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Beehive Building

Other Name The Beehive Stores Location 18 Pall Mall,, BENDIGO VIC 3550 - Property No B5850 File Number B5850 Level State

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Statement of Significance

The building which stood at the heart of the mining boom in the most dramatic gold mining centre of eastern Australia. It was built in 1872 to the design of Charles Webb, principally as a drapery store and secondarily as a mining exchange, and stood on the site of the earlier Beehive Store and mining exchange which had been destroyed by fire. The facade and front portion of the building is of three storeys, and bulk of the store behind is of two. The space comprising the exchange itself was also a two-storey one, with upper level brokers' offices opening onto continuous balconies surrounding a well. These offices and other associated first floor spaces survive in a good state of preservation, together with the pitched glass roof and ornamental iron brackets and spandrels, all broadly comparable with the same architect's treatment of Royal Arcade, Melbourne, three years before. However the well has been closed in, eliminating the balconies, and the space below converted into a more modern shipping arcade. The upper levels of Webb's pedimented facade survive relatively intact and the store interior, though not architecturally remarkable, is better preserved than any other example of comparable age in the state, and includes an exceptionally complete and still operating Lamson pneumatic cash transfer system of c. 1940.
Classified: 03/09/1987