Princes Gate Towers
The Princes Gate Towers were a set of twin office tower blocks that were located at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets in the Melbourne central business district, Australia. They were designed by architects Leslie M. Perrott and Partners and completed in 1967. They were partly occupied by the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, leading to the buildings also being known as "the Gas & Fuel Buildings". 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, Victorian premier Henry Bolte announced that the State Government was to sell the air-rights over a small portion of the railyards closest to Flinders Street, up to Swanston Street, which was occupied by the Princes Bridge railway station. The £5 million project would feature two 15-storey office blocks, along with a public plaza and a new entrance to the station. The new development would become the "gateway" to the city, and was to be  known as Princes Gate. Leslie Perrot and Partners were chosen as project architects and the development was funded by Princes Gate Pty Ltd, jointly owned by Lend Lease and Oddenino's Property and Investment Co of London. Construction was completed in 1967. The Victorian Employees Federation leased 12 floors in the East tower, while the Gas and Fuel Corporation leased 10 floors in the West tower. The buildings housed a total of of office space, split level parking for 186 cars, and of retail space on the ground level. Architecture. The towers were designed in the postwar corporate International Style , by Leslie M Perrott & Associates. The lead architect on the project was David Simpson, developing the complex design for a large three storey podium containing car parking, with retail spaces that faced onto Flinders Street, and a new access to the station platforms. The development also featured a raised public plaza that occupied the important Flinders/Swanston intersection corner, 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, which Simpson later felt was not the most successful part  of the design. The towers were 17 storeys high and reached . They wers were constructed with brown bricks from the East Burwood brickworks, and featured vertical strips of aluminium-framed windows. The office floors were punctuated by a regular grid of structural columns spaced apart. The ground floor retail spaces development housed a supermarket, ANZ bank, clothing stores, laundromat and the notable music store, Central Station Records. The buildings were constructed over the still-functioning Princes Bridge station, the terminus of the Epping and Hurstbridge lines since 1910. The station's separate identity and name was lost in 1980, when  it was merged into Flinders Street station as platforms 14, 15 and 16. Public reception. The towers elicited mixed reactions from the general public when first unveiled. They were appreciated by some as modernist architectural icons, but many 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 St Paul's Cathedral and the heritage facades along Flinders Street. The towers were much larger than any of the surrounding buildings and were criticised for dominating the area. An "Australian Women's Weekly