eHive Object Details

Name/TitleBank of New South Wales, Collins Street West, Melbourne, c. 1880

About this objectView of a row of elegant buildings centred on the north side of Collins Street West at No 55, the Bank of New South Wales.

The building on the left at No 59 became the offices of the City of Melbourne Bank Ltd after 1872 [source : SLV].

The Bank of New South Wales (No 55) is an intricate dual-level facade Renaissance Revival-style building by Joseph Reed and completed in 1857. This was the head office of the Bank of NSW in Victoria. It is a copy of Jacopo Sanssovina's Biblioteca Marciana in St Mark's Square, Venice. The building was demolished in 1932 owing to structural problems. The facade was preserved and gifted by the bank to the University of Melbourne, where it formed the facade of the old Commerce Building in 1938. In 2004 the facade was incorporated into a new building at the university, known as the Melbourne School of Design within the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

No 49 shows an ornate-fronted three storey building with many pillars. Businesses occupying the building included the offices of the British and Foreign Marine Insurance Company, the European & Eastern Telegram Agency, and George N. Oakley, a mining agent and Consul for His Hawaiian Majesty.

One of the many glass slides purchased from retailers or specifically made for illustrated lectures given by Isaac Selby between c. 1930 and c. 1955 to raise money for the Old Pioneers Memorial Fund.

MakerDunscombe Optician Bristol

Maker RoleSlide Maker

Inscription and MarksBank of N.S.W. Melb. 1855
(according to Sands and McDougall's directories, the City of Melbourne Bank, adjoined at No 59, was not in existence at this address until the 1870s)

Measurements8.2 x 8.2 cm

Period1870-1880

Object TypeGlass slide

Subject and Association KeywordsSelby, Isaac, 1859-1956

Subject and Association KeywordsCollins Street (Melbourne, Vic.)

Subject and Association KeywordsBanks and banking

Subject and Association KeywordsBank of New South Wales

Subject and Association KeywordsInsurance companies

Subject and Association KeywordsArchitecture

Subject and Association KeywordsRenaissance Revival style (Architecture)

Named CollectionImages collection

Object numberGS-CS-21

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved