News was received in Melbourne on October 20 by cable message from Aden of the death of Mr. Frank Stuart, head of Lincoln; Stuart, & Co.,; Proprietary,. Limited, clothiers, of Flinders street. Mr. Stuart wag returning to Melbourne from London on board the R.M.S. Otranto, and' died on Sunday on the voyage between Suez and Aden. He was buried at sea.Deceased, who was 64 years of age, left a widow and three sons. He was a member of the Victorian legislative Assembly from 1889 to 1893, and accepted .a portfolio with office in the Munro Administration. Mr. Stuart afterwards entered the Legislative Council, where he remained for 13 years.(Estate probate ₤30,644 personal).The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954)Thursday 23 February 1911 - Page 3https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/242215624CENTRE OF COLLINS STREET.LATE FRANK STUART'S PROJECTThe late Mr Frank Stuart's project to form an arcade from Collins street to Flinders lane, nearly opposite the pre sent Block Arcade, is about to be realised. -Mr Leslie Stuart, solicitor, son of the late Mr Stuart, has given Instructions to Messrs w. H. and F. B. Tompkins, architects, for the demolition of Metropolitan Chambers, and the old Athenaeum Club, and the erection of a substantial six-story arcade building on the site. The late Mr. Stuart bought the present building with, this project In view, but died before the plans were got out.The new building will have six stories and a basement on land 67ft. x 150ft., with frontage - to Collins street and rear exit to a lane leading past Robert Hold's old warehouse Into. Flinders lane,, and thence. In a direct line Into Degraves street, past Lincoln, Stuart and Co.'s and the. Mutual Store, Into Flinders street and the Central Railway Station. The form of building construction will be steel frame and. brick work— a method now to Melbourne, whereby a consider able saving can be effected In wall space, as the thickness of walls can be very materially reduced on account of the extra strength imparted by steel pillars running from the bottom to the top of the building.The steel frame will go up first In skeleton form, and each floor will be carried on it, independent of the floors below. The front elevation will Unfinished In cement, and Us main architectural feature will be an arch of 25 ft. span, rising to the ceiling of the second storey. ,Right and left of the Collins street entrance will be four shops, and down the sides of the arcade will be 17 more. The arcade will be 16ft. wide, and covered with a clear glass roof. The remainder of the building is to be of skeleton construction, and can be divided up to suit tenants. The floors will be of reinforced concrete, carried on steel work, and the structure will be practically fireproof. Special forced draught fans will be fitted in the basement to ensure good ventilation, and the office floors will be served by two electric lifts. It will be essentially a women's building to meet a strong demand for millinery show rooms, etc.When completed, the arcade Is expected to open a new artery for pedestrian traffic, relieving the ever-increasing congestion In Elizabeth street, and directing thousands of passengers Into the Central Station subway opposite to Degraves street, which has hitherto not been sufficiently used by the public.
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Research and reports
Record number:
1192826
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 102084 | 1 PDF : 1,055 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |