April 2026
Rather good group of buildings on the Bourke Street Mall that are easily overlooked. The first two have been joined together since the 70s at least, with various unsympathetic verandahs, and now about to get a less intrusive one that will at least feel like two buildings.
The first one was built as Suttons Music (and Bicycles!) in 1895 in a cheery Gothic style, but I couldn’t find any architect. Once had a great huge leadlight shopfront.
The next two were both designed by Nahum Barnet within a year of each other, the squarer one was built in 1914 and called Roughtons, who sold ‘neck adornments’, with various other tenants including a photo studio in the attic. It was built in reinforced concrete, allowing the very large windows; or maybe that was just a choice, still looks very modern. They’ve been joined together since the 60s I think, when it was Darrods.
The year before Barnet had done a very flowy Gothic thing for Francis & Co chemists – I like this one a lot. The business had started in 1849 a few doors down hence the date down the bottom. The shopfronts of all of them have changed many times over the years of course.
18 March 2024
In the Bourke Street mall it’s easy to overlook this one – built for Francis & Co chemist in 1913, by my current fave architect Nahum Barnet, who did about 25 commercial buildings in the cbd between 1900 and WW1. Mostly they were in red brick Edwardian, but this one is in a stylised almost Art Nouveau Gothic. In 1927, they moved to a restrained Georgian number in the Paris End of Collins Street, must have done well ! Or possibly had two shops. Photos 2021, old photo of the later premises via fb.
Storey of Melbourne 