Commercial Union Assurance Building: Collins Street West, 
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| Building ProfileName : Commercial Union Assurance Building
LocationAddress: Collins Street West
City:
Commercial Union Assurance Building was a landmark
Construction DetailsBuilt: 1892 - 1893
Original use: Office
Current use:
Built in the Victorian period in the Neo-Gothic style
Notable featuresThe building features a triple gabled roofline replete with grotesques (gargoyles) and 4 way crosses.
The building was an exaggeration of the feats of Gothic construction, in a massive load bearing stone constructed edifice. Two enormous banded balconies formed dramatic cornices horizontally crossing a vertically emphasized facade with notable depth and texture.
Each level was treated differently, with giant order gothic archivolts stretching the building vertically. This was a new effect also used on the Stock Exchange building. Columned treatment was given to the three gothic arches at the base, with the central arch forming a vertical emphasis with the central gable. Like the Stock Exchange, the central gable featured a large tracery stained glass window. HistoryArchitect: William Pitt
This building has been destroyed (1927)
The building was demolished clearing the way for an art-deco office tower of exactly the same height of the Commercial Union building (the 40 metre limit) which still stands today.
No doubt the main reason for the demolition, apart from the extreme ornament, was the huge stone balconies, which most possibly made the facade unstable despite the pretentions of Gothic architecture as load bearing construction.
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