Australian Mutual Provident Society head office, Sydney

File:A.M.P. Society Building, 98 Pitt Street, Sydney (circa 1871-1873).jpg

When the Australian Mutual Provident Society commenced business in Sydney in the Colony of New South Wales in 1849, its first premises were located at 314 George Street. However, the growing business of the society meant that it changed premises multiple times in its early years.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article231437987 |title=Know Your City |newspaper=The Sun |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 August 1933 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=6|via=National Library of Australia}} In 1864, the AMP Society commissioned a new principal office on the eastern side of Pitt Street (No. 98), on a site that now contains Wales House, which was designed by Melbourne architects Reed and Barnes (supervised by Edmund Blacket).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63618712 |title=THE AUSTRALIAN MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY'S OFFICE, PITT STREET NORTH. |newspaper=Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier|location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 July 1872 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} The AMP 'Amicus' group that depicts "Australia receiving the Gifts of Peace and Plenty" atop this new building was sculpted in sandstone by Charles Summers.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166650369 |title=AUSTRALIAN MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY'S OFFICES. |newspaper=Sydney Mail |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 December 1863 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

File:Australian Mutual Provident Society headquarters.jpg.]]By 1875, the AMP Society board resolved to build a new larger head office on a site opposite the current offices at 87 Pitt Street, with designs in the Mannerist style prepared by Mansfield Brothers, and a tender for the construction of the basement and foundations from [https://www.sydneyaldermen.com.au/alderman/aaron-loveridge/ Aaron Loveridge] was accepted in March 1875.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18817695 |title=Australian Mutual Provident Society. |newspaper=The Maitland Mercury And Hunter River General Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 April 1877 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13353276 |title=IMPROVEMENTS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 March 1875 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130492973 |title=Australian Mutual Provident Society. |newspaper=Evening News |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 April 1875 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The foundation stone of this new head office was laid on 23 January 1877 by the AMP Society chairman, John Smith, with the main building construction tender undertaken by Hugh McMaster.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70598714 |title=Australian Mutual Provident Society. |newspaper=Australian Town and Country Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 February 1877 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} The new building of three storeys and a basement had a façade built in sandstone quarried from Pyrmont and ironwork supplied by Mort's Dock and Engineering Company.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162682614 |title=AUSTRALIAN MUTUAL PROVIDENT SOCIETY'S NEW OFFICES. |newspaper=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 March 1877 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=6|via=National Library of Australia}} The building was completed in 1878 and the first meeting of the AMP Society members in the new head office was held on 30 September 1879.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70973497 |title=Australian Mutual Provident Society. |newspaper=Australian Town And Country Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 October 1879 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}

File:Amicus statue on top of the Australian Mutual Provident Society Head Office, Pitt Street, Sydney (c.1930).pngBy 1909, the AMP Society found the current premises inadequate for its expanding business, and commissioned significant extensions to have six storeys above the street level and a full redesign of the existing premises on Pitt Street in a more restrained Free Classical style at a cost of £62,770.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28145909 |title=BUILDINGS AND WORKS. PROGRESS OF THE TRADE. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 June 1909 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238290107 |title=BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION. |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=5 June 1909 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} The president of the NSW Institute of Architects, Ernest Alfred Scott of Scott & Green, was the architect, and Finlay Elgin Munro was the master builder.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222878051 |title=The Late E. A. Scott, F.R.A.I.A, |newspaper=Construction |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=19 November 1947 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229484304 |title=MR. F. E. MUNRO DEAD |newspaper=The Sun |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=15 January 1939 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite journal |title=A Solid Structure |journal=Building |date=11 May 1912 |volume=5 |issue=57 |pages=49-50 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-361936476 |access-date=19 July 2023}}{{cite journal |title=AUSTRALIA'S ELDER ARCHITECTS 1. MR. E. A. SCOTT, F.R.A.I.A. |journal=Building and Engineering |date=25 March 1946 |issue=3 |pages=19-20; 33 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-313017832 |access-date=19 July 2023}}{{cite journal |title=A MASTER BUILDER Finlay Munro |journal=Building |date=12 December 1923 |volume=33 |issue=196 |pages=52-53 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-323138154 |access-date=19 July 2023}} The old 'Amicus' sculptural group by Charles Summers was determined to be too small in scale for the new offices and "fell to pieces" when it was removed, so the AMP Board commissioned a new 'Amicus' group sculpted by William Priestly MacIntosh to be placed atop the renewed headquarters.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15267835 |title=GENERAL NOTES. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 August 1911 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} The new offices were completed in late 1912, and were officially opened by the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Chelmsford, on 21 January 1913.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15392382 |title=THE A.M.P. – SIXTY-THREE YEARS AGO AND TO-DAY. – A GREAT INSTITUTION.|newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 January 1913 |accessdate=15 July 2023 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In order to accommodate future growth, AMP Society acquired adjoining sites to the south of the offices up to Little George Street (now known as Curtin Place), and commissioned further extensions in March 1916 designed in the same classical style by architects [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kirkpatrick-john-6974 John Kirkpatrick & Son], who won the contract in a public competition.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109633685 |title=THE A.M.P. COMPETITION|newspaper=Construction And Local Government Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=10 March 1916 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} The foundation for the extensions was laid by the AMP chairman, Sir Alfred Meeks, on 28 April 1917, and the construction was undertaken by Finlay Munro.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15729534 |title=A.M.P; SOCIETY. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 April 1917 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} Completed in 1918, the extensions featured a circular corner facing the corner of Pitt and Little George streets.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15677619 |title=A.M.P. BUILDING. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 November 1916 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122793491 |title=THE A.M.P. |newspaper=Sunday Times |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 April 1917 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15778387 |title=BUILDINGS AND WORKS. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=16 January 1918 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} These additions were savaged in Building, which noted that "it is a pity that such a graceful, correctly designed and handsomely executed facade should have tacked on to it as its most prominent feature such miserable substitute for architecture."{{cite journal |title=Queer Architecture |journal=Building |date=12 January 1918 |volume=21 |issue=123 |pages=46-47 |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-273879897 |access-date=19 July 2023}}

