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FORMER MERCANTILE BANK

Other Names BANK OF MELBOURNE ,  BANK OF NEW ZEALAND ,  MERCANTILE BANK Location 345-349 COLLINS STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY File Number 603003 Level Registered

[1/2] BANK OF MELBOURNE SOHE 2008 [2/2] 1 mercantile bank collins

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Mercantile Bank at 345-349 Collins Street, was constructed in 1888 to a design by William Salway in conjunction with Gerard Wight and William Lucas. It was built of brick and concrete with a rendered facade incorporating polished granite at the base. Its five storeys and basement were originally crowned with a dome and flanking French-style high-pitched roofs. These were replaced by a simple pitched roof during substantial 1923 alterations.

How is it significant?
The former Mercantile Bank is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The former Mercantile Bank is of historical significance as a reminder of the 1880s land boom and subsequent collapse, a period of immense political and economic significance in Victoria's history. The building is the last remaining land bank in Collins Street from the 1880s boom. It was originally built as the head office of the Mercantile Bank, a typical boom-era institution run by influential men with questionable business ethics, and fuelled by profits from land speculation. The trials and political controversy following the collapse of the Bank in 1892, under the chairmanship of Sir Matthew Davies, speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, made for some of the most dramatic events and scandalous news in the post-land boom period.

The former Mercantile Bank is of architectural significance because it typifies the architectural extravagance of the land boom period. The building's boom-style classicism is a combination of mannerist and baroque influences all assembled with a typical Victorian eclecticism and boom-era extravagance. The largely intact facade is a reminder of the flamboyance, not to mention recklessness, of a period that had profound effects on the built fabric and political culture of Melbourne.