Nicholas Building
27-41 Swanston Street

Built: 1925-26
Architect: Harry Norris

The Nicholas Building is the grandest 1920s commercial palazzo in the city. Almost a century later it is still a Melbourne landmark, and home numerous artist and design studios, galleries and fashion houses.

Open to MOH: Second Floor, The Salon (Room 209)
Times: 10 am to 5pm
Access restrictions: No disabled access and stair access only.

The Nicholas Building is the grandest 1920s commercial palazzo in Melbourne. At limit height and maximum site coverage, it is a Greek Revival mass with a temple podium, office floors between giant order columns and pilasters, implied attic storey and weighty cornice.

American in influence, the building is also distinguished by its use of Wunderlich's 'Granitex' terracotta faience for its facade. Harry Norris explained in the Argus in March 1926 that the material was used because

"...we wanted the building to always look new. Now in the case of public buildings, age tends to give it a certain dignity which is desirable. But that is not so in this case of a business building... We wanted a surface that would wash down and which after washing would look as new as the day that it was erected. For this purpose nothing equals the new terracotta."

At ground level, extra retail space was gained with the use of a glazed leadlight barrel vaulted arcade. The Nicholas Building, together with other limit height buildings such as the Port Authority Building, AMP House and Temple Court, gives an impression of a gracious, classical but solidly commercial city of consistent skyline, broken only by the spires of churches, the Supreme Court dome and the clock towers of the town hall and post office.

Source: "A guide to Melbourne architecture", by Philip Goad, 1999, p. 121. The Watermark Press, Sydney.

"The building itself has a HUGE and ongoing history, which is at least partly documented. It was built by the Nicholas family, who made their fortune as the first manufacturers of aspirin in Australia, in the 1920s.

Amongst many other highlights, there was a 1st floor sex cinema in the 1960s and an infamous 'nude' dance performance "Arcade" by Chunky Move in the 1990s where dancers performed nude in large boxes in darkened rooms, and the only interaction the audience had was by reaching through portals in the boxes to touch. The building housed the last studio of international artist Vali Meyers (previously resident at the Chelsea hotel in New York), as well as providing the writing room (part of our studio) where Gregory David Roberts- once Australia's most-wanted man for the 'Gentleman Robberies'- wrote his epic autobiographic novel 'Shantaram'. The room is now home to three emerging writers.

In regards the salon, I mostly know hearsay, although rumour can be as interesting as fact...

The room definitely was the original boardroom from the 1920s as proven by the plans of the time. Currently, the bevelled glass shutters open to an enclosed chasm space, effectively giving double-glazing, but originally, these doors opened directly onto balconies (still there) as occurs in the kitchen area.

Rumour has it that the entire floor was at one time a ballroom, with our studio's double glass doors providing the main entrance. The entire 2nd floor has parquetry flooring. The glass shutters in the salon (despite the 1920s plan drawings) definitely once concertinaed completely open (as you can imagine: leaving no barrier to the balconies overlooking Swanston Street and the cathedral).

The salon was then used as a hair salon called the 'Dane Salon' from the 1960s until about 2001 (by which time few of the original clients were still living). The grey door still features the 'salon' part of the hairdresser's sign. The wooden floor is clearly indented where the female hairdressers stood for hours in stilettos!

Further to this, a few years ago, I was visited by a man in his fifties asking to look through the rooms... he was trying to check his distant memory. Now a Ballarat resident, he was the son of a previous caretaker for the building and had lived in the salon in the 1950s with his parents and two pets!

Since we moved into the salon, the space has been used for Nicholas Building events, performances (including flamenco and other music), and fashion and other photo shoots. The room featured as a regular backdrop for the ABC's 'Writer's Program' hosting local and international authors, has been transformed into a dental surgery for a TV commercial and is seen in the currently-released Australian movie 'Rats and Cast'.

It is also rumoured that the Nicholas Building is haunted. In homage to the sightings, the salon played host to a ghostly installation called 'presence' three years ago to coincide with Motorola Spring Fashion Week that year... in the darkened salon chamber music played whilst a transparent floating Victorian dress danced slightly above the floor. (I'll try to hunt out some photos).

Basically, we took on the lease in 2000 in attempt to prevent anyone destroying the decor by trying to completely renovate it without consideration. It is the most intact room in the building. (NB: there was also once a large stained glass skylight at the base of the building's central light-well; traces are discernable from the third floor).

I feel very protective of the salon, as many tenants within the building feel protective towards the building. The Nicholas Building has a definite character which fosters community and influences the art created here - the art of Melbourne - significantly."

Source: Maximilian, co-founder Nicholas Collective

Nicholas Building

Nicholas Building