ANZ Gothic Bank

The ANZ Gothic Bank stands majestically on the corner of Queen Street and Collins Street. It comprises two buildings: the former English, Scottish and Australian (ES&A) Bank on the corner and the former Melbourne Stock Exchange, fronting Collins Street. In 1923 the two buildings were renovated and combined, becoming known simply as the 'Gothic Bank.' Both are superb examples of the gothic revival style, albeit in contrasting ways. The former ES&A Bank is an exercise in graceful restraint, whereas the former Stock Exchange reflects the exuberance of the 1880s’ banking boom. In recent times, they were restored as part of the construction of the ANZ World Headquarters. 

Pic credit: Collector's Marvellous Melbourne

My own pic, 2011 

ES&A Bank 

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. Today it may seem unusual to design a secular bank in a style suggestive of a religious building. However in the late nineteenth century, medieval architecture, and particularly the architecture of gothic cathedrals, was experiencing a widespread revival. For many architects, the style's appeal had more to do with its beautiful aesthetics than any religious motive. And one can envisage how the romanticism of the gothic style would have been an attractive outlet in an era of industrialisation and increasing austerity in design. 

Wardell's design for the ES&A Bank, 1883 (David Syme & Co) Pic credit: State Library of Victoria

Today on the ground floor, the majestic banking chamber is still resplendent with iron columns, gilded capitals and beautifully painted ceilings. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside but the ground floor is accessible to the public as it is a fully-functioning branch of the ANZ bank. If you are in the area, it is definitely worth having a look around this magical room. Meanwhile, the top two floors of the building are permanently closed off. These levels were originally the residence of the bank's general manager, Sir George Verdon. In addition to holding this highly respected position, Verdon was also an enlightened patron, responsible for commissioning the design of the ES&A Gothic Bank. It is a shame the former residence is not open to the public as a museum as it is virtually intact and the last remaining one of its kind in the city. It would provide far better insights into the history of the bank than the current tacky and tired-looking 'ANZ Banking Museum' in the basement (hardly worth a look). 

Photograph of Sir George Verdon, ca. 1860 - 1896. Pic credit: National Library of Australia

Former Melbourne Stock Exchange

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.’  

Former Melbourne Stock Exchange, 2011. Pic credit: my own

The Cathedral Room (below) 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.   

Cathedral Room of the Former Melbourne Stock Exchange, 2011 (pic credit: my own)

 

ANZ World Headquarters & Restoration of the Gothic Bank

In 1990, the Gothic Bank was extensively restored by Lovell Chen Architects and Heritage Consultants and now forms part of the ANZ World Headquarters. Permission to build the ANZ skyscraper behind the Gothic Bank was granted on the condition that the heritage buildings be restored. The ANZ skyscraper is linked to the Gothic Bank via a series of glass atriums and colourful, internal chambers. ANZ enjoys the entire complex, including the heritage buildings, as a very unique premises for its world headquarters.  

The ANZ Skyscraper was designed by Peddle Thorp Architects to reflect the Gothic themes of the heritage buildings below. The curtain-walling and zig zag tracery give the impression of gothic-like arched structural supports. Ideally, skyscrapers and other modern buildings would never have been erected in the city centre. They dwarf the surrounding heritage buildings, diminishing the monumental effect these old buildings were designed to have. They also ruin the charming experience that can be had while walking around a city that evokes a sense of history and eternal time. This does not mean Melbourne should not progress and enjoy much-needed vertical office and residential space - just that the modern buildings could have been built in a designated area away from the majority of heritage buildings. Unfortunately that did not happen. With the reality of the situation in mind, I feel that the ANZ skyscraper is a relatively positive building in Melbourne. It does not overwhelm the smaller heritage buildings as much as it could have. This is the intended result of the skyscraper being set back on a podium, so as to be sympathetic to the scale of the surrounding heritage buildings. Credit should also be paid to the first class integration with, and restoration of, the heritage buildings. The ANZ Gothic Bank - a solid example of the new complimenting the old in Melbourne. 

