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Former Commercial Bank of Australia

Other Name 333 Collins Street Location 327 - 343 Collins Street,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B3331 File Number B3331 Level State

[1/3] Frmr Commercial Bank of [2/3] B3331 Frmr Commercial Bank of [3/3] B3331 Frmr Commercial Bank of

Statement of Significance

A most notable commercial building and a fine ornament of Melbourne's financial district.
It was the head office of the Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd., from 1893 until 1982. The former C.B.A. Bank is a masterly amalgam of two diverse time periods and styles, the inner a nineteenth century masterwork of Lloyd Tayler and Alfred Dunn and the outer, a twentieth century tour de force by A.& K. Henderson. The Banking Chamber, Entrance Vestibule, Archway and Gates remain from the building erected in 1891- 93
The design was the result of a competition in which Tayler and Dunn jointly received first prize. Their five -storey office wing fronting to Collins Street was refaced in 1939 and extended to the present eight storey structure. The dramatic top-lit Banking Chamber is one of Melbourne's most impressive interiors, octagonal in plan and crowned by a dome composed of a series of intersecting arches. Derived from Italian Renaissance and Baroque sources (Guarino Guarini's S. Lorenzo Turin begun in 1666), the design is one of the last and perhaps most exuberant examples of that opulent period wiped away in the financial crash of 1893.
Most of the original furniture is in place, emphasising the fine proportions of the Chamber and the handsome materials of which it is constructed.
The street facade of 1939 is carried out in sandstone. It is a fine example of stripped modern classicism which at that time was so popular for banking premises and it alludes to many important international contemporaneous buildings. The introduction of vertical shafts within the central area of the facade contrasts with the richness of the earlier archway and gates located beneath. The timber panelled managerial suite of 1939 is part of the Classification.
In 1990 the 1939 facade was replaced with a simplified version of the 1893 facade, the banking chamber was converted into a lobby for a new office tower above, repainted in its original colours, but retaining only short sections of the original counters.