26 September 2023
In the middle of the Gothic Rialto/Olderfleet group in Collins Street is one that’s classical, but fits right in with its delicious level of detail, and matching height. Record Chambers was designed by J A B Koch (who did Labassa) and built in 1887 for the printing and publishing firm of McCarron, Bird & Co, and named after the Australasian Insurance and Banking Record, aka “The Record”, then pre-eminent amongst insurance and banking journals in Australia. It has features drawn from the Renaissance, French Renaissance and Baroque, with fluted engaged columns and pilasters, a caryatid terminus (half-female figure on a pedestal, my favourite bit) and a segmental pediment above. When the front sections of this and the adjacent buildings either side were redeveloped with an office building behind in the 1980s, known as the Olderfleet, the entrance was located in this building, by removing what had been a shopfront. That building was replaced in 2019-21 by a much taller office building, also set behind the retained front portions. The original back wall of the chambers is visible in the new atrium, but sort of in a cage, and though it’s a very tall tower, it’s far enough back that it doesn’t overwhelm. Text largely from Wikipedia entry ‘Rialto Building Group’, which I wrote. 😊 All images mine.
Storey of Melbourne 