ANZ World Headquarters, 2011. Pic credit: Peddle Thorp Architects

ANZ, The Gothic Bank: ANZ's Commitment to Preservation (pamphlet) [199-?] 
Cash, Damien M, The Gothic Bank of Collins Street (1989)
e-Melbourne website: http://www.emelbourne.net.au/bib/PEM000352.htm 
Lovell Chen Architects & Heritage Consultants website: http://www.lovellchen.com.au/projects.aspx?menu_id=2&item_id=10 
Peddle Thorp Architects website: http://www.pta.com.au/web/?page_id=828
Storey, Rohan, Buildings in Queen and Collins Street, Melbourne and the Hotel Australia site, from Yule House, 309-311 Little Collins Street, Melbourne (1990)
Victoria Heritage database: http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/heritagevic#detail_places;733 
Victoria Heritage database: http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/#detail_places;791Walking Melbourne website: http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/building324_anz-world-headquarters.html 

Melbourne Heritage in the News

Demolition of Key Hotel Approved 

Jason Dowling

The Age

March 30, 2011

MELBOURNE University has won approval to demolish the heritage-protected 1957 Elizabeth Towers Hotel in Parkville and replace it with a $210 million medical research centre that will aid in the fight against influenza pandemics.

The decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to approve the centre sparked a stinging rebuke against the tribunal by the chairman of Melbourne City Council's planning committee, Peter Clarke, who has called for a government review of the tribunal's operations.

Cr Clarke said the decision showed that ''VCAT is now seen to be barracking for development at all cost, that heritage has a diminished value and that it calls into question the role of VCAT going forward for looking at heritage buildings and having the appropriate expertise available on their panels''.

Advertisement: Story continues below

Demolition plan ... the heritage-protected Elizabeth Towers Hotel in Parkville.

''I think we are at the point now where VCAT is out of step with the broader views of the community,'' he said.

The Elizabeth Towers Hotel on the corner of Elizabeth and Grattan streets in Parkville was formerly Ampol House and has a striking ''glazed circular corner tower, housing Melbourne's tallest concrete spiral stair''.

The hotel is the latest of a number of heritage-protected buildings in Melbourne to face demolition or major alteration. It will be replaced by the 12-storey Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, which will exceed the preferred height limit for the site by four storeys.

The tribunal found ''a greater community benefit for present and future generations will ensue from the establishment of the Peter Doherty Institute than from retention of the former Ampol House''.

The tribunal found that ''cities must be regarded as palimpsests; they must be capable of growth and adaption to meet new needs. Over times the buildings of one era will invariably require replacement or adaption to meet these needs.''

Melbourne City Council opposed the planning application because it did not support the demolition of the former Ampol House or the new building because it failed to ''make an equivalent architectural statement''.

National Trust conservation manager Paul Roser said the decision was ''another part of the steady attrition of significant buildings in the city''.

But Professor Jim McCluskey, of Melbourne University, said the tribunal had rightly found the long-term value of the medical research centre was of greater public value than retaining the heritage building.

He said it would be a medical centre of global importance and would tackle threats such as influenza pandemics.

Click here to view the original article on The Age website

Melbourne in Art: 'Comings & Goings' by Andrea Jenkins

Last month I was invited to Andrea Jenkins' exhibition, Comings & Goings, at fortyfivedownstairs. Jenkins' oil paintings disconcert the viewer by depicting familiar locations in Melbourne with unexpected twists. The likes of Flinders Street Station, Parliament and the Royal Arcade are eerily desolate, inhabited only by Harlequinesque figures, melancholy musicians and mythical creatures. Jenkins imbues each work with a sense of wistfulness and theatricality, slightly reminiscent of Watteau. However, instead of Watteau's pastoral settings, Jenkins explores the dark and subterranean underworld of modern Melbourne for her ethereal characters. 

If you know of an artist who has been inspired  by the city of Melbourne, please let me know. I would also love to hear what you think of Jenkins' works! 

