City Photo Walk ~ July
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The Forum Theatre (formerly known as the State Theatre) is a theatre and live music venue located on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street in the East End Theatre District of Melbourne, Australia. The building was designed by American architect John Eberson, who has designed many theatres around the globe, along with a local architectural firm at the time; Bohringer, Taylor & Johnson.
Sun on St Paul's Cathedral Spire
This is not the normal view of St Paul's. It is, in fact, the rear, north end looking south. At the time of this photo, construction was underway to build the new underground rail tunnel beneath the City Square at Collins and Swanston Streets.
These interior shots were taken without permission. The bank prohibits photos being taken inside the bank. It proves the old adage; "forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission".
There are two identical banks of lifts in the Bank of Australia building making 8 lifts to the upper floors of offices. The beautiful hand-crafted Scones are repeated throughout the lobby area of the building.
The building features a Moorish Revival exterior, including minarets and a clock tower. When it opened in February 1929, the cinema had the largest seating capacity in Australia, holding 3371 people.
Stripping this building back to its early 1900s glory – when it was viewed by Melbournians as an iconic boutique department store – was at the core of our approach to this project. Retail and commercial spaces are located on the first two levels with the office space above. The building itself is characterised by large open spaces and heritage architectural features such as Victorian columns, a glazed atrium on level three and ceiling heights ranging from three to six metres.
The central municipal building of the City of Melbourne, Australia, in the State of Victoria. It is located on the northeast corner of Swanston and Collins Streets, in the central business district. It is the seat of the local government area of the City of Melbourne. Melbourne was officially incorporated as a town on 13 December 1842, with Henry Condell as its first Mayor. However, it wasn't until 1854 that its first Town Hall was completed. Begun in 1851, the work ground to a halt with the beginning of the Victorian gold rush. The foundation stone of a new, grander Town Hall was laid on 29 November 1867 by the visiting Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, after the demolition of the first. The current Town Hall officially opened on 11 August 1870 with a lavish ball, which was personally funded by the Lord Mayor Samuel Amess. In 1925, a fire destroyed a large part of the town hall, including the main auditorium and pipe organ. It was rebuilt and enlarged, extending east over the site previously occupied by the Victoria Coffee Palace, an early temperance hotel frequented by Melbourne's power brokers. The rebuilt section lost some of Reed's original flourishes including the elaborate mansard roof.
Built in 1883-87, the former ES&A Bank was designed by architect William Wardell in the gothic revival style. The lancet windows, lofty ceilings and narrow spire emphasise the verticality of the building - a technique often used in the architecture of gothic cathedrals to give the impression of height.
This retail passageway, immediately east of the Commercial Bank of Australia, runs from Collins Street through to the Australian University on Flinders Lane via Bligh Place.
Designed as an "Atmospheric theatre" movie palace, the interior features reproductions of Greco-Roman statuary and a sky-blue ceiling decorated with small stars, mimicking a twilight sky.
The first Baptist service in Melbourne was held in 1838 in a tent on a vacant allotment of land opposite the present church. The first chapel was built on the current site in 1845. In the late 1850s it was decided to enlarge the building. The current church was designed Joseph Reed, the architect who designed the Melbourne Town Hall and several other prominent Melbourne churches, and the new church was opened in 1862. Unlike most Melbourne churches of the period, which are either Gothic or Romanesque, Collins St Baptist is in the form of a classical temple, with four Corinthian columns facing the street. According to the church's website, this "reflects the Baptist understanding of the church as a gathered community of believers rather than as a special building."
The former Stock Exchange was built just after the ES&A Bank in 1888-91. It was designed by famed architect, William Pitt, in the 'free gothic' style. Elaborately ornamented, each level of the facade differs from the others. Gargoyles and stained glass windows abound. A beautiful rose window sits regally at the very top of the facade. Its flamboyant design reflects the exuberance of the 1880s’ banking boom. However, its construction was hit hard by the depression of the 1890s, resulting in it being built beyond its means. It was sold to the neighbouring ES&A Bank in 1921 due to financial pressure. Two years later the two buildings were renovated and combined into the one ‘Gothic Bank.’ This hall with elaborate vaulted ceilings is located adjacent to the retail portion of the bank. It is a reception hall reserved for auspicious occasions. The roped off section of the floor consists of backlit glass tiles.
373 Collins St ~ ANZ Banking Museum
I believe the upper floors of this building are the facade of the building to comply with heritage rulings. Apparently, almost the entire length of Collins Street was lined with beautiful heritage architecture such as this. Many, were demolished to make way for modern more functional office buildings, but in the seventies a halt to this destruction was introduced as people began to be aware of the architectural treasures being lost.
Planned to be "the most beautiful building in Australia", construction of the current building took place between 1871 and 1874, during the ministry of the Revd Irving Hetherington and his colleague the Revd Peter Menzies, and was opened on 29 November 1874 with fixed seating for just under 1,000 people. It was designed by Joseph Reed of the firm Reed and Barnes, and built by David Mitchell, the father of Dame Nellie Melba. Reed and Barnes also designed the Melbourne Town Hall, the State Library of Victoria, Trades Hall, the Royal Exhibition Building, the Wesley Church in Lonsdale Street, the original Presbyterian Ladies' College in East Melbourne, and the Collins Street Independent Church, now St Michael’s Uniting Church, on the opposite corner of Russell Street. The Scots' Church is in the Neo-Gothic style and built of Barrabool freestone, with dressings in Kakanui stone from New Zealand. During the last decades of the nineteenth century the spire of the Scots' Church was the tallest structure in Melbourne at 210 feet high. The interior features an impressive collection of large and smaller stained glass windows depicting various Christian themes including the Last Supper, basalt aisle columns, timber beamed roof and an elevated floor for a good view of the pulpit.
The Manchester Unity Building is an Art Deco Gothic inspired historic office building in Melbourne, Australia, constructed in 1932 by the Manchester Unity I.O.O.F. in Victoria. The site of the Manchester Unity Building was first bought in early land sales for the price of £35. In 1928, MU IOOF paid £335,000 for the site, making just one square foot worth more than the whole block had cost originally. Built in 1932 on the site of Stewart Dawson’s corner (plus the adjoining site), it was the new headquarters of the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), a non-profit friendly society with a strong sense of tradition and the noble motto ‘Friendship, Love and Truth’.
The Cathedral Room in the former Stock Exchange building is one of my very favourite spaces in Melbourne. Originally the main trading room of the Stock Exchange, it was once the most important business centre in Australia. With six columns of Harcourt granite from Bendigo, carved capitals in white freestone and beautiful stained glass windows, it is clear to see how the room attracted its ecclesiastical name.
Bank Chamber ~ Commercial Bank of Australia
The Banking Chamber and Entrance of the former Commercial Bank of Australia are of aesthetic, architectural and historical importance to the State of Victoria. On 1 October 1866 the Commercial Bank of Australia Limited commenced business in the spacious building in Collins Street recently fitted out for their accommodation. Then known as No.30 Collins Street West and renumbered 337 in 1889, this address remained the site of the Bank's principal office in the heart of Melbourne's financial district during its whole 116 year existence, except for the period of rebuilding during the 1890s. The building remained substantially unaltered until 1939 when the Collins Street facade was demolished and reconstructed to a new design. In 1990 a 29 storey office building was constructed, incorporating the 1893 Banking Chamber and entrance into the design. The Banking Chamber is octagonal in form, approximately 20 metres in diameter and covered by a great plaster dome with an iron and glass lantern. The height of the dome above the main floor of the chamber is approximately 30 metres with the lantern an additional 15 metres above it. The dome is derived from the octagonal plan by the intersection of arches, recalling the constructional system of the great mosques. The first storey consists of semi-circular arches in the Roman form surrounded by a storey of applied temple fronts of the richest decoration. The floor of the Chamber is a detailed mosaic. The 1893 entry is constructed of stone with large iron gates and a central barrel vaulted ceiling.
Art Deco mural painted by Napier Waller located in the entrance to the T&G building
The prominent Melbourne architect Marcus Barlow was entrusted with the design and W E Cooper Pty Ltd contracted to build. Barlow had drawn his inspiration from the 1927 Chicago Tribune Building in the United States.
Sometimes referred to as a Gothic Bank.
Polished Floors & Domed Entrance
Adding to the ambiance is the sense of vast space created by the dome above. The architecture is absolutely stunning, I only got a few shots in this space before security asked me to move on. Strangely, I could take photos, but not with a camera mounted to a tripod. As I have stated elsewhere in the gallery, forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission.