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Former Austral Otis Building

Other Name Rank Electronics Location Cnr Kavanagh Street & Kingsway,, SOUTHBANK VIC 3006 - Property No B6088 File Number B6088 Level State

[1/1] B6088 Austral Otis Building

Statement of Significance

A two-storey brick building originally constructed in 1888 as the headquarters for Austral Otis Elevator and Engineering Company Limited. Although subsequently adapted for other uses and modified in detail, both internally and externally, the building nevertheless retains its original general appearance.
It is the only surviving tract left at any of the sites occupied by this establishment, which was one of Victoria's leading engineering manufacturers. This establishment supplied most of the hydraulic elevators which made high rise development possible in the City of Melbourne for the first time; it made steam engines for Melbourne's cable tram system, for gold mines and sluicing plant, the Ballarat Woollen Mills, and the Spotswood Pumping Station; it engineered a number of important manufacturing establishments in Melbourne, and it made a major contribution to making South Melbourne the manufacturing centre for the metropolis by the end of the nineteenth century, at a time when Victoria was the manufacturing centre of Australia.
Classified: 24/07/1989
Revised: October 1989