Dalgety & Co.

Statement of Cultural Significance

The Dalgety and Co. Ltd. building, 1-7 Malop Street, has significance has an intact example of the interwar modern French Renaissance (Classical) style and for its long associations with the Dalgety company. Built in 1924-25 as the company's administrative offices to a design by the Geelong architects Laird and Buchan, the building appears to be in good condition.

The Dalgety and Co. Ltd building is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of the interwar modern French Renaissance (Classical) style. These qualities include the giant Ionic colonnades of flat stuccoed pilasters, solid banded corners with deep and narrow steel framed windows (emphasising the verticality of the corners), large austere entablatures containing a Greek key pattern (typical of the style) and the title "Dalgety and Co. Ltd", projecting dentillated cornice and the rudimentary parapet having stepped piers that form the terminals to the banded corners below. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the symmetrical composition, two storey height (plus basement), steel framed 12 paned windows, stuccoed transoms having incised rectangular panelling, plain stuccoed ground floor wall bases, arched ground floor door opening on the Malop Street facade (but not the aluminium framed and glazed doors or blind fanlight above), smooth-finished rendered plinth, incised star-patterning to the parapet piers, timber flag poles that surmount the building, and the parapet signage: "Wool Brokers Land & Stock Agents" and "Wool Shipping, Insurance, Stock".

The Dalgety and Co. Ltd. building is historically significant at a LOCAL level. It is associated with commercial wool broking developments in Geelong during the interwar (1920s-1940s) period. In particular, this building has long-term associations with Dalgety and Co. Ltd. as the original owner from 1924-25 until the 1990s. The building also has associations with the Geelong architectural firm of Laird and Buchan. Overall, the Dalgety and Co. Ltd. building is of LOCAL significance.

References

D. Rowe, 'Building a National Image: The Architecture of John Smith Murdoch, Australia's First Commonwealth Government Architect', PhD (Architecture) Thesis, Deakin University, 1997.

Reports and Drainage Plans, Barwon Water profis system, 1950, 1989.

Geelong City Council Rate Books (Villamanta Ward), 1924-1960, Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Town Plan of Geelong 1881, Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Geelong Advertiser 11 October, 1924, Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Group

Retail and Wholesale

Category

Shopping/retail complex