£3m Melbourne Building For Stock Exchange, Bank

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30235, 13 September 1963, Page 18

£3m Melbourne Building For Stock Exchange, Bank

X £3 million, 26-storey, 286 ft-high building, incorporaiting the Stock Exchange of Melbourne and a branch of the A.N.Z. Bank, will be erected on the bank’s site at 351 Collins street. Melbourne. The project is subject to receipt of an acceptable tender

The announcement was made in a joint statement issued by the chairman of the Stock Exchange (Mr A. B. Mellor) and the general manager of the A.N.Z. Bank (Mr C. R. Darvall). This project is likely to establish a new centre for much of Melbourne’s financial activity. The bank and the stock exchange will each have 50 per cent interest in a new company which will construct and own the building. The site has a frontage of 66ft to Collins street and a depth of 311 fit to Flinders lane, where the width is 93ft. It is one of the most valuable sites in Collins street. The architects are Buchan, Laird and Buchan Proprietary,

Ltd., of South Yarra, Melbourne.

About 137,000 sq. #t. of highquality office accommodat ion will be available for letting in the fully air-conditioned building. The stock exchange features include a public gallery, a hall of achievement, a lecture theatreitte, a broadcasting studio, and television facilities. The main banking floor, situated at lower ground floor level, will have escalator approach from Collins street with direct access from Flinders lane.

A section of the building is expected to be occupied by the bank in 1966 and the final stage completed about 1968, ait which time the stock exchange will move to its new premises.

The site was originally purchased in 1838 for £l9 and sold to the former Union Bank of Australia. Ltd., in February, 1877, for £33,000. The stock exchange will now be returning close to its