IG Anderson

Illiffe Gordon Anderson (1890–1963), usually known as IG Anderson, was an Australian architect, practicing in Melbourne and later Tasmania, who is noted for his sometimes unusually expressive 1930s commerical and apartment designs.

Career

Born in South Yarra in Melbourne in 1890, the family relocated to Geelong in 1910.{{Cite web |title=Illife G. ANDERSON |url=https://www.torquayhistory.com/brief-history-of-torquay/people/illife-g-anderson/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Torquay Museum Without Walls |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Heritage Tasmania |date=2011 |title=Golden Bee Honey Factory |url=https://www.leatherwoodhoney.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tas.-Heritage-Register-Entry-1.pdf |website=Tasmania Heritage Register}} After studying architecture at the Gordon Institute of Technology in Geelong, he set up practice in that town by 1916.{{Cite web |last=Grow |first=Robin |title=The encyclopedia of Australian architecture / edited by Philip Goad and Julie Willis - Catalogue {{!}} National Library of Australia |url=https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/5079490 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=catalogue.nla.gov.au |page=19 |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1916-06-10 |title=Tender notice to erect cottage |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132737663 |access-date=2025-04-18 |work=Geelong Advertiser}}

His first notable commission that still stands is the Mildura Club, in the far northern Victorian town of Mildura, prominently sited on a corner with a round portico entry. The design won a competition with 60 entries, and led to further commissions in town, notably the tall Memorial Clock Tower attached to the library.{{Cite news |date=1921-04-04 |title=MILDURA ARCHITECTURE |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/258592959 |access-date=2025-04-17 |work=Sunraysia Daily}}

Through the 1920s he designed numerous commercial, industrial and residential buildings in Geelong, including the grand CML Building, as well as the Geelong West Town Hall, both in a Stripped Classical style.

In 1930, he relocated to Melbourne, and that year designed the Brunswick Market, intended to be a form of early supermarket. It employed an unusual stylised Spanish/Medieval expression, and was followed by the similarly styled Avon Butter Factory in Fitzroy two years later.

He then embraced the new Moderne (Art Deco) style, including many apartment blocks and private houses. His first designs in this mode were noted for introducing novel forms, for instance the Avenue Court flats in South Melbourne were reported in 1934 as showing how "deeply the machine era is impressing itself on residential work".

Some of his designs are today regarded as outstanding for their period, with more dynamic forms and idiosyncratic details than most contemporary works. For instance the Dorijo Flats and Lonsdale House (demolished) feature a small turret composed of interlocking flat plates, while the Ostend Flats feature a waterfall motif tower, a large stylised version of a common Art Deco motif. The Avenue Court and Park Gate flats both feature curves within curved elements, while Tufnell Lodge at 2 Garden Avenue employs a dense layering of differing angles as well as a curve in the street facade.

In this period he was particularly active in East Melbourne, designing about a dozen small blocks of flats, with many built in the first years of WWII, including five blocks which take up most of the newly laid out cul-de-sac of Garden Avenue.{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2021-04-20 |title=IG Anderson did a whole street – Garden Avenue, East Melbourne |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2021/04/20/ig-anderson-in-garden-avenue-east-melbourne/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}} Notwithstanding the sometimes elaborate designs, he was highly regarded by clients for working within budget.

Later during WWII he worked for the United States Army, before relocating to Hobart, Tasmania, in 1947, in practice with his son Leslie Gordon Anderson. Projects included a railway station, government offices, and many motels throughout Tasmania. He also became a councilor of the City of Hobart (1950–54), and designed their Coat of Arms in 1951. He died in Hobart on 1 August 1963.

Selected projects

1921 : Mildura Club, Deakin Avenue, Mildura

1922 : Memorial Clock Tower, Deakin Avenue, Mildura{{Cite news |date=1921-09-01 |title=THE MILDURA MEMORIAL |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/258513480 |access-date=2025-04-17 |work=Sunraysia Daily}}

1924 : Geelong West City Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West{{Cite web |title=Geelong West City Hall |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/21728 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (City of Greater Geelong)}}

1926 : Belcher's Corner, 141-149 Ryrie Street, Geelong{{Cite web |title=Belcher's Corner |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/20557 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (City of Greater Geelong)}} (demolished 2020{{Cite web |last=Hui |first=Jin |date=2020-09-16 |title=Belchers Corner demo complete |url=https://geelongindy.com.au/news/16-09-2020/belchers-corner-demo-complete/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Geelong Independent |language=en-US}})

1927 : The Block, 127 Little Malop Street, Geelong{{Cite web |title=Block Building |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/21957 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (City of Greater Geelong)}}

1927: CML Insurance Building, 74 Malop Street, Geelong{{Cite web |title=C.M.L. Building including Austin Clock |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/21745 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Victorian Heritage Database}}

1930 : Brunswick Market, corner Ballarat Street and Sparta Place, Brunswick{{Cite web |title=FORMER BRUNSWICK MARKET |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/4912 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Register}}

1932 : Avon Butter Factory, 218-222 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy{{Cite web |title=FORMER AVON BUTTER FACTORY |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/12856 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Register}}

1934 : Dorijo, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2018-12-31 |title=Dorijo, East Melbourne, another IG Anderson triumph |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2018/12/31/dorijo-east-melbourne-another-ig-anderson-triumph/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}}

1934 : Avenue Court, 64 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park{{Cite web |title=Avenue Court |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/71615 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (National Trust)}}

1935 : Ostend Flats, 29 Seacombe Grove, Brighton{{Cite web |title=Ostend Flats |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/64584 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (National Trust)}}

1935 : Park Gate, 352 Albert Road, South Melbourne{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2019-02-14 |title=I G Anderson No 8, Park Gate, South Melbourne |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2019/02/14/i-g-anderson-no-8/ |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}}

1936 : Abrahams House, 3 Elwood Street, Brighton{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=City of Bayside Inter-War & Post-War Heritage Study |url=https://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/Volume%202_0.pdf}}

1936 : Lonsdale House, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne (demolished 2010){{Cite web |title=Lonsdale House |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/71872 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (National Trust)}}

1937 : Mon Reve, 35 Hampden Road, Armadale{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2021-06-23 |title=Mon Reve modern, 1937 |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2021/06/23/mon-reve-modern-1937/ |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}}

1938-41 : Flats (5), 1-3 and 2-16 Garden Avenue, 48-50 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne{{Cite web |title=Garden Avenue & George Street Flats |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/65059 |access-date=2024-12-26 |website=Victorian Heritage Database (National Trust)}}

c1941 : Pair of flats, 25 & 37 George Street, East Melbourne (which back onto Garden Avenue)

1940 : Flats, 51 George Street, East Melbourne{{Cite web |last=Storey |first=Rohan |date=2024-03-23 |title=IG Anderson in East Melbourne |url=https://storeyofmelbourne.org/2024/03/23/ig-anderson-in-east-melbourne/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=Storey of Melbourne |language=en}}

1942: Flats, 53 George Street, East Melbourne