24 February 2024
This fabulously overwrought facade on Flinders Street near King Street is a 1911 do-over of an earlier warehouse for the Savings Bank, the State Bank in its early days of expansion. This one, presumably here to cater to the maritime /warehouse trade, was designed by Claude E Merrett, in fruity Edwardian Baroque style, with that broken arched pediment filled with detail. It originally had a jaunty little verandah too. Apparently the warehouse had a vault that the bank reused. One part now a shop, but otherwise very well kept, painted at some point (pic 5), now unpainted. And there’s some notable interior features too – the bank chamber was double height, lit by skylights, and the fairly elaborate coffered ceiling is still there, though the space was subdivided into up and downstairs by 1923. The upper space is still spacious, and it’s been a Cabaret venue Speakeasy for about 10 years. Their website has quite a detailed history! Before that it was a gym, that’s the first interior shot, from a sale ad. Other interiors from Speakeasy. The building is heritage listed but not the interior. Blurry old photo Weekly Times 1912.
Storey of Melbourne 