3 August 2024
This old Bank of NSW on Flinders Street, cnr King Street is pretty usual all round for 1912, with a restrained English Arts & Crafts influence, contrasted by delicate Art Nouveau details. It was by architects Godfrey & Spowers, but possibly with a lot of input from design consultant Robert Haddon, as noted by Graeme Butler – the lions (as rainwater heads) were a trademark, or at least he put big ones on the Fourth Victoria Building in Collins Street; the curved wrought iron up top he also used here and there, probably. It was all quite different to the stripey red brick Edwardian banks by G&S and others built at the same time, and Butler notes the similarities to the 1902 Wolverhampton Library (pic5). Since 1978 it’s been a bar / nightclub. Pic 4 Graeme Butler 1985.
Storey of Melbourne 