Once upon a time, 1858-59 according to the National Trust of Australia classification, the Bank of New South Wales built their Melbourne head office, designed by Joseph Reed, in Collins Street. By the 1930s, the bank needed a new building so their old head office was demolished but the façade was saved and gifted to the University of Melbourne.
In 1938 it was incorporated into what became known as the Old Commerce Building at the university's Parkville campus. You can see the join in the photo below.
Old Commerce had some nice deco features as you will see in the following pics.
And some nice metalwork on the stairways inside.
Over the summer, the Old Commerce Building was demolished to allow for the construction of a new building for the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, but don't worry, the old bank facade will be saved and in the new building. And some of the deco fittings from Old Commerce were offered for sale so hopefully the lamps and the window grills are still floating around somewhere.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
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I remember that facade well from my days long ago at uni! I hope the deco aspects of the building will end up somewhere :)
ReplyDeleteI hope so too Steph.
DeleteGoodness I spent a lot of time in that building in the 1960s!! I knew the Deco features well, and I knew the Victorian facade very well. But I don't remember that the facade was taken from another building and I don't remember thinking that the two parts of the building were incongruous.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the 1960s were too early for thinking about preserving heritage buildings.
I think the Victorian façade fits the building so well that you don't notice that the rest of the building is completely different until someone points it out to you. If you've had a look at the drawings of the proposed new building, there won't be the same problem there.
DeleteDavid,
DeleteI must be honest. In 1967 I probably had other things on my mind :)