Country Australia Completed 1958 Height 81 m Floors 20 Town or city Melbourne | Construction started 1955 Structural system 81 meters, 20 floors Opened 1958 Architectural style International Style Architecture firm Bates Smart | |
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Client Imperial Chemical Industries of Australia and New Zealand Similar Optus Centre, Nauru House, 140 William Street, Manchester Unity Building, APA Building | ||
Ici house construction full version
ICI House (now Orica House) is a 19-storey office building in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Begun in 1955, it was the tallest building in Australia upon completion in 1958, breaking Melbourne's long standing 132ft height limit, and was the first International Style skyscraper in the country. It symbolised progress, modernity, efficiency and corporate power in postwar Melbourne, and heralded the construction of the high-rise office buildings, changing the shape of Australia's major urban centres forever.
Contents
- Ici house construction full version
- Map of ICI House 1 Nicholson St East Melbourne VIC 3002 Australia
- Construction of ici house now orica house melbourne low quality
- References
Map of ICI House, 1 Nicholson St, East Melbourne VIC 3002, Australia
The building's design, by Sir Osborne McCutcheon (of Bates Smart McCutcheon) was closely modeled on the best of corporate design being pioneered in the United States with all-glass high-rise such as the United Nations headquarters. Detail and documentation of the building's design was managed by Douglas Gardiner who was a partner of BSM.
The building made headlines soon after construction as panes of the coloured glass shattered and fell to the street below due to impurities and the heat of Melbourne's summers.
It is one of the few post-war office buildings to be found on the Victorian Heritage Register, and the first to be added.