ROYAL MINT

280-313 WILLIAM STREET AND 387-429 LA TROBE STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

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  • History

    ROYAL MINT - History

    Heritage Inventory History of Site: Date of first documented occupation, 1872

    Heritage Inventory Description

    ROYAL MINT - Heritage Inventory Description

    Adminstration/residential buildings of former Royal Mint - built 1872. Manufacturing buildings originally to rear of building demolished 1970. Asphalt laid over site. Built on site of old Exhibition building (1854-1869?). 1880 Panorama shows the complex of Mint Buildings, which were completed in 1872 and were used as the mint until 1969. 1905 map - extensive detail of complex shown.

    Heritage Inventory Significance: THE FORMER ROYAL MINY WAS DESIGNED BY JOHN JAMES CLARK OF THE PUBLIC WORKS OFFICE AND BUILT DURING 1869-70 BY CONTRACTORS WILLIAM MURRAY AND COMPANY OF EMERALD HILL AND MARTIN AND PEACOCK OF WEST MELBOURNE. CLARK WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DESIGNING A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT COLONIAL GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE (1856) AND THE TREASURY (1857). THE MINT OPERATED FROM 1872 PRODUCING COLONIAL AND AUSTRALIAN COINAGE FOR 96 YEARS. AS A BRANCH OF THE ROYAL MINT, LONDON, IT INITIALLY BOUGHT GOLD AND MINTED ONLY GOLD SOVEREIGNS UNTIL 1916. THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN SILVER COINS WERE MINTED IN 1916 AND THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN PENNIES AND HALFPENNIES WERE PRODUCED IN 1927. WHEN THE SYDNEY MINT CLOSED IN 1926, THE MELBOURNE ROYAL MINT BECAME THE ONLY MINT IN AUSTRALIA UNTIL IT CEASED OPERATIONS IN 1968. IT WAS THEN OCCUPIED BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA UNTIL A PERMANENT GALLERY WAS COMPLETED. THE REMAINING COMPLEX COMPRISES THE CLASSICAL TWO-STOREY OFFICE BUILDING AND RESIDENCE BUILT BY MARTIN AND PEACOCK IN 1870, TWO GATE- HOUSES, PERIMETER WALLING AND PALISADING. THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING WAS STYLED AFTER RAPHAEL'S PALAZZON CAFFERELLI VIDONI IN ROME. ITS RESTRAINED ORNAMENTATION AND DIGNIFIED PORTICO REFLECTS THE PRESTIGIOUS YET FUNCTIONAL NATURE OF THE MINT. IT IS ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF CONSERVATIVE CLASSICISM IN AUSTRALIA. THE ROYAL MINT COMPLEX IS OF HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: 1) THE REMAINING ELEMENTS OF THE ROYAL MINT REFLECT THE UTILITY AND ELEGANCE OF THIS PRESTIGIOUS GOVERNMENT BUILDING COMPLEX. 2) THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, DESIGNED BY JOHN JAMES CLARK AND CONSTRUCTEDBY MARTIN AND PEACOCK IN 1870, IS ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF CONSERVATIVE CLASSICISM IN AUSTRALIA. 3) THE MINT PRODUCED COLONIAL AND AUSTRALIAN COINAGE FOR 96 YEARS, INCLUDING A PERIOD SERVING AS THE ONLY MINT IN AUSTRALIA BETWEEN 1926 AND 1968. 4) THE MINT FIRST PRODUCED ONLY GOLD SOVEREIGNS, THEN MINTED THE FIRST SILVER COINS IN AUSTRALIA IN 1916 AND THE FIRST PENNIES AND HALFPENNIES IN 1927.

    Archeological Potential: Extant bldg Fabric,Potential (area)

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