May 2026

The very nice if relatively plain ES&A bank on Nelson Place in Williamstown was built in 1873, and must’ve been by far the grandest building there until larger shops were built in the 1880s. Gothic style banks were very rare amongst the much more numerous Classical ones; this was designed by Leonard Terry, who did a very similar but more elaborate one in Hawthorn the same year, pic 6, then another in Clarendon Street Sth Melb in 1880, pic 7.

Then William Wardell took over for the ES&A and did the more rustic Gothic one in Camberwell in 1885, pic 8, while also designing the fabulous Gothic Bank in Collins Street, completed the next year. All photos mine.

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