Manchester Unity Building

File:Melbourne's Manchester Unity Building at night.jpg

The site, on the north-west corner of the intersection of Collins and Swanston Streets, was purchased by the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (MUIOOF) in 1928,{{Cite web |title=Manchester Unity Building |url=http://www.nattrust.com.au/trust_register/search_the_register/manchester_unity_building |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014091019/http://www.nattrust.com.au/trust_register/search_the_register/manchester_unity_building |archive-date=14 October 2009 |accessdate=2009-07-21 |publisher=National Trust of Australia}} reportedly for the sum of £250,000.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204252725 | title=A COLLINS ST. CORNER – Stewart Dawson's Block Sold | newspaper=The Age | date=28 November 1928 | accessdate=19 October 2018 | page=12 | via=National Library of Australia}}

{{Cite news | title = END CROWNS THE WORK: Manchester Unity Building – Brillian Opening Ceremony | work = The Argus | page = 9 | date = 13 December 1932 | url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4513849 | accessdate = 2018-04-09 |via= trove.nla.gov.au }}

Construction could not commence immediately however since the lease of the business in the existing building did not expire until the end of 1931. By that time the full effects of the Great Depression were being felt, but the Directors decided to press ahead because all the preparations had been made, and, being a benevolent society, felt it was important to show confidence that the economy would improve, and also to provide a source of employment.{{cite news |title= Manchester Unity I.O.O.F. : A£200,000 Structure |date= 27 July 1931 |page=11 |url= http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/203021717?searchTerm=manchester%20unity%20building%20escalator&searchLimits= |via=Trove |work=The Age |accessdate=24 April 2017}} Architect Marcus Barlow designed the building, which was built by W E Cooper Pty Ltd, contracted for the price of £215,000.

{{Cite news | title = MANCHESTER UNITY BUILDING: FIRST SHOPS OPEN TO-DAY | work = The Argus | page = 13 | date = 1 September 1932 |via= trove.nla.gov.au | url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4495498 | accessdate = 2018-04-09 }}

Construction commenced at midnight on 1 January 1932 with the demolition of the prior buildings on the site, and proceeded around the clock in eight-hour shifts.

{{Cite web | title = Architecture – Manchester Unity Building | work = Marvellous Melbourne | publisher = Museum Victoria | url = http://museumvictoria.com.au/marvellous/contrasts/manchester.asp | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071216034428/http://museumvictoria.com.au/marvellous/contrasts/manchester.asp | url-status = dead | archive-date = 16 December 2007 | accessdate = 2018-04-09 }}

For the first time in Australia a construction progress schedule was used to track and manage the construction of the building:

Upon [the schedule graph] is shown the progress of every section of the building as it must go forward... the exact time in which the excavation must be completed, when the escalators will be completed, and when the external painting will be finished... Progress payments to the builders are made upon the architects' certificate that the work is going forward to schedule.

{{Cite news | title = BUILDING AGAINST TIME: MANCHESTER UNITY CORNER | work = The Argus | page = 6 | date = 2 June 1932 | url = http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4455320 | accessdate = 2018-04-09 |via= trove.nla.gov.au }}

Such was the speed of construction that in May the basement and ground floor arcade were structurally complete and ready to be fitted out, and by the end of July the roof had been laid, floors having been added at the rate of one a week on average. The shopping areas in the ground floor arcade, the basement and on the first floor were opened on 1 September, with a full page spread in The Argus describing the building in glowing terms, and advertising various suppliers, contractors, the shops and the Society.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205486959 |title=Manchester Unity Building – A Notable Enterprise |newspaper=The Age |location=Melbourne, Vic. |date=1 September 1932 |accessdate=24 January 2016 |page=6 |via= National Library of Australia}}

The design included figures depicting 'Faith. Hope and Charity' above the oriel windows on each facade at the fifth floor, sculpted by Orlando Dutton. The ground level included an L shaped arcade connecting Collins to Swanston Street, and into the rear lane, and opening out to form the lift lobby. The arcade is richly finished in coloured marble, with copper shopfronts, and a larged cornice with panels depicting the activities of the society, as well as view of 'old melbourne', and the building itself. The lifts have elaborate copper doors, and veneered timber interiors with a leadlight dome. The design included the first escalators in Melbourne, connecting the ground level arcade with further shopfronts at the first floor, and with the basement shop, the latter since removed.

