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Yule House

Location 309-311 Little Collins Street,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B4104 File Number B4104 Level Local

[1/2] B4104 Yule House [2/2] B4104 Yule House

Statement of Significance

Covers front facade of building including covered line of shopfronts and "foyer". The Great Depression gave Melbourne's Modern Movement a second chance to rationalise the build requirements of a society looking for austerity. Yule House, built in 1932, was probably the first austere offering, in Melbourne's business district after the Depression. Bereft of any of the revivalism of previous years, it ulilised modern materials in a new way. Wunderlich 's cream-coloured terracotta faience was formed into the bold geometric patterns that Europe had already seen in the work of Gropius and Meyer during the first generation of the 1900s and in Mendelsohn's Department Stores of the 1920s. A narrow frontage to Little Collins Street required that Yule House have large window areas in the facade, and these windows were not only framed in steel, but disposed in wide, horizontal bands across its full width.
Eric Gill's letter face, seriphed and sans, is both incised into the terracotta and wrought in iron, forming free-standing letters at the building's base. Investment of the W Yule estate provided the opportunity for architects, Oakley and Parks, to pioneer the European style in Melbourne.
Classified: 21/08/1980