page_title: Architecture of Melbourne
section_title: 1950s–present: contemporary architecture and lax heritage attitudes
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Melbourne / History / 1950s–present: contemporary architecture and lax heritage attitudes
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of BHP Houes 140 William Street, Melbourne
context_page_description: The architecture of Melbourne, the capital of the state of Victoria and second most populous city in Australia, is characterised by a wide variety of styles dating from the early years of European settlement to the present day. The city is particularly noted for its mix of Victorian architecture and modern buildings, with 52 skyscrapers in the city centre, the most of any city in the Southern Hemisphere.
  In the wake of the 1850s Victoria gold rush, Melbourne entered a lengthy boom period, earning the moniker Marvellous Melbourne to represent its wealth and grandeur. By the 1880s, it had become one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the British Empire, second only to London. The wealth generated during this period is reflected in much of the city's grand, richly ornamented Victorian architecture, as well as the height of some buildings, with the 12-story APA Building rivalling other early skyscrapers in Chicago and New York City. In the post WW2 era, as in many western cities, Melbourne's Victorian heritage was not valued, and much was demolished, eventually leading to protests and the establishment of the Victorian Heritage Register in 1974.
context_section_description: The arrival of the 50s saw contemporary high rise offices constructed and the ICI House, built in 1955, was Australia's tallest building at the time. ICI House, breaking Melbourne's long standing 132 ft height limit, was the first International Style skyscraper in the country. It symbolised progress, modernity, efficiency and the booming corporate power in a postwar Melbourne. Its development also paved way for the construction of other modern high-rise office buildings, thus changing the shape of Melbourne's already diverse urban centre. Melbourne was the first city in Australia to undergo a post-war high-rise boom beginning in the late 1950s, though Sydney in the following decades built more, with over 50 high-rise buildings constructed between the 1970s–90s. The 1960s and 1970s were a period of lax attitudes towards the city's early heritage, and many commentators now view these years of rampant demolition as one akin to urban vandalism. Whelan the Wrecker, a now infamous demolition company, was responsible for most of the destruction towards most of Melbourne's historic buildings, notably the Federal Coffee Palace. A vast number of city hotels also closed in the 1950s, as a result of blighting liquor laws, which meant that the cost of running a licensed venue outstripped the return. This may have explained the dwindling patronage of Melbourne's grand hotels in the 1950s and 60s.
  Another venue that shaped Melbourne's early architectural form is the pub, a licensed drinking establishment traditionally built on corners within the inner-city and city centre, usually no more than two-storeys tall. In the 1920s, there were about 100 corner pubs in Melbourne but this figure diminished to 45 by the 1960s. Today there are approximately 12 operating in the CBD – including The Metropolitan, which is located on the corner of William Street, and first served beer in 1854.
  In 1972, as a result of sustained pressure from the National Trust, Victorian Parliament amended the Town and Country Planning Act to include the "conservation and enhancement of buildings, works, objects and sites specified as being of architectural, historical or scientific interest". The act went onto specify the prohibition of "pulling down", "removal" or "decoration or defacement" to any such building. Because only specified sites were to be protected, the local councils across Melbourne had the task of allocating buildings and places that warranted protection. The City of Melbourne council specified the entire CBD as an area of significance in 1973. However, this blanket protection measure came unstuck in 1975 when the council was threatened with compensation payments to developers if their plans were rejected on heritage grounds. Despite this, most of the cities heritage buildings were already protected by that time under the authority of the Historic Buildings Act. However, the act involved representatives from real estate and corrupt development industries with ulterior motives. As a result, "developers white elephant schemes for central Melbourne proceeded virtually unchecked throughout the 70s"–resulting in widespread loss of historic buildings.
  Controversy arose in 2016 after the historic Corkman Irish Pub in Carlton was illegally demolished overnight by developer Raman Shaqiri, resulting in the State Planning Minister pursuing an order (via the Victorian Administrative Appeals Tribunal) for the two-storey pub to be rebuilt. The site owners were fined AUD$1.325 million after pleading guilty to the process. The site of the pub, which was built in 1858 and was once called the Carlton Inn Hotel, is currently a temporary carpark.
caption: The 1970s ushered in somewhat of a high-rise boom in Melbourne. 140 William Street (1972) is one such example of this contemporary style.
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