A homecoming project: the remaking of an historic bank
Developer Anne Michaels calls her first solo project of restoring and extending a fantastic old South Melbourne bank building “a passion project in which all decisions have been made to add value to the street and to the area”.
In adding a rear, seven-level structure to the 1880 Gothic Revival brick bank on the historic Clarendon Street shopping strip, her intent was not a cynical buy-expand-flip project. Rather, it was about making such a beautiful new office building that in future “the addition will become heritage in its own right”.
But there are more layers to this coming to completion endeavour and they are uncommonly sentimental.
The director of the female dominant sheBuilt development company, that Michaels started in 2016 after dissolving a previous construction industry partnership, actually grew up in the shop next door to what had long been an inner suburban ES&A bank branch.
Indeed, in 1958 her mum Chris and dad Kirk had bought the ornately decorated terrace style shop that, with its pair, is also heritage significant. They ran the downstairs retail as a shoe retail and repair shop until they retired. They retained the property ownership, however.
In 2017, when Anne Michaels saw that the old bank that she had so admired as a child – “when it had seemed just so enormous” – was for sale, she knew that to do anything feasible with the property that sat on 450 square metres, she needed more room on the site.
She approached mum and dad with the idea of taking over all of their shop site save for the fancy facade, and asked them to become joint venturers with her in the scheme.
She approached the heritage authorities to ensure she could pull down the bank’s 1970s rear extension, and approached a cohort of female construction operatives to become the sheBuilt consultants who would make it all happen.
When the glass and the inscribed concrete for the facade overcome shipping delays and are installed, the polished result will present as a very lovely marriage of the Gothic formal and the curvaceous and glassy contemporary. Offering a combination of flexible office spaces and three downstairs retail outlets, the project is just now being looked over by potential lessors.
Grant Tinker, agent with Cushman and Wakefield, says that the project that is being marketed as BVIA on BANK the plan is for it to be ready for occupation in May. “It’s a ripper. It’s something different and it is really starting to generate interest”.
BVIA on BANK refers to the name of the side street as much as to the historic building, and the BVIA pronounced “vee-ya”, is a play on the name of Bia, the Greek goddess of force, power and raw energy – or the ancient deity governing the “You-Go-Girl!” capabilities that are so evident in the building.
Michaels had wanted glamour to be well forward in the personality of the new five-star energy build and although it has 50 on-site bike parking spaces, a hotel-like sophistication is on display in bathrooms, rooftop open-air spaces and lobbies.
The copper-coloured oculus and pavement canopy are features of the design that reference the circular windows in the bank and are the colour of the old one and two cent coins that were counted there, and, says the developer, “because I like rose gold”.
The faceted and glassy curves that will peel the new form back from the bank, were given shape by a female architect, Claire Scorpo of Agius Scorpo Architects. The inscribed patterned concrete panels that will rise up the side street face were drawn up by Alice Springs artist and designer Elliat Rich. The furniture is from the sisters of the famous Melbourne firm Zuster. The project manager is, of course, a woman.
Women are in the driving seat as a result of Anne Michaels 20 year experience and observation of an Australian building industry that she says “doesn’t take women seriously. They are paid lip service, or always seem to have a secondary role.”
SheBuilt and this soon to be delivered project is Michaels’ gesture of giving them space to show what they can do as a collective. “There were just too many talented women out there who were being ignored,” she says. “I want to give women a go to make a difference”.
Although with the lift still to become operational her elderly parents haven’t yet seen the potentials and panoramic views from the upstairs areas of their joint project, Anne Michaels knows they’ll be especially pleased “if it brings the buzz back to this end of Clarendon Street. The buzz that was there when I was a little girl.
“I’ve always loved this area. I’ve always loved this [bank] building.”
