1 Nicholson St., (formerly ICI House) is a 19-storey office building in

Nicholson Street Nicholson Street is a street in inner Melbourne. It is named after William Nicholson, then member of the Legislative Council, and later Premier of Victoria from 1859 to 1860. Geography Nicholson Street runs north-south through inner north ...

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

. Begun in 1955 to house the headquarters of the Australian subsidiary of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

(since spun off as an independent public company and renamed

Orica Orica Limited () is an Australian-based multinational corporation that is one of the world's largest providers of commercial explosives and blasting systems to the mining, quarrying, oil and gas, and construction markets, a supplier of sodium ...

), it was the tallest building in Australia upon completion in 1958. It broke Melbourne's longstanding 132 ft 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. The building's design, by

Osborn McCutcheon Osborn may refer to: * Osborn (surname) * Osborn Engineering, American architectural and engineering firm * Osborn Engineering Company, British motorcycle manufacturer * Osborn wave, an abnormal electrocardiogram finding Places in the United Sta ...

(of Bates Smart McCutcheon) was closely modelled on the best of corporate design being pioneered in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

with all-glass high-rise such as the

United Nations headquarters The United Nations is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States, and the complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1951. It is in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neig ...

. Detail and documentation of the building's design was managed by

Douglas Gardiner Douglas Babbington Gardiner (26 February 1905 – 23 May 2001) was an Australian architect active in the mid 20th century as a partner of Bates Smart & McCutcheon.Goad, P. ''Bates Smart: 150 years of Australian Architecture'' Thames & Hudson Au ...

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 The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...

, and the first to be added.

References

{{Reflist Office buildings completed in 1958 Office buildings in Melbourne Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne Australian National Heritage List Modernist architecture in Australia International Style (architecture) East Melbourne, Victoria Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA) 1958 establishments in Australia