Princes Gate Towers

The Princes Gate Towers were a set of twin office tower blocks that were located at the intersection of Flinders Street and Swanston Street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. They were designed by architects Leslie M. Perrott and Partners and constructed in 1967.^[1] They were occupied by the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, leading to the buildings also being known as the Gas and Fuel Corporation Towers. They were demolished in 1997 to make way for Federation Square, the mixed-use development and public space that now occupies the site.

Background

The Jolimont Railway Yards that occupied the southern edge of the Hoddle grid were considered for redevelopment many times throughout the early to mid 20th century. In 1963 The Princes Gate development was announced by Victorian premier Henry Bolte.^[1] The development was named after the historical Princes Bridge located adjacent to the site. The ₤5 million project would cover part of the railway tracks and would feature two 15 storey office blocks along with a public plaza.^[1] The new development would become the ‘gateway’ to the city.

Leslie Perrot and Partners were chosen as project architects and the development was funded by the Princes Gate Pty Ltd, a division of the Lend Lease Corporation Ltd of Australia.^[1] Construction was completed in 1967 and the buildings were leased to the Victorian Employees Federation, housed in the East tower and the Gas and Fuel Corporation in the West tower.^[1] The buildings housed a total of 270,000 square feet of office space, split level parking for 186 cars along with 18,000 square feet of retail space on the ground level.^[2]

Architecture

The towers were designed in the International Style as a simple and functional set of extruded rectangles. The buildings sat on a large three storey podium containing car parking along with retail spaces that faced onto Flinders Street. The site also featured a raised public plaza that occupied the important Flinders/Swanston intersection corner. The plaza was designed to allow an open vista to St Paul's Cathedral and also function as a public square that was raised up from the noise and traffic of the streets below.^[3]

The towers were 17 stories high and reached 70m in height. The towers featured vertical strips of aluminium framed windows and were constructed with brown bricks from the East-Burwood brickworks. The office floors are punctuated by a regular grid of structural columns spaced 10 meters apart. The ground floor retail spaces of the Princes gate development housed a supermarket, ANZ bank, clothing stores, laundromat and the notable music store; Central Station Records.

The buildings were built over the still functioning Princes Bridge Railway Station, which functioned as the terminus of the Epping and Hurstbridge lines. The train station was merged with Flinders Street Station in 1980 and integrated as platforms 14, 15 and 16.

Southern Elevation of the Towers

Plans

Plans

Public reception

The towers elicited mixed reactions from the general public when first unveiled. The towers were appreciated by some as modernist architectural icons. However, many Melbourne residents regarded the towers as eyesores and criticised their size and placement. The towers were considered to have cut the city off from the river and also detracted from Saint Paul's Cathedral and the heritage facades along Flinders Street.^[4] The towers were much larger than any of the surrounding buildings and were said to have dominated the surrounding context.

An Australian Women's Weekly article from 1969 expresses the general public sentiment towards the towers at the time:

"Once the Graceful spires of St. Paul's Cathedral dominated the southern entry to Melbourne. In 1967, the ultra modern twin towers of the princes gate complex raised their lean, unornamented 17 storeys to rob strollers on the banks of the Yarra of their traditional view." ^[5]

Demolition

Following the subdivision and privatisation of the Gas and Fuel Corporation in 1996 the Princes gate towers were slated for demolition and a competition was held for a new mixed use arts and civic hub for the city of Melbourne. A traditional explosive demolition was considered too dangerous, resulting in the towers being deconstructed floor by floor from 1996-7.^[6] The site is now home to Federation Square.

References