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FORMER COLONIAL BANK
Other NameNATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK Location32 PALL MALL BENDIGO, GREATER BENDIGO CITY
File Number600402LevelRegistered |
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Statement of Significance
The former Colonial Bank, Bendigo was built in 1887 by N Longstaff and Co. to a design by architect WC Vahland. It became a branch of the National Bank in 1918 when the two banks amalgamated and was sold by the bank in 1993. The elaborate style of the building reflects the important position the bank held in the community and also demonstrates the prosperity of Bendigo, one of the major centres for gold-mining in the nineteenth century. The building has an important association with the colonial bank. Established in 1856, this institution was a particularly strong rural bank and was the first reputable bank in Australia to advocate amalgamation of the successful banks. Its merger with the National Bank in 1918 resulted in that bank becoming the third largest in Australia after the Bank of Australasia and the Union Bank of Australia. The building is an important work of the prominent Bendigo architect, WC Vahland. During his long career, Vahland designed many of Bendigo's prominent buildings. The former colonial bank is possibly his best "boom style" building The former Colonial Bank, with its richly modelled facade and lofty and finely detailed banking chamber, is an extra-ordinary example of Boom Classicism style, where the conventions of conservative classical architecture were playfully distorted and elaborated. [Source: Report to the Minister]
Group
Commercial
Category
Bank