While the woolly jumpers concerned citizens of Melbourne gnash their teeth and flood local papers with tomes of concern over the re-development of the Windsor Hotel in Spring St (a plan which sees a clear and sympathetic restoration of the old dame’s wilted interior/exterior), a mere 10 metres round the corner yet another Modernist building quietly and without fanfare is meeting it’s demise.
The former Naval and Military Club was sold last year amid much wrangling. Plans for (what else?) a 32 story apartment and retail complex have been drawn, submitted and just last week approved by City Planning.
It is indeed in a great part of town; nestled right at the top next to the Melbourne Club who have already unsuccessfully tried to block this new development citing that their century old trees (and mores perhaps?) in their exclusive courtyard would lose sunlight.
And so it always seemed that unless a moneyed up visionary stepped in to utilise this building or at least save it’s superior exterior for a great little boutique hotel, gallery or otherwise, it was sadly always going to end in this
insipid way.
So goes the ‘plan’ for Melbourne, a town whose burghers happily skip to the tune of any old developer’s piccolo.
It wasn’t always the case, in it’s hey day in the 1960s The Naval and Military Club had a membership of 4000, entertaining British royalty, international playboys and sportsmen and had a waiting list of five years. Take a look (if you still can) and you’ll understand why – the place swings!
The starkly modern concrete exterior of archways and rhythmically vertical stripping once lead into a wood panelled entrance which guards a lower level of darkened function rooms, a bar and (but of course!) a squash court. The upstairs is where the accommodation is and includes a rooftop courtyard. At this point it is still (barely) operating as a very decently priced hotel, whist being utilised for intermittent hipster happenings such indie fashion shows.
The plan for the site sees the demolition of this building in it’s entirety and a towering glass structure with street level stores holding all the conceptual ambiance of a franchise coffee outlet, filling the space totally and further blocking what available sunlight the present building affords those walking up little Collins street.
It is now only a matter of months until, like so many of it’s generation, this Modernist Australian building falls to the godless trifecta of development lucre, government disinterest and public obliviousness as to which architecture truley adds vibrancy and dare we say it, a touch of welcome eccentricity to any great city of the world.
Lest we Forget.
For more commentary and discussion about the Naval and Military Club, see here.
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