Orica House (formerly ICI House)

Hours Open
10am - 5pm (last tour at 4:45pm)

Address
1 Nicholson Street

Architects
Bates Smart McCutcheon

Year Built
1958

Building Type
Office

What is Open
Ground Floor Foyer and Level 6 Architectural Office

Tour Frequency
Every 15 minutes

Note: no photography in the foyer

Tram Stop
Stop 10: Albert Street and Nicholson Street on routes 86, 95 and 96

Description
Orica House was one of the first free-standing fully glazed curtain wall commercial skyscrapers in Australia. As one of the nation's most stylish skyscrapers, it represented the most refined example of Bates Smart & McCutcheon's efforts in the 1950s to perfect high-rise office design. Raised on pilotis (columns), the blue glazed linear slab of open-plan offices, with its lift core expressed as clearly separate, broke the city's height limit and changed Melbourne's skyline forever. It was the provision of the open space at ground level as a garden – designed collaboratively by the architects, sculptor Gerald Lewers and landscape architect John Stevens – which enabled the height limit rule to be broken. The design of the building is one of Melbourne's best examples of International Style Modernism.

Significance
Orica House is of state significance and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. From its completion in November 1958 until 1961 it was the tallest building in Australia. At 84m it broke the 40.2m Victorian height restriction by 43.6m and set a new precedent in height controls in the city of Melbourne. It is of architectural significance due to its considerable advancements in local construction techniques. These included the framed glazed curtain walls and innovative use of concrete, including pre-cast reinforced units in structural members and flooring.

What’s Open?
Entry to the building is now via Albert Street, the original entrance was through the gardens off Nicholson Street. The foyer was sympathetically remodelled in 1989 by the original architects Bates Smart. After viewing the foyer you will then be taken up to level 6 of the building and given a tour of Bates Smarts architectural office. Architectural models, a short film and drawings will be on display. An additional highlight is the wonderful views of the city and nearby gardens.

Referenced from: "A guide to Melbourne architecture", by Philip Goad, 1999, p. 178. The Watermark Press, Sydney and Victorian Heritage Database, www.heritage.vic.gov.au