OFFICE

The office at 202 Little Lonsdale Street was constructed in two stages: the two storey brick store in 1889 and the facade in 1905. The 1889 work was undertaken for Walter Coop who owned and operated the adjacent shot tower. The facade was designed by architect J. Edmund Burke and built by A. Pontin. The building was constructed in red-brick with cement dressings to the facade. The most striking feature of the facade is the central bay window of art nouveau form.

How is it significant?

The office at 202 Little Lonsdale Street is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?

The office at 202 Little Lonsdale Street is of architectural significance because of its art- nouveau features, which place it in an important period of architectural development in Australia when a distinctive Australian style of architecture was being fashioned by architects such as John Sulman, Nahum Barnett and Robert Haddon. The new style featured a move away from the stuccoed Renaissance Revival towards the use of red brick and render, passing through a Queen Anne phase with associated art-nouveau decoration, eventually adopting a strong, American Romanesque-influenced style featuring large openings. This building clearly reflects the new approach, displaying little interest in traditional decorative details and presenting a dynamically-modelled facade to the street.

The office at 202 Little Lonsdale Street is of historical significance as a reminder of the industrial and warehousing character of this area in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Little Lonsdale Street always had a reputation as a less respectable, vice-ridden part of the city. This part of the street was for a long time occupied by small-scale industrial establishments and warehouses, as well as opium dens and brothels in the 19th century. The street has been drastically changed in recent decades, especially since the construction of Melbourne Central, and buildings such as No. 202 are important remnants of the original character. The association with Walter Coop, who, as the owner of the adjacent Shot Factory, was a prominent Melbourne industrialist, is also important.

Group

Commercial

Category

Commercial Office/Building