Original: The site was purchased in 1972 for A $19 million by the NPRT for the construction of an investment office tower. The site included a number of older buildings facing Collins Street and the development was proposed at a time of increasing concern at the loss of the historic buildings of the 'Paris End'. Ogg's Chemist at 80 Collins and the three storey terrace at 84 Collins were demolished by 1972, but attempts to purchase and demolish 76 Collins Street, built in 1855, the exclusive Le Louvre boutique, were stymied by the owner Lillian Wightman who refused to sell. The sites of the two demolished buildings, separated by the 1960s four storey Palmer House at 82 Collins, remained as 'gaps' in Collins Street, paved and landscaped, with the space where Oggs Chemist had been as the Collins Street address of Nauru House. When completed in 1977 it briefly became the tallest building in Melbourne; however, it was not tall enough to take the mantle as Australia's tallest building, with the strikingly similar, but taller MLC Centre in Sydney completed just a few months earlier in the same year. In 1978, Nauru House was surpassed by the first Collins Place tower (architect I.M. Pei) as the tallest building in Melbourne. Due to cracks and decay in the pebble finish of the concrete, all the structure was encased in matte-gray aluminium in 1991. In the early 2000s, following decades of mismanagement, over-spending and spiralling loans from General Electric, estimated to amount to approximately A$ 227 million, the NPRT was forced to sell off its international assets.
Revised: The site was purchased in 1972 for A $19 million, for the construction of an investment office tower. The site included a number of older buildings facing Collins Street, and the development was proposed at a time of increasing concern at the loss of the historic buildings of the famed 'Paris End' of Collins Street. The long established Ogg's Chemist at 76-78 Collins, the adjacent terrace at 80 Collins, and the three storey Victorian terrace at 84 Collins were demolished by 1972, but attempts to purchase and demolish the exclusive Le Louvre boutique at 72-74 Collins Street (built in 1855) were stymied by the owner Lillian Wightman who refused to sell. The four storey 1960s Palmer House at 82 Collins between the two demolished buildings was also not purchased, leaving a pair of 'gaps' in Collins Street, which were paved and landscaped. The space where 78 - 80 Collins had been, flanked by roughly finished side walls of the remaining buildings, gave Nauru House an address of 80 Collins Street. When completed in 1977 it briefly became the tallest building in Melbourne; however, it was not tall enough to take the mantle as Australia's tallest building, with the strikingly similar, but taller MLC Centre in Sydney completed just a few months earlier. In 1978, Nauru House was surpassed by the first Collins Place tower (architect I.M. Pei) as the tallest building in Melbourne. Due to cracks and decay in the pebble finish of the concrete, all the exterior of the tower was encased in matte-gray aluminium in 1991. In the early 2000s, following decades of mismanagement, over-spending and spiralling loans from General Electric, estimated to amount to approximately A$ 227 million, the NPRT was forced to sell off its international assets.
Edit intent: meaning-changed