September 2026
This is where architecture was headed in the late 30s, towards a Modernism that was all about restraint and free of decorative flourishes – they had to be careful of the proportions, but this one nails it. The Union Bank and offices in the Paris End of Collins Street was built in 1938, designed by W & R Butler & Pettit with ‘simplicity being the keynote’. There’s a base in a darker colour with wider openings, a one inch setback above and slight insets creating vertical piers. So unpretentious you could almost miss it.
I’m pretty sure that along with the Georgian 1927 Francis House next door it was part of the site amalgamations for 101 Collins in the 80s, but because Francis House was a ‘Notable’ building even partial demolition was frowned on (oh for those days!), so the two were left alone more or less, except the bank facade got single pane windows. They were also combined into one, using the office entry of the bank, and calling it all Francis House at 111 Collins. The old bank chamber, probably already altered, was stripped out, my memory is of bare concrete, for the top notch designer clothes store Cose Ipanema. The frosted and scalloped leadlight windows stayed though. It’s now Celine with a rather mad white and black reflecty fitout, which I see is the house style.
