ALCASTON HOUSE

2 COLLINS STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory

Statement of Significance

• Other Records For This Place
  • ALCASTON HOUSE - Victorian Heritage Register
  • Alcaston House - National Trust
• Additional Place Information

  • History

    ALCASTON HOUSE - History

    Heritage Inventory History of Site: Date of first documented occuption, 1850

    Heritage Inventory Description

    ALCASTON HOUSE - Heritage Inventory Description

    Fifth land sale 11 April 1839, Block 9, Allotment 8, S Benjamin & E Moses.1850 - building on site.1888 - 3 & 2 storey buildings, R M James, Surgeon.1905 - 3 & 2 storey buildings, also stables at rear.

    Heritage Inventory Significance: HISTORIC BUILDINGS COUNCIL - STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: ALCASTON HOUSE IS AN EARLY AND IMPORTANT EXAMPLE OF MULTI-STOREY RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION IN THE CITY AT A TIME WHEN THE POST-WAR PREFERENCE FOR "FLAT" LIVING IN EUROPE AND THE USA WAS BECOMING MANI- FEST IN AUSTRALIA. THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED BY THE FIRM OF ARCHITECTS, A. AND K. HENDERSON AND ERECTED BY T. DONALD AND CO. AT A CONTRACT PRICE OF SIXTY-THREE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN POUNDS IN 1929-30. THE BUILDING WAS ERECTED FOR THE TRUSTEES OF DR E M JAMES, WHOSE HOME HAD PREVIOUSLY OCCUPIED THE SITE. AN EXTENSIVE SURVEY CARRIED OUT BY H.L. FINDLAY OF HENDERSON'S FIRM IN 1928 ESTABLISHED THAT THERE WAS A NEED FOR BOTH RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION AND MEDICAL ROOMS IN THAT PART OF THE CITY AND THE DESIGN OF THE BUILDING WAS BASED AROUND SUPPLYING BOTH OF THOSE NEEDS. ALCASTON HOUSE IS A SEVEN-STOREY BUILDING WITH BASEMENT AND IS CONSTRUCTED OF REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMNS, BEAMS AND FLOORS AND HAS A FREESTONE BASE AND BRICK WALLS ABOVE, ALL RENDERED WITH A SAND FINISH STUCCO. ALL THE WINDOWS ARE STEEL-FRAMED AND THOSE ON THE GROUND FLOOR ARE DOUBLE GLAZED TO PREVENT NOISE INTRUSION. THE BUILDING IS DESIGNED WITH A RUSTICATED BASE OF TWO FLOORS EXPRESS- ING THE PROFESSIONAL NATURE OF COLLINS STREET, WITH THE UPPER FLOORS IN AN "E"-PLAN, EXPOSING THE LIGHT WELLS ON THE SPRING STREET FACADE. THE LIGHT WELLS ARE BOTH A FUNCTIONAL AND EXPRESSIVE DEVICE IN DENOTING THE RESIDENTIAL NATURE OF THE UPPER PART OF THE BUILDING. THIS IS FURTHER NHANCED BY THE PROVISION OF BALCONETTES TO THE FRENCH WINDOWS OF EACH OF THE FLATS. EACH OF THE TOWERS ARE MARKED BY DEEP CORNICES AND THE TALL MULTIPLE-CHIMNEY STACKS. THE TIMBER PERGOLAS THAT SHADED THE ROOF GARDEN AND THE URNS ON THE PARAPET HAVE SINCE BEEN REMOVED. PROMINENT FEATURES OF THE LOWER FACADE ARE THE SEMI-CIRCULAR ARCHED WINDOWS ON THE GROUND FLOOR WITH STYLISED VOUSSOIRS AND CARVED KEY- STONES, THE HEVRON STRING COURSE AND THE CANTILEVERED CANOPY OVER THE SPRING STREET ENTRANCE. ALCASTON HOUSE IS AN IMPORTANT BUILDING IN THE HISTORY OF MELBOURNE'S EARLY 20TH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE AS ONE OF THE CITY'S FIRST MULTI-STOREY RESIDENTIAL BLOCKS. ARCHITECTURALLY, IT IS A DISTINCTIVE BUILDING THAT REFLECTS THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF STYLES IN THAT IT EMPLOYS RENAISSANCE REVIVAL MOTIFS WITHIN AN ESSENTIALLY "MODERN" FRAMEWORK. ITS USE OF THE EXPOSED LIGHT WELLS IS A MOST UNUSUAL FEATURE OF ITS DESIGN AND IT IS AN IMPORTANT WORK OF THE ARCHITECT, KINGSLEY HENDERSON, WHO WAS WELL KNOWN AS A SPECIALIST IN SYMPATHETIC DESIGN.

    Archeological Potential: Potential/Disturbed, Site

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