FORMER GAS VALVE HOUSE

The Former Gas Valve House, 617 St Kilda Road, Melbourne was built for the Metropolitan Gas Company sometime between 1876 and 1881 to service one or both of the gasholders at this outstation. The site, comprising Crown Allotments 55 and 56, was originally purchased by GB Hailes and J Clark on 30th December 1865 before being sold to the city of Melbourne Gas & Coke Company in 1876. 

Following the amalgamation of this company with the Collingwood Fitzroy & District Gas & Coke Co and the South Melbourne Gas Co in 1877 the land was consolidated and transferred to their successor the Metropolitan Gas Co in 1878. The valve house is architecturally of great importance. 

This small building is well proportioned and finely detailed in red brick and stucco and is stylistically of a quite different nature to the North Melbourne Valve House built in 1887. Of particular delicacy is the Metropolitan Gas Company's insignia on the northern and southern pediments. This detail was later copied in a clumsy manner in the Tooronga Valve House of 1892 (now demolished). 

Historically, the Former Gas Valve House 617 St Kilda Road is also important as one of the last pieces of evidence of the gas industry of the 1870s in Melbourne and probably the first of this type to have been built by the Metropolitan Gas Company.

The Former Gas Valve House, 617 St Kilda Road, Melbourne was built for the Metropolitan Gas Company sometime between 1876 and 1881 to service one or both of the gasholders at this outstation. The site, comprising Crown Allotments 55 and 56, was originally purchased by GB Hailes and J Clark on 30th December 1865 before being sold to the city of Melbourne Gas & Coke Company in 1876. 

Following the amalgamation of this company with the Collingwood Fitzroy & District Gas & Coke Co and the South Melbourne Gas Co in 1877 the land was consolidated and transferred to their successor the Metropolitan Gas Co in 1878. The valve house is architecturally of great importance. 

This small building is well proportioned and finely detailed in red brick and stucco and is stylistically of a quite different nature to the North Melbourne Valve House built in 1887. Of particular delicacy is the Metropolitan Gas Company's insignia on the northern and southern pediments. This detail was later copied in a clumsy manner in the Tooronga Valve House of 1892 (now demolished). 

Historically, the Former Gas Valve House 617 St Kilda Road is also important as one of the last pieces of evidence of the gas industry of the 1870s in Melbourne and probably the first of this type to have been built by the Metropolitan Gas Company.

The Former Gas Valve House, 617 St Kilda Road, Melbourne was built for the Metropolitan Gas Company sometime between 1876 and 1881 to service one or both of the gasholders at this outstation. The site, comprising Crown Allotments 55 and 56, was originally purchased by GB Hailes and J Clark on 30th December 1865 before being sold to the city of Melbourne Gas & Coke Company in 1876. 

Following the amalgamation of this company with the Collingwood Fitzroy & District Gas & Coke Co and the South Melbourne Gas Co in 1877 the land was consolidated and transferred to their successor the Metropolitan Gas Co in 1878. The valve house is architecturally of great importance. 

This small building is well proportioned and finely detailed in red brick and stucco and is stylistically of a quite different nature to the North Melbourne Valve House built in 1887. Of particular delicacy is the Metropolitan Gas Company's insignia on the northern and southern pediments. This detail was later copied in a clumsy manner in the Tooronga Valve House of 1892 (now demolished). 

Historically, the Former Gas Valve House 617 St Kilda Road is also important as one of the last pieces of evidence of the gas industry of the 1870s in Melbourne and probably the first of this type to have been built by the Metropolitan Gas Company.