THIS BOOKLET HAS BEEN CREATED AS A SUMMARY TOWARDS A FURTHER PUBLICATION CELEBRATING THE DALLAS BROOKS CENTRE 1969-2014,

TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2015.

INFORMATION HAS BEEN EXTRACTED FROM THE JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE, SPECIAL MASONIC CENTRE ISSUE, MAY 1969.

PRODUCED BY FREEMASONS VICTORIA, 2014

GRAND MASTER’S ADDRESS

Freemasons Victoria has been utilising and enjoying the facilities of the Dallas Brooks Centre for the last forty five years as

well as providing it as a facility for hire to the community – if only these walls could talk! The Centre has seen many a rehearsal, ceremony and event and welcomed hundreds of thousands of people through its doors from all walks of life.

Personally, I can recall participating in a concert with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra in 1973, attending Daly Wilson Big Band concerts featuring a very young Marcia Hines in the mid 1970’s, receiving my Degree on the stage in 1984, and of course being there for the merger talks between the Melbourne and Hawthorn AFL Clubs in 1996. This is in addition to attending various Quarterly Communications during the 1980’s, Grand Lodge Team rehearsals on Sunday mornings since 1991, conducting the Grand Installation in 2000 as Grand Director, and no doubt the pinnacle, of being Installed as the 44th Grand Master in 2014.

It’s now time to say good bye to a Centre in which many of us in Freemasonry and the community share so many wonderful memories, and eventually move to more appropriate accommodation without the burden of an excessive number of lodge facilities and a now out-dated auditorium.

We couldn’t move on however, without paying tribute and homage to the building, its intricacies, architecture and history as well as the many faces that have graced its famous

stage.

This booklet therefore is an important historical record of the planning and design of the Dallas Brooks Centre. Please join me in celebrating this once magnificent facility as part of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria’s 125th Anniversary.

MWBro. Hillel Benedykt

Grand Master 2014-2016

I n 1969 the United Grand Lodge of Victoria built a concert hall in East Melbourne. The Hall was renamed in 1993 from the Dallas

Brooks Hall to the Dallas Brooks Centre and up until 2014 has been a major events venue in Melbourne.

General Sir Reginald Alexander Dallas Brooks (22 August 1896 – 22 March 1966) was Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria from 1951–1963. He was Victoria’s longest serving Governor of Victoria and longest serving Grand Master. He is the only governor of any Australian state initiated into Freemasonry.

Brooks had expressed a