ES&A (ANZ) Royal Bank Branch

Repost 2018:

It’s nice but for me it’s a bit plain – cnr Eliz & Collins, built in 1940, designed by #StephensonTurner, it was a modern yet traditional design, but I would have preferred more one or the other. Or maybe it’s just that the stone needs a clean. It was built as the #ESandABank, #RoyalBankBranch, named after the curious towered bank that was demolished for it (built 1886 for the City of Melbourne Bank, by #TerryAndOakden), also not my favourite, a bit top heavy. Ps not sure why the ES&A bank built a bank here when their HQ, the #GothicBank, was only a block away ! I suppose they needed more office space.

B&W photos Wolfgang Sievers, just after completion in 1941, one of his earliest commissions, having arrived from Germany in 1938 aged 26. And another by him from 1960, the stone already weathered.