A dinner for several hundred guests was held on 12 December 1932 in the building's basement to celebrate its opening, with Sir Stanley Argyle, the Premier of Victoria, giving a speech. On declaring the building open, Argyle pressed a button which turned on, for the first time, the lights illuminating the tower and spire.

As well as numerous shops in the basement, ground and first floor, there was a rooftop restaurant.{{cite web|title=Manchester Unity Rooftop Restaurant photograph|url=http://digital.slv.vic.gov.au/webclient/StreamGate?folder_id=200&dvs=1493001348129~846|website=State Library Victoria|accessdate=24 April 2017}} This was not a successful venture and soon closed.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

During World War II, it was used by the Australian Army, Victorian Lines of Communication, Southern Command HQ. Once the war was over, the government moved other departments into the building that had been distributed over Melbourne.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22237189 |title=FUTURE USE OF MANCHESTER UNITY BUILDING |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,068 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 March 1946 |accessdate= 4 March 2016 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

The building was compulsorily acquired by the Commonwealth in 1947.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206039859 |title=Manchester Unity Building : Acquisition Described as "Unjust" |newspaper=The Age |location=Melbourne, Vic. |date=23 August 1947 |accessdate=24 January 2016 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} It became the headquarters for Trans Australia Airlines and centralised offices for the Department of Munitions and Department of Aircraft Production.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article95561781 |title=Airlines Headquarters |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=52 |issue=13,837 |location=Western Australia |date=25 November 1946 |accessdate=4 March 2016 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Alongside Manchester Unity staff, tenants of the building have ranged from Averillite's, a clothing manufacturer, to Rene Henri, a high-society hairstylist, as well as numerous jewellers. Perhaps the most notorious episode in the building's history was the unsolved 1978 murder of three jewellers on the eighth floor. In 1997 the top two floors of the building were bought by a developer and converted into apartments, and a new rooftop residence was constructed, incorporating the tower. These floors and others were purchased by Dentist Kia Pajouhesh starting in 2003, when he first fell in love with the building and installed his practice on the first floor; he has led the revival and restoration of the building since then, including restoring floodlighting to the tower in 2012, and restoring the boardroom, including its (heritage listed) furniture.{{cite web |author= Emily Power |title=Labour of Love |url=https://www.domain.com.au/news/labour-of-love-restoring-the-elegance-of-the-manchester-unity-building-penthouse-20151221-glrb6d/ |date= 17 January 2016 |publisher= domain.com.au |accessdate=24 April 2017}}

Formal one-hour guided tours including a meal are run five times a day.[http://manchesterunitybuilding.com.au/tours/ Manchester Unity Building tours], manchesterunitybuilding.com.au Tours of the tower are amongst the most highly sought after destinations in the annual Melbourne Open House.{{citation needed|date=April 2018}}

File:Chicago Tribune Building.jpg, an influence on the Manchester Unity Building]]

Barlow's design clearly draws heavily on the Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois. This design by Raymond Hood won an international competition in 1922, was completed in 1925, and has very similar vertical ribbing, buff coloured cladding, and a stepped Gothic crown complete with flying buttresses also seen on the Manchester Unity. Another more direct inspiration might have been the very similar but less ornate Grace Building in York Street, Sydney designed by Morrow and Gordon, which was under construction in 1929 when the Manchester Unity was designed, but both are said to have been inspired by the Tribune Tower.

The building is of concrete-encased steel construction, with the exterior cladding consisting of two hundred and fifty tons of terracotta faience tiles. Australian marbles are used extensively on interior walls throughout the building.

{{Cite web | title = MANCHESTER UNITY BUILDING | work = Victorian Heritage Database | publisher = Heritage Council Victoria | url = http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/heritage/728 |date= 8 June 2000 | accessdate = 2009-07-21 }}

Two escalators, the first in Melbourne, were installed by Austral Otis to provide access to the basement arcade and first floor from the ground floor arcade (though only one now survives). Three high-speed elevators were installed, capable of speeds of {{convert|600|ft/min|m/s}}.

