McDonald and Company Building: 165 Flinders Lane, corner Hosier Lane,

Building Profile

Location

Construction Details

Built in the Interwar period in the 11 style

Notable features

It is cement render over six-inch reinforced concrete, which is an austere finish but typical for the purposeful architecture of the lane. Ground and seven upper levels gives a 20th century height on a nineteenth century, narrow-fronted subdivision, creating a slender tower-like form with sparsely applied ornament, centred multi-paned windows provide little glass onto the lane, serving a stairway and elevator lobby. The rest of the building is lit from Hosier Lane but nevertheless the punched windows inherited from the chosen style prevail. Shutter-like panels, placed either side of each window, lend wit to the main facade by their two dimensional simulation of period detail, but their intended use, along with similar panels either side of the entrance, was for advertising. Other details derive from Greek sources, including the key pattern frieze at ground level, whilst the overall form is that of the Italian Renaissance palazzo with podium and attic ends to the main fenestration. Stylistically, the designs detailing belongs in the neo-grec or Greek revival period of the early 1920s, a precursor of the Renaissance and Georgian revivals by its forms. Further, the design also foreshadows the minimalism of the modernist era. Unpainted stucco adds to the generally high integrity.

History

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