318 LITTLE BOURKE STREET
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| Former Money Order Post Office and Savings Bank. (Image: Catherine Andrews) |
Chicago architect Walter Burley Griffin won the competition for the design of Australia's capital city in May 1912. He was appointed Federal Capital Director of Design and Construction in 1913, a position he managed to retain for seven years, despite some controversy. From 1917 the Federal Works office was situated in renovated rooms in the Old Money Order Office on the north side of Little Bourke Street. The Lands and Survey Branch of the Department of Home and Territories and the telegraphic accounts section of the Melbourne General Post Office also occupied the building.
The Money Order Post Office and Savings Bank was built in 1890 to relieve overcrowding at the General Post Office around the corner in Elizabeth Street. It was designed by Peter Kerr who had supervised extensions at the GPO. His design for the building was sympathetic to the style of the GPO, but utilised recent advances in fireproof construction, heating, and goods and passenger lift technologies to create a "modern", six storey, office building. It was Kerr's last major public building project in a career that included work on the Houses of Parliament (with JG Knight), Government House (assisting William Wardell) and the Old Customs House (Knight, Kemp and Kerr).
From 1925-1932 the building housed the Australian War Museum and from 1932-1970 provided office accommodation for Federal Parliamentarians including RG Menzies and JB Chifley.
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