The building's roof reaches {{convert|132|ft|m}}, which was the height limit for buildings in Melbourne at the time of its construction, but the ornamental tower and spire extends a further {{convert|78|ft|m}}, as was permitted for non-habitable portions of buildings.

The floor size and shape have the ideal dimensions and flexibility for smaller scale businesses or for professional firms that require a smaller operation depth. The distance between façade and the edge of the building allows for smaller rooms along the windows with the regular and narrow mullions enabling flexibility of width.

{{Cite web | title = Manchester Unity: From Murder Mystery to Gothic Art Deco Elegance | work = Wolf Nitch | url = https://www.wolfnitch.com/blog/manchester-unity-art-deco-architecture-melbourne |date= 17 June 2020 | accessdate = 2020-06-17 }}

Smile Solutions{{cite web |url=http://www.smilesolutions.com.au/ |title=Home |website=smilesolutions.com.au}} dental specialists operate 40 surgical suites spanning across five floors and the multi-level tower of the building. Levels 1 and 10 cater for all general and cosmetic dentistry. Level 11 includes the restored Manchester Unity Building Boardroom, and the original Grand Secretary's office houses the executive offices of Smile Solutions management and patient co-ordinators. Level 12, originally a Wood Marsh Architecture residential penthouse development from the late 1990s has been converted to a dental specialist centre facility. The tower is utilised as the Smile Solutions orthodontic centre. Rob Mills Architects,{{cite web |url=http://www.robmills.com.au/ |title=Home |website=robmills.com.au}} Andronas Conservation Architects

{{Cite news | title = Making the old new again | work = Neos Kosmos | date = 2009-07-21 | url = http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Making-the-old-new-again?page=2 | accessdate = 2012-01-24 }}

and Paul Bangay landscapers have supervised the restoration of these spaces. Dr Kia Pajouhesh, managing director and principal dentist of Smile Solutions, has been the Chairman of the MUB Owners Corporation since 2003.

{{Cite web | title = Melbourne City Council Minutes Meeting Number 17 | publisher = Melbourne City Council | url = http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutCouncil/Meetings/Lists/CouncilMeetingAgendaItems/Attachments/4613/PREVIOUS%20MINUTES.pdf | accessdate = 2012-01-24 }}

The Manchester Unity Building is also home to a number of Melbourne's jewellery traders such as Simon West Fine Jewellery{{cite web |url=https://www.simonwestjewellery.com/ |title=Home |website=simonwestjewellery.com}} and Ellissi Jewellery Design.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ellissi.com.au/|title=Engagement Rings Melbourne: Ellissi Jewellery Designs|website=Ellissi Rings and Jewellery|language=en-AU|access-date=2019-08-23}}

File:Manchester Unity Building east facade.jpg|Upper portion of the eastern facade, including the tower and spire.

File:Manchester Unity Building spire.jpg|Detail of the tower and spire, as pictured from the roof terrace.

File:Manchester Unity Building east facade detail.jpg|Detail of the eastern facade, showing second-floor bay windows and third-floor balconies.

File:Manchester Unity Building from CH2.jpg|The building viewed towards the south west from the rooftop of Council House 2.

File:Manchester Unity Building lift lobby.jpg|Lift lobby ground level

File:Manchester Unity Building lift door.jpg|One of the ground floor lift doors.

File:Manchester Unity Building arcade cornice panel.jpg|Ground floor arcade cornice panel depicting 'healing the sick'

File:Manchester Unity Building arcade plaster cornice.jpg|Ground level cornice panel depicting First Nations people

File:Manchester Unity Building arcade access to rear.jpg|Arcade connection to rear laneway

File:Dutton working on Manchester Unity Building group.jpg|Orlando Dutton sculpting the figures for the 5th floor

• Architecture of Melbourne

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Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1932

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Melbourne

Category:Art Deco architecture in Melbourne

Category:Landmarks in Melbourne

Category:Collins Street, Melbourne

Category:Buildings and structures in Melbourne City Centre

Category:1932 establishments in Australia