June 2021:
So the Nicholas Building is up for sale ! Built 1926 for the Nicholas family who made their fortune from #Aspro, and got their fave architect #HarryNorris to design it. Whoever buys it, I guess it’s likely that eventually the rents will go up (when current leases run out) and it’ll be less of a #verticallane, full of creative industries, which would be a shame. Could even conceivably become apartments. It’s currently owned by a consortium of Toorak families who’ve owned it since the 1970s, and have already put rents up in recent years. The little Art Deco building on the north side demolished for the #melbournemetrotunnel is on the title (and is how there are windows on that side, not there originally) which could become a narrow 12 storey addition ? Or be added to the metro site – not sure if it was sold to them….
Repost from this day in 2017 :
The #NicholasBuilding, #HarryNorris, 1926. Great example of #CommercialPalazzo as we call it, all #classical with #ionic #pilasters, a huge #cornice, cubic proportions (due to the #132ftheightlimit) and more great details at the base, all hidden by trees. A #verticallane, with artisans, artists, regtrade, specialist retailers, or maybe less so now that I hear they’ve put the rents up. Grey #faïence, a type of #terracotta, made to look like stone (but cheaper and easier !). Nicely sculpted #ioniccapitals and decoration between the #attic windows. All steel framed windows. Huge cornice.
Report from CBD News in April 2021 : Up to 50 per cent of rooms in the Nicholas Building in Swanston St are empty as a result of the pandemic, according to tenants keen to see the place full of creative energy again.
“It’s half empty,” long-term tenant and gallerist Stephen McLaughlan said, who has at least survived the lockdown.
Rents were a major preoccupation during the long slow days of winter and Stephen paid his on the dot from his superannuation to make sure he kept up.
His gallery was forced to close but the efforts of the Nicholas Building Association helped, with landlords granting a rent waiver for several months, keeping up much-needed morale.
Now rents are back to normal and businesses are having to deal with the new normal, like it or not”
“I’m busier than ever,” Stephen said. “It’s a lot better than I expected. I’m not ahead in the big picture but I’m pretty lucky.”
Marc Dixon on the fifth floor also survived the pandemic but the patterns have been different for architects, with plenty of work during the lockdown but less on stream now.
“Projects are planned years in advance,” he said. “After June/July last year there were no calls.”
“Chance meetings are off. We’re only seeing people over the past three weeks,” Marc said.
There were reports that takings at Cathedral Coffee were back up to 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels and that is a measure of how full the glass really is.
12 November 2015:
The amazeballs #leadlight #barrelvault ceiling of the#cathedralarcade in the 1926 #nicholasbuilding. Just been cleaned and relighted with LEDs, by #geoffreywallace #stainedglass (at work in pic 7), much better than the #flouros it had before. I’ve always thought though a bit annoying that you can sort of see through.
I’ve also wondered at the effort put in here by architect #HarryNorris and the Nicholas family for what is really quite a small dogleg arcade that even has steps at the other end. Answered my own question there, they created this speccy ceiling to make up for the lack of likely foot traffic. Also, for ages I thought it was called the cathedral arcade cos it was cathedral like (sort of) but duh, it’s opposite St Paul’s cathedral (and the cathedral hotel was opposite too until it was dem in about 1972). Photos 5,6 from FB because I didn’t get a good one of the crossing. Then there’s my photos of the first floor, which was also kitted out like an arcade, but with wonderful highlight leadlight rather than a ceiling. Not sure they were ever successful as shops.
Update 2024: now it’s Retro Star and Flinders Lane Gallery up there. And just last year the arcade ceiling was all cleaned again by @robertrusevstainedglass. And they point out it’s actually done with copper, so it’s called a ‘copper light’. Harder to bend I guess but would allow a finer line that’s also stronger.
3 September 2025
Havnt been in the Nicholas Building for ages, forgot that above the first floor the lifts are surrounded by the striking original grill walling, with the outer lift doors the same. The lifts themselves I’m sure are modern ones, but there’s some copper detailing that matches, sone later addition to complement, and I applaud the effort – but not the distracting print of the grill pattern, and there’s no need to put up photos of the building you’re already in.
Storey of Melbourne 