The T & G Building is a distinctive building in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, on the corner of Moorabool and Ryrie Streets. The building's style is a blend of Art Deco and Classicism. Both of those styles can be noted in the buildings geometric grooves, vertical lines and stepped form. The exterior of the ground floor features chevron grill patterns, that is characteristic of Art Deco architecture.
Construction was announced by the T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society in June 1933, partly with the idea of stimulating employment while Geelong was still suffering the effects of the Great Depression. [1] The building cost AU£37,000 ($74,000, about $4,000,000 today) and was completed in 1934.
In June 1934 the unique "Father and Son" clock was switched on. [2] As well as having the usual four clock faces at the top of the tower, the mechanism includes two life-sized cast bronze figures of a farmer and his son, in typical period farm-workers' dress, who emerge from a window in the south side of the upper section the tower and strike the hour on large bell they are both holding. They symbolise a father handing over responsibility to his son, and urging him to continue the good work. [3]
By the mid-1990s the building had fallen into disrepair, the clock was unreliable, and the Father and Son no longer appeared to strike the hour. A public campaign led by the Geelong Advertiser resulted in the repainting of the building and the clock being repaired.
Much of the ground floor was vacant during 2012, [4] but the building was bought and restored by Dean Montgomery and his brother. [5] In mid-2014, it was purchased by Deakin University to use as student accommodation. [6] The conversion of the building into 33 studio apartments and common areas was commissioned to Studio 101 Architects in Geelong and built by Nicholson Construction.
Geelong is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay and the left bank of Barwon River, about 65 km (40 mi) southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria.
Deakin University is a public university in Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1974, the university was named after Alfred Deakin, the second Prime Minister of Australia.
Eastern Beach is a popular swimming and recreation area in Geelong, Victoria on the shores of Corio Bay. Built during the 1930s in the Art Deco style, a shark proof sea bath is provided, as well as a children's swimming pool, kiosk, and dressing room pavilion. A number of Art Deco buildings in the area are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Market Square was a town square located in the centre of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Consisting of eight acres of land, the area was reserved by Governor Sir George Gipps as a town square during the initial surveying of Geelong. The area later became a produce market, before being progressively built upon. Today the Market Square Shopping Centre occupies the site, having been opened in 1985 by the City of Geelong.
The Carji Greeves Medal is a name given in recent decades to an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Geelong Football Club for the season.
The 1911 VFL season was the 15th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria.
The current Geelong Post Office opened in 1994 and is located on the corner of Gheringhap and Little Myers Streets. The original post office was located on the corner of Ryrie and Gheringhap Streets. The Geelong Telegraph Station was located next door.
The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society was an insurance company that operated in Australia and New Zealand. The 'T & G' stood for 'Temperance & General'. The company was founded in Victoria in 1876, emerging from the Assurance branch of the Independent Order of Rechabites with 132 policies. The branch was severed from the I.O.R. after six years of operations.
The Manchester Unity Building is an Art Deco Gothic inspired office and retail building in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, constructed in 1931–32 for the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows. The soaring stepped corner tower on a prominent intersection opposite the Melbourne Town Hall makes it one of the most prominent and best known buildings in Melbourne.
The T&G Building was a landmark building in Townsville, Australia. Constructed in 1955-9, the two and three storey building was designed in a 1950s version of art deco, featuring a striking vertical 36 metres (120 ft), 6 storey high clock tower on the a corner of Flinders and Stanley streets. The building was demolished in 2008.
Seabrook and Fildes was an Australian architecture practice in Melbourne, Victoria that played a significant role in the introduction of modernist architecture that first occurred in the 1930s. They are most well known for the Dutch modernist inspired Mac.Robertson Girls High School, designed by Norman Seabrook in 1933.
Eric Prentice Anchor Thake was an Australian artist, designer, painter, printmaker and war artist.
Norman James "Norm" Waugh was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). In the first year of competition, he became one of the club's and leagues first premiership players, during the 1897 VFL season, under the captaincy of George Stuckey. Waugh made his debut against Geelong in Round 1 of the season, at Corio Oval. Waugh was also Essendon's first-ever leading goalkicker in a VFL season. His 23 goals was the third-highest in the League, behind Jack Leith of North Melbourne (26), and Eddy James of Geelong (27).
This is a list of members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, from the elections of 11 May 1877. Victoria was a British self-governing colony in Australia at the time.
John Rout Hopkins was a politician in the Colony of Victoria, Australia.
The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre is a regional library, archive and resource facility in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Geelong Free Library was begun in 1858. The Geelong Historical Records Centre was established in 1979 as a depository for significant historical records and archives from the district. The centre is a Place of Deposit, as part of the Public Record Office Victoria network of community archives designated for the preservation of Victoria's history. It is described as ...the largest regional archive in Victoria.
The City Mutual Life Assurance Building is a heritage-listed commercial building located at 60-66 Hunter Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was built during 1936. It is also known as CML Building and 10 Bligh Street. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
Ada Whiting was an Australian oil and watercolour painter and miniaturist. She was active from 1898 to 1944, and received prestigious commissions to paint vice regal representatives, prominent members of society and celebrities, in Melbourne and later Sydney.