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Produced and published by the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
Published July 2008
Published July 2008
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Space shortages in their Swanston Street offices led the Temperance and General (T&G) Mutual Life Assurance Society to construct a new head office building on the corner of Collins and Russell streets. Designed in a neo-Renaissance style by K. & A. Henderson, and completed in 1928, the 10-storey building was one of the largest of its type in Melbourne. Extended in 1938, the structure's ziggurat-like tower - an emblem of the society - made the building a distinctive city landmark. Popularly known as the 'tooth and gum building', because of the high ratio of dental tenants, the structure was gutted and refurbished in the late 1980s.