Former Gollin and Company Building: 561-563 Bourke Street, MELBOURNE

Building Profile

Location

Construction Details

Built in the Edwardian period in the Queen Anne style

Notable features

The Former Gollin and Company Building is of architectural significance as a now-rare example of a Queen Anne-style commercial building in Melbourne which possesses a number of distinctive features. It is a rather late example of the Queen Anne style, this particular form of architectural expression flourishing only briefly from the late-1880s. But perhaps because of this belatedness, the Gollin building displays the full development of the style. The use of the corner tourelle as the principal facade feature appeared in England in the 1890s, but the premature demise of the Queen Anne styles popularity amidst the collapse of the property market in the 1890s depression in Melbourne meant that it was an uncommon architectural feature here. The Gollin Buildings tourelle is one of the very few, and perhaps most intact, surviving in this city. The diverse range of stylistic elements upon which the Queen Anne style drew is illustrated in this building particularly in the windows. The ground floor windows in particular are uncommon, while the first floor openings have a classical flavour and those on the second floor exhibit eclectic French Renaissance Revival traits. The upper two floors are more restrained. The Gollin building is, in sum, a skilled composition making great use of its corner site.

History

The Former Gollin and Company Building was designed by Charles Debro and built in 1902 by Clements Langford. It is a five storey building, constructed of load-bearing brick with steel floor joists. It is decorated with stucco details, including elaborate main door and window surrounds, gables, and string courses at impost and sill heights. Features of the exterior are the corner sign surround, front door case with a swan-neck pediment, metal eaves brackets and particularly the tourelle, which has an elaborately decorated base, foliated band, windows of different shapes and a flagpole-capped cupola.

• National Trust (B4054)


• Victorian Heritage Register (H0685) - Former Gollin and Company Building is protected by state law

Did you find what you were looking for ?
Discuss Former Gollin and Company Building in the Walking Melbourne Forum