The Chemistry Building is a university teaching facility used by the University's School of Chemistry, located at Masson Road,

The University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, Campus,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The building was designed by

Percy Edgar Everett Percy Edgar Everett, (born 26 June 1888, died 6 May 1967), was appointed chief architect of the Victorian Public Works Department in 1934 and is best known for the striking Modernist / Art Deco schools, hospitals, court houses, office buildings ...

, who at the time was employed by the Victorian Public Works Department. It was built in 1938 at a time of major expansion at the University through the 1920s and 1930s. The building is best described as a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

, inter-war,

gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It e ...

, and due to this it has been deemed to be of state historical and architectural significance on the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Description

The Chemistry Building is a distinctive modern interpretation of a

Collegiate Gothic style Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...

. Its most notable features, which are stylistic of the

inter-war period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, are the cream brickwork, bold massing and highly detailed tower decoration. In recent years the Chemistry Building had interior redevelopments to bring the outdated technology and amenities up to the standard required for modern chemistry research.

Key influence and design approach

During the 1930s when the building was constructed, Melbourne University placed a lot of importance on the opinions of experts such as chemists. For this reason, Ernst Johannes Hartung, a professor of chemistry at the time, designed most of the interior of the building to suit the specific requirements of chemistry research. The Masson Theatre in the chemistry school has a heritage listing despite losing its impressive two-storey high rolling blackboards and theatre-wide front rostrum in the late 1980s. It has undergone a recent renovation addressing safety concerns but preserving the remaining character.

Gallery

University of Melbourne Chemistry School Building - Entrance View (from North).jpg, Entrance view (from north) University of Melbourne Chemistry School Building - North Elevation.jpg, North elevation University of Melbourne Chemistry School Building , Close-up view of Entrance ,April 2013.jpg, Close-up view of entrance University of Melbourne Chemistry School Building - Southwest View.jpg, Southwest view University of Melbourne Chemistry School Building -West View.jpg, West view

References

External links

Melbourne UniversityUnimelb.edu.auUnimelb.edu.au
{{University of Melbourne, state=collapsed

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

Buildings and structures completed in 1938 National Trust of Australia Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne 1938 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)