High
Court Building
450 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
(John Smith Murdoch for Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, 1926; addition 1935 by H. J McKennal)
April
2006 - Preservation News
In the face of concerted opposition to demolition, the Department of Justice withdrew the original application and then applied to Heritage Victoria for a permit to modify the building and construct an office tower. The result will be the retention of the front third of the 1926 building, including the façade, entrance foyer and the former Court No. 1. The historic court will become an interpretive display.
Summer
2006 - Preservation News
The
former High Court building was added to the Victorian Heritage Register
following its transfer from the Commonwealth in 1999. However, this did
not stop the bureaucrats in the Justice Department from seeking its demolition
to expand the Supreme Court precinct. The building is a fine example of
interwar stripped classical architecture, dating from 1926 with a 1935
extension. It is highly significant in Australian history as the place
that housed the first High Court of Australia and where a number of major
cases in Australian legal history were determined. The demolition proposal
was vehemently opposed by ADS, the National Trust, the Commonwealth Attorney-General,
and many members of the legal profession.
