Century Building, Melbourne

This little section of Swanston Street is very interesting because it shows two buildings by architect Marcus Barlow at either end of the block with Capitol House (1924) by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin sandwiched between them.

The brown building in the background is Barlow's Manchester Unity (1932) which echoes the style of the Raymond Hood's Chicago Tribune Building (1922).

But the white building in the foreground, Century House (1938-40), also by Marcus Barlow when compared to the Manchester Unity shows how much his thinking changed over the course of 5 or 6 years.

While both buildings have similar structure, each with a tower on the corner, the Century Building is much simpler and shining white.

Viewed from the other end of the block, the name can clearly be seen etched into the side of the building.

The angle also shows the vertical columns that run the height of the building.

In this closer view of the roofline, those columns almost look like a hand grasping the base of the tower.