FORMER MONEY ORDER POST OFFICE AND SAVINGS BANK
318-320 LITTLE BOURKE STREET AND 12 DRIVER LANE MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY
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Statement of Significance
This place is included on the Victorian Heritage Inventory, for its potential to contain historical archaeological remains associated with the settlement and growth of early Melbourne. Under the terms of the Heritage Act 2017 there is protection for all historical archaeology sites and objects in the state.
Please visit the Heritage Victoria website to find out more about the Heritage Inventory.
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FORMER MONEY ORDER POST OFFICE AND SAVINGS BANK - History
Heritage Inventory History of Site: Date of first documented occupation, 1839Heritage Inventory Description
FORMER MONEY ORDER POST OFFICE AND SAVINGS BANK - Heritage Inventory Description
1839 - 1 storey brick house on site. 1866 - building on site.1880 Panorama - single storey building1888 - single storey buildings on site
Heritage Inventory Significance: Source: Report to MinisterStatement of SignificanceThe former money order post office and savings bank was constructed in 1890 to relieve the overcrowded facilities at the nearby general post office. A 6 floor building, it was designed by the architect Peter Kerr for the public works department of Victoria and built by James H Sutherland at a cost of nearly 19,000 pounds. It was used as the money order office until c.1919 and from 1917 was leased for offices to various Commonwealth Government Departments including the Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction. Between 1921-32 it housed a war museum and, in 1932, alterations were effected to provide offices for federal parliamentarians. This use continued until 1970 and further alterations were carried out in 1939, 45 and 49. The building is constructed of rendered load-bearing brickwork with the internal floors supported by an iron column and beam frame. The design utilised the most recent developments in fireproof construction including fireproof plaster ceilings, the encasement of the iron columns in fireproof plaster and a fireproof floor system of massed concrete cast over vaulted corrugated iron forms and integrally with the frame structure. The roof timbers are augmented by a wrought iron truss frame. Its planning is uncomplicated and "modern" in character with open-plan floors, grouped services at the rear, stairs and lifts at the front and rear and large repetitive windows along the east and west walls. The arcaded ground floor chamber is heavily embellished with plaster detail but the floors above gradually reduce in detail and ceiling height. It originally incorporated a reticulated hot water heating system, a further "modern" innovation that dispensed with the need for fireplaces and chimneys. The conservative detailing of the facade is complementary to that of the G.P.O. which had been extended by Kerr the year previously. It is Kerr's last major work in a career that included the Victorian Houses of Parliament and D'estaville. His son H.J. Kerr collaborated with him on the design and the drawings bear his signature as draftsman. The former money order office and savings bank is of significance as the last major work of the distinguished architect, Peter Kerr. It is an innovative building, reflective of the building technology of the time and consciously designed to sit well within its immediate urban environment. It has housed a variety of public institutions important to the city of Melbourne and has significant associations with the development of postal services in Victoria. The structure of the building is substantially intact from its original construction. The services and fittings have not survived. The lift overrun room at the south-west corner of the building, the extensions of the front stair above first floor and the replacement of the tiled ground floor with timber are later alterations that remain. The later partitioning has been removed.
Archeological Potential: Potential (area)
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FORMER CARLTON AND UNITED BREWERYVictorian Heritage Register H0024
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ROSAVILLEVictorian Heritage Register H0408
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MEDLEY HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0409
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