By the middle of the 20th century, the now-historic head office appeared outdated and insufficient to the needs of the AMP. In a 1938 profile of the building published in Construction it was praised as a "delightful composition...the embodiment of dignity and architectural grace" but that its days may be numbered: "These big companies are so frequently pulling their buildings down and re-building, it makes one wonder how long this one will last".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222925584 |title=A.M.P. BUILDING |newspaper=Construction And Real Estate Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 May 1938 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222925581 |title=THE A.M.P. HEAD OFFICE, PITT STREET, SYDNEY |newspaper=Construction And Real Estate Journal |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 May 1938 |accessdate=16 July 2023 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1956, the AMP Society acquired a new site at Circular Quay fronting Alfred Street, and entered into negotiations for a new landmark modernist office tower to serve as the new head office, with a height that would breach the 150-foot height limit for buildings in the City of Sydney. Approval for the new AMP Building was granted in 1959, and the AMP offices moved to the new building on its completion in 1961–1962.{{cite web |title="Amp Building" Including Interior |url=https://www.hms.heritage.nsw.gov.au/App/Item/ViewItem?itemId=2423922 |website=NSW State Heritage Inventory |publisher=Heritage NSW |access-date=15 July 2023}} The AMP Society then sold the building and its land to developer Lend Lease, which was intending to demolish it and surrounding buildings for the Australia Square development. At this time an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, noted that the AMP Building was one of many sandstone landmarks in Sydney under threat as the fashion in architecture moved towards glass and steel away from stone.{{cite news |title=New Stone for Old |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=12 May 1962 |page=12}} The demolition of the former AMP Head Office was completed by late 1962, and the construction of Australia Square by Civil & Civic to a design by Harry Seidler commenced in December 1962.{{cite news |title=Construction To Begin On Australia Square |publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=24 July 1962 |page=16}}{{cite web |title=AMP Chambers demolition for Australia Square, Pitt Street Sydney, 1962 (13/09/1962), A-00045724 |url=https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/687313 |website=City of Sydney Archives & History Resources |publisher=City of Sydney |access-date=15 July 2023}}{{cite web |title=AMP Chambers demolition for Australia Square, Pitt Street Sydney, 1962 (13/09/1962), A-00045725 |url=https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/687314 |website=City of Sydney Archives & History Resources |publisher=City of Sydney |access-date=15 July 2023}}{{cite web |title=AMP Chambers demolition for Australia Square, Pitt Street Sydney, 1962 (13/09/1962), A-00045726 |url=https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/687315 |website=City of Sydney Archives & History Resources |publisher=City of Sydney |access-date=15 July 2023}}

{{reflist|35em}}

{{Commons category|AMP Limited}}

• [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/9WZWPGLY A.M.P. foyer, old building, March 1959 – photographed by Max Dupain] – SLNSW
• [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/Yj7QGR39 Photograph: View of Pitt Street including AMP Building (circa 1918) by Hall & Co.] – SLNSW
• [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/9NaA3y3Y Photograph: A.M.P. Building on 87 Pitt Street, Sydney (circa 1912) by Star Photo Co.] – SLNSW
• [https://collection.maas.museum/object/30672#&gid=1&pid=1 Glass plate negative of Australian Mutual Provident Society's Offices by Henry King] – Powerhouse Collection
• [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/1kVd5KOn Photograph: AMP Society Building on 98 Pitt Street at the corner of Spring Street, Sydney (1860s)] – SLNSW

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Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1878

Category:Office buildings completed in 1912

Category:Office buildings in Sydney

Category:1878 establishments in Australia

Category:1912 establishments in Australia

Category:Renaissance Revival architecture in Australia

Category:Neoclassical architecture in Australia

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1909

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1962

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney

Category:Former buildings and structures in Sydney

Category:George Allen Mansfield buildings