Remaking Melbourne: Creating the high-rise city 1950-1975

As the lead consultants on the post-war component of the Hoddle Grid Heritage Review, GJM Heritage assessed numerous former corporate headquarters and commercial offices constructed between c.1950 and 1975. This was a period of unparalleled change for Melbourne's CBD as it the city became the Australian centre for banking, insurance and corporate headquarters. Gone were the low-rise masonry buildings of the pre-war period: modernism had arrived in Melbourne. This demand for office accommodation along with the removal of height limits is evident today in the commercial buildings of this period.

This walking tour will take in some of the key buildings of this period starting at the eastern end of the Hoddle Grid and finishing at the western end of the CBD where the then new banking and insurance sectors were centred.

What's On

This is a limited-numbers group walking tour of a number of Post-war office buildings included in the Hoddle Grid Heritage Review. The tour will discuss the role these buildings had in changing the face of Melbourne during the post-war years. The tour will also explore the changes these buildings have undergone in the past 50+ years and the challenges associated with the listing and adaptation of post-war heritage.

Meeting point: Meet at the Stanford Fountain in the Gordon Reserve, corner of McArthur + Spring Streets, East Melbourne VIC 3002.