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Bourke Street, Collector's Melbourne
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Part 4
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From Walking Melbourne, The National Trust Guide to The Historic and Architectural Landmarks of Central Melbourne.
Former Melbourne Omnibus & Tramways Building
669 – 675 Bourke Street
FB Clapp, an American, who already ran horse-drawn ‘omnibuses’ throughout Melbourne, convinced the state government in the early 1880s to grant his company a monopoly to install a tramway system, operated by cables running under the city’s streets. Between 1886 and 1892 lines were built far out into the growing suburbs, forming one of the largest cable tram systems in the world, and the basis for today’s tram network. Twentyman & Askew designed these offices as headquarters for the company in a simple red brick Gothic Revival style in 1891.
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From Walking Melbourne, The National Trust Guide to The Historic and Architectural Landmarks of Central Melbourne.
Former Melbourne Omnibus & Tramways Building
669 – 675 Bourke Street
FB Clapp, an American, who already ran horse-drawn ‘omnibuses’ throughout Melbourne, convinced the state government in the early 1880s to grant his company a monopoly to install a tramway system, operated by cables running under the city’s streets. Between 1886 and 1892 lines were built far out into the growing suburbs, forming one of the largest cable tram systems in the world, and the basis for today’s tram network. Twentyman & Askew designed these offices as headquarters for the company in a simple red brick Gothic Revival style in 1891.
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Thanks for posting. I have been fortuante to see the three guitarists perform in the Bourke St mall (last summer), though they were directly opposite where they performed in your photo.
I always enjoy taking a breather by sitting on the GPO stairs and just watch the world go by. It's Melbourne's version of Sydneysiders taking a breather on the Sydney Town Hall stairs
And nothing beats the view east up Bourke with Parliament House and the arches of St Patricks Cathedral rising behind it at it's eastern end. I'd be nice if I could post some of those images here.
I always enjoy taking a breather by sitting on the GPO stairs and just watch the world go by. It's Melbourne's version of Sydneysiders taking a breather on the Sydney Town Hall stairs
And nothing beats the view east up Bourke with Parliament House and the arches of St Patricks Cathedral rising behind it at it's eastern end. I'd be nice if I could post some of those images here.
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Pics scanned from Trams and Streetscapes, Metropolitan Melbourne 1950s-1960s and More Trams and Streetscapes, Metropolitan Melbourne 1950s-1960s.
Purchase the books if you want to see more.
Foys big Santa and roof-top fun park on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets ~ 1960s.
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W class trams held up on Bourke Street due to an accident in April 1961.
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The old State Savings Bank of Victoria headquarters at the south-west corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, May 1961.
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The Myer Santa Special Tram passing the Myer store in November 1963.
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Purchase the books if you want to see more.
Foys big Santa and roof-top fun park on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets ~ 1960s.
W class trams held up on Bourke Street due to an accident in April 1961.
The old State Savings Bank of Victoria headquarters at the south-west corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets, May 1961.
The Myer Santa Special Tram passing the Myer store in November 1963.
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From Walking Melbourne, The National Trust Guide to The Historic and Architectural Landmarks of Central Melbourne.
Former Gollin & Co.
561-563 Bourke Street
Charles D’Ebro designed this Queen Anne style warehouse and office building, featuring intricately carved stone detailing and a delightful corner turret and dome, completed in 1902. It housed agents for merchants and importers, such as the Shell Trading & Transport Co. Ltd., and the Mildura Fruitgrowers Association, and in 1989 it was sensitively incorporated into an inventive highrise office development designed by Perrott Lyon Mathieson.
Two photographs of my own below.
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Former Gollin & Co.
561-563 Bourke Street
Charles D’Ebro designed this Queen Anne style warehouse and office building, featuring intricately carved stone detailing and a delightful corner turret and dome, completed in 1902. It housed agents for merchants and importers, such as the Shell Trading & Transport Co. Ltd., and the Mildura Fruitgrowers Association, and in 1989 it was sensitively incorporated into an inventive highrise office development designed by Perrott Lyon Mathieson.
Two photographs of my own below.
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From Walking Melbourne, The National Trust Guide to The Historic and Architectural Landmarks of Central Melbourne.
Former Mail Exchange
164-200 Spencer Street, Cnr Bourke Street
This is a stylish example of the massive grandeur of the first phase of Classical revival as practiced in America, known as the Beaux-Arts. Completed in 1917, it is one of the earliest such examples in Melbourne, and was designed by the first Commonwealth Government Architect, John Smith Murdoch. The reception and distribution of mail was made more efficient by its location near Spencer Street Station, to which it is connected via a tunnel.
An old photograph from the 1920s.
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One of my own below.
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Former Mail Exchange
164-200 Spencer Street, Cnr Bourke Street
This is a stylish example of the massive grandeur of the first phase of Classical revival as practiced in America, known as the Beaux-Arts. Completed in 1917, it is one of the earliest such examples in Melbourne, and was designed by the first Commonwealth Government Architect, John Smith Murdoch. The reception and distribution of mail was made more efficient by its location near Spencer Street Station, to which it is connected via a tunnel.
An old photograph from the 1920s.
One of my own below.
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From Walking Melbourne, The National Trust Guide to The Historic and Architectural Landmarks of Central Melbourne.
Former London Stores
341-357 Bourke Street, south-east corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets
One of the major emporiums in the mid 20th Century, with offices above two floors of men’s wear, it was designed by H W & F B Tompkins and completed in 1925.
The corner site and large scale make this one of the landmark examples of the Commercial Palazzo form, articulated with simplified classical details such as the balconies at the second floor, and the large cornice at the top.
In the two old shots below, one can see the old Beehive Clothing Company Building that used to occupy the site the London Stores Building now does.
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One of my own shots below showing the Former London Stores Building.
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Former London Stores
341-357 Bourke Street, south-east corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets
One of the major emporiums in the mid 20th Century, with offices above two floors of men’s wear, it was designed by H W & F B Tompkins and completed in 1925.
The corner site and large scale make this one of the landmark examples of the Commercial Palazzo form, articulated with simplified classical details such as the balconies at the second floor, and the large cornice at the top.
In the two old shots below, one can see the old Beehive Clothing Company Building that used to occupy the site the London Stores Building now does.
One of my own shots below showing the Former London Stores Building.
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Text from Melbourne Architecture
Leviathan Clothing Store
271-281 Bourke Street
1912-13 Bates Peebles & Smart
Inspired by designs of clothing emporia in London, in particular the London Whitely Building, the Leviathan Clothing Store was the first major department store constructed in the central city which began to match the scale and lavishness of similar stores such as Moore’s (1910-13) and the Colosseum (1915) being constructed in Chapel Street, Prahran. Striking aspects of this Edwardian Baroque design were the enormous consoles, with their wreaths and dripping foliated detail, and the original white cement finish to the building’s reinforced concrete (and austerely modern) façade.
Old postcard below and after that, one of my own photographs.
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Leviathan Clothing Store
271-281 Bourke Street
1912-13 Bates Peebles & Smart
Inspired by designs of clothing emporia in London, in particular the London Whitely Building, the Leviathan Clothing Store was the first major department store constructed in the central city which began to match the scale and lavishness of similar stores such as Moore’s (1910-13) and the Colosseum (1915) being constructed in Chapel Street, Prahran. Striking aspects of this Edwardian Baroque design were the enormous consoles, with their wreaths and dripping foliated detail, and the original white cement finish to the building’s reinforced concrete (and austerely modern) façade.
Old postcard below and after that, one of my own photographs.
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Text from Melbourne Architecture
Former Buckley & Nunn’s Men’s Store
294-296 Bourke Street
1933 Bates Smart & McCutcheon
With its cement-rendered men in knickerbockers and suits, suavely smoking or leaning on their golf clubs, this building’s tall façade was the raciest addition to Bourke Street’s retail heart in the early 1930s. Buckley & Nunn’s Zig-Zag or Jazz Moderne façade reflected the popularity of the new stylized geometries that had come out of Paris at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decratifs, the place where the term ‘Art Deco’ was born. Sunburst motifs, chevron zig-zags and abstract classical forms frame a steel and glass window that passes over several storeys. In 1934, the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects awarded it its annual Street Architecture Medal.
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Above, Buckley & Nunn’s as it looked soon after it was completed, and the next three below, as it looks today in the Bourke Street Mall as part of David Jones.
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Former Buckley & Nunn’s Men’s Store
294-296 Bourke Street
1933 Bates Smart & McCutcheon
With its cement-rendered men in knickerbockers and suits, suavely smoking or leaning on their golf clubs, this building’s tall façade was the raciest addition to Bourke Street’s retail heart in the early 1930s. Buckley & Nunn’s Zig-Zag or Jazz Moderne façade reflected the popularity of the new stylized geometries that had come out of Paris at the 1925 Exposition des Arts Decratifs, the place where the term ‘Art Deco’ was born. Sunburst motifs, chevron zig-zags and abstract classical forms frame a steel and glass window that passes over several storeys. In 1934, the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects awarded it its annual Street Architecture Medal.
Above, Buckley & Nunn’s as it looked soon after it was completed, and the next three below, as it looks today in the Bourke Street Mall as part of David Jones.
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