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GOLDSBOROUGH MORT BUILDING
516-526 BOURKE STREET AND 152-162 WILLIAM STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY
GOLDSBOROUGH MORT BUILDING
516-526 BOURKE STREET AND 152-162 WILLIAM STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Goldsborough Mort Building was built in 1862 to designs by architect John Gill and was Richard Goldsborough's first warehouse in what became an extensive complex in this area of the city. The original design was a four storey bluestone building divided into offices and a wool warehouse. Internally cast iron columns and wrought iron beams support the timber floor joists which carried the weight of wool in storage. The top floor was added in 1882, possibly at the same time as an extension to the north end of the building on William Street. . The structure was considerably altered and enlarged throughout the twentieth century. New floors, ceilings, partitions and lifts were added in the 1930s and 1940s. The facades to Bourke and William Streets are of rusticated bluestone with a horizontally coursed base. Fine ashlar work is prominent around the openings. Stylistically, the building sparingly employs some Renaissance motifs, such as voussoirs and quoins. The building is capped by a deep parapet topped at intervals by stone chimneys and a segmental arch pediment. The roof is of a sawtooth type construction.
How is it significant?
The Goldsborough Mort Building is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Goldsborough Mort Building is historically significant as the surviving element of a complex of distinctive bluestone wool stores and offices located in this area of the city. It was the centre of the Goldsborough empire and the nucleus of one of the world's greatest wool broking firms. This building is all that is left of six properties on the hill of Bourke Street, three of which contained vast wool stores. The building is significant for its associations with Richard Goldsborough whose firm moved from a single rented weatherboard building in Flinders Lane in 1848 to a company who were pre-eminent in the development of the wool trade from Australia.
The Goldsborough Mort Building is architecturally significant as the largest and most imposing of the remaining bluestone warehouses. It is a fine example for its variety of finishes of bluestone construction. The shouldered voussoirs and quoin work to the ground and first floor openings are unusual classical motifs but emblematic of architect John Gill's work.
The Goldsborough Mort Building was built in 1862 to designs by architect John Gill and was Richard Goldsborough's first warehouse in what became an extensive complex in this area of the city. The original design was a four storey bluestone building divided into offices and a wool warehouse. Internally cast iron columns and wrought iron beams support the timber floor joists which carried the weight of wool in storage. The top floor was added in 1882, possibly at the same time as an extension to the north end of the building on William Street. . The structure was considerably altered and enlarged throughout the twentieth century. New floors, ceilings, partitions and lifts were added in the 1930s and 1940s. The facades to Bourke and William Streets are of rusticated bluestone with a horizontally coursed base. Fine ashlar work is prominent around the openings. Stylistically, the building sparingly employs some Renaissance motifs, such as voussoirs and quoins. The building is capped by a deep parapet topped at intervals by stone chimneys and a segmental arch pediment. The roof is of a sawtooth type construction.
How is it significant?
The Goldsborough Mort Building is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Goldsborough Mort Building is historically significant as the surviving element of a complex of distinctive bluestone wool stores and offices located in this area of the city. It was the centre of the Goldsborough empire and the nucleus of one of the world's greatest wool broking firms. This building is all that is left of six properties on the hill of Bourke Street, three of which contained vast wool stores. The building is significant for its associations with Richard Goldsborough whose firm moved from a single rented weatherboard building in Flinders Lane in 1848 to a company who were pre-eminent in the development of the wool trade from Australia.
The Goldsborough Mort Building is architecturally significant as the largest and most imposing of the remaining bluestone warehouses. It is a fine example for its variety of finishes of bluestone construction. The shouldered voussoirs and quoin work to the ground and first floor openings are unusual classical motifs but emblematic of architect John Gill's work.
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GOLDSBOROUGH MORT BUILDING - History
Contextual History:
(CBD Study Area 7, Reid & Reid 1976, p.58-59)
Richard Goldsborough was born in 1821 in Shipley, Torkshire, England. He supposedly arrived in Melbourne in 1848 and commenced business from a rented weatherboard building on the corner of Flinders Lane and Williams Street. By 1853 he had entered into partnership with Edward Row and George Kirk and had developed interests in squatting properties on the Riverina. The firm’s wool broking business expanded rapidly and in 1862 the warehouse on the corner of Bourke and William Streets was begun. In 1873 John Sutcliffe Horsefall became a partner in the firm. Goldsborough became a household name in Australia, and the business expanded to include trade in grain, hides, tallow and skins. Goldsborough never entered public life and died in 1886. The warehouse was bought freehold by the Sydney wool broking firm of Mort and Co. The two firms merged to become the world’s leading wool broker.
Associated People: Richard GoldsboroughGOLDSBOROUGH MORT BUILDING - Permit Exemptions
General Exemptions:General exemptions apply to all places and objects included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR). General exemptions have been designed to allow everyday activities, maintenance and changes to your property, which don’t harm its cultural heritage significance, to proceed without the need to obtain approvals under the Heritage Act 2017.Places of worship: In some circumstances, you can alter a place of worship to accommodate religious practices without a permit, but you must notify the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria before you start the works or activities at least 20 business days before the works or activities are to commence.Subdivision/consolidation: Permit exemptions exist for some subdivisions and consolidations. If the subdivision or consolidation is in accordance with a planning permit granted under Part 4 of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 and the application for the planning permit was referred to the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria as a determining referral authority, a permit is not required.Specific exemptions may also apply to your registered place or object. If applicable, these are listed below. Specific exemptions are tailored to the conservation and management needs of an individual registered place or object and set out works and activities that are exempt from the requirements of a permit. Specific exemptions prevail if they conflict with general exemptions. Find out more about heritage permit exemptions here.
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