Bank of New South Wales Building

Bank of New South Wales Building
View across Collins street, showing The Bank of New South Wales building with City of Melbourne Bank Ltd on the left
General information
Architectural style	Renaissance Revival
Location	368-374 Collins St
Town or city	Melbourne, Australia
Completed	1857
Demolished	1932
Owner	Bank of New South Wales
Design and construction
Architect	Joseph Reed
Designations	National Trust of Australia; Victorian Heritage Database

The Head Office building of The Bank of New South Wales was designed by prolific Melbourne architect Joseph Reed and constructed at 368-374 Collins St, Melbourne, in 1856-7. Reed was awarded first prize, worth £75, in the Bank of New South Wales’ competition to design their new Melbourne headquarters on a vacant block of land facing the prominent Criterion Hotel. Reed’s design was chosen for its extensive use of ornamentation on the relatively small scale building. The façade of the Bank of New South Wales building is prized as a leading example of mid nineteenth century Renaissance Revival architecture in Melbourne. Structural shortcomings and the desire for expansion led to the building’s demolition in 1932. Reed’s original National Trust heritage-listed façade was preserved and gifted to the University of Melbourne, where it can still be seen on the western face of the Melbourne School of Design, opposite Union Lawn.

The intricate, dual-level façade is in the Renaissance Revival style. The lower level of the façade consists of capped columns in the Ionic order with fluted scamozzi capitals. These lower columns sit upon carved stone pedestals held in place by rusticated blue-stone plinths. On the upper level of the façade fluted Corinthian columns are crowned with an ornate entablature. The upper frieze is decorated with nude figures holding flowers and fruits, while the lower half contains ornamented wreaths carved in place by sculptor Charles Summers.

Both levels of the façade consist of five vertical bays. At street level two of these bays contain the tall timber entrance doors. The left entrance originally led directly to the main banking hall, while the right entrance led to the manager’s private residence. Three center window bays are recessed behind the classical columns. Balustrading in front of each window creates balconies and provides privacy to the reception rooms within.

Joseph Reed believed that the style of a building should match its function, and though his designs were rarely directly informed by existing buildings, his Bank of New South Wales building is a copy of Jacopo Sansovino’s Biblioteca Marciana in St Mark’s Square in Venice. Reed chose Sansovino’s library due to the building’s style and evocation of merchant activity and the function of banking that was central to the city and society in Renaissance Italy.