Melbourne Heritage in the News

 Turning our backs on city's heritage... again 

By Marika Dobbin 

The Age 

January 24 2011

Docklands sheds are a vanishing part of Melbourne. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

IN ITS heyday a century ago, cargo shed 19 to 21 at Melbourne's docks was part of a bustling hive of industry that imported and exported goods on the ''Great Circle'' sailing route to England.

While the city became wealthy and strong on the back of its port, the fortunes of the 250-metre long shed have changed dramatically. Today it stands desolate and forgotten among the modern glass towers of what is now called Victoria Harbour, the last early linear wharf shed left intact.

The shed with its cobbled cart platform is an increasingly rare relic of Melbourne's early industrial story - but that will not save it. The building is soon to be demolished for apartments and shops, its bluestone platform has already been dug up and piled high around it.

Shed 19-21. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

Docklands is sterile, windy and lacks character, according to its critics. Yet the precinct's oldest and most historically interesting features have mostly been torn down or renovated beyond recognition.

With the northern side of Docklands and industrial parts of Footscray, West and North Melbourne the next to be developed, heritage advocates are hoping that some of the old biscuit and butter factories, goods stores, rail lines, cargo sheds, stencilled signage and manufacturing plants can be protected.

Like many classic Victorian-era commercial cities, Melbourne grew from its port, where railway lines came right on to the docks, transporting produce like flour and wool between warehouses, mills and shipping buildings around King Street and the inner suburbs, and out into the countryside. Most of the shipping commerce buildings were established on nearby Collins Street, still the city's financial hub.

Shed 19-21 is the last intact shed and is scheduled for demolition. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

Historian and planner at the National Trust, David Moloney, said modern developments like Victoria Harbour had already destroyed much of the industrial architecture and the promised restoration of the remaining Shed 9 and Shed 14 at Central Pier to their early 20th century forms never went ahead.

''They are developing Docklands as though it is a greenfield site with nothing there, not as the earliest and prime heritage place in our city,'' he said. ''They've knocked down some of the most visually interesting buildings in Melbourne so they could turn it into something that looks like a Pattersons Lakes business park in the city.''

Kate Shaw, of the University of Melbourne, said there were very few heritage overlays in the inner industrial-zoned areas and Melbourne risked losing touch with the story that underpins its identity.

The YoungHusband warehouse in Kensington now houses artist studios. Photo: Michael Clayton-Jones

''The new Docklands doesn't have anything much other than apartments, offices and shops for the upper-middle class,'' she said. ''People don't really know about all the treasures that were here. In places like Lisbon, Barcelona and Berlin they are more aware of the potential to re-use spaces like these in interesting ways, but we haven't had the imagination.''

Dr Shaw, a research fellow in the architecture building and planning faculty, pointed to a retrofit of one of the few buildings to be re-used - Goods Shed 2 - as a poor example of how to treat these buildings.

What was once the longest and grandest rail shed in Victoria, was chopped in half and it's middle section demolished, so the new Collins Street bridge could run through it. One side has been renovated into office space for state developer Vic Urban, with a new glass frontage on to Collins Street, while the other side stands empty and deteriorated.

''VicUrban did such an elaborate refit and subdivision that it could only be used as expensive high-end space,'' Dr Shaw said. ''If it had had just a modest restoration it could be used for small start-up businesses, arts spaces or social housing and inject some soul and life into Docklands.

''Character is not just keeping the building but treating it with respect. It's also about diversity of uses, the best cities mix it up .''

Dr Shaw is pushing for the remaining old buildings, many of them on Crown land, to be given low-cost makeovers and used as creative spaces, similar to the River Studios in West Melbourne that will open this month. The old brick warehouse on the Maribyrnong River is being used as studio workspace for 75 artists, at rents of $50 a week each.

The National Trust is campaigning for heritage studies on the remaining port and dock industry areas before any more is sold off or knocked down.

Click here to access the original article online at The Age