Back to search results »

Back to search page »

Cast Iron Public Urinal - Group Classification

Location Between Lonsdale & Little Lonsdale Streets Exhibition Street, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B2836 File Number B2836 Level National

[1/1] B2836 Cast Iron Public Urinal

Statement of Significance

Group Statement of Significance: Melbourne's cast iron public urinals have national historic, technological, aesthetic and social significance. They are the survivors of a group of about 40 structures erected between c.1903 and 1918 and connected to the new underground sewerage system. Cast by C. Monteath & Sons, Ironfounders of South Melbourne, they employed a prefabricated interlocking post and panel system which enabled the urinals to be assembled on site, or dismantled and relocated. While all still function as toilets, the fabric of some is more intact than others and a number have been converted from male urinals to unisex and disabled facilities.
Being among the earliest public toilet facilities to be connected to the MMBW's new underground sewerage system, the above ground cast iron urinals are unique material reminders of Melbourne's evolution into a healthier, cleaner and more attractive metropolis in the first two decades of the twentieth century. As rare surviving examples of a highly sophisticated prefabricated iron building system applied to one of man's most basic needs, they demonstrate local technological accomplishment. Functional in their design, and compact in their use of city space, the cast iron urinals display elegant ornamentation, particularly in the delicate upper grillework. The public urinals have important symbolic significance as historical vestiges of social inequality in the provision of public toilet facilities for men and women earlier this century.
Group Classification includes 1. Princes Street, south side corner of Neill Street, Carlton, near Dan O'Connell Hotel, B6875. 2. Queensberry Street, south side, west of Swanston Street corner, Carlton, adjacent to Queensberry Hotel (2 stall), B6876. 3. North side Queensberry Street, east of Elizabeth Street corner, Carlton, adjacent to Royal Artillery Hotel (2 stall), B6877. 4. Exhibition Street, median strip, between Lonsdale Street and Little Lonsdale Street (2 stall), B.2836. 5. Queensberry Street, median strip, east side of intersection of Errol Street, North Melbourne (4 stall), B6879. 6. Flinders Street, south side, corner of Exhibition Street, B6880. 7. La Trobe Street, north side, west of Russell Street corner, adjacent to Magistrates Court, B6881. 8. Lonsdale Street, median strip, east of King Street intersecton,B6882. 9. Nicholson Street, east side, south of Albert Street corner, East Melbourne, B6883.
Classified:02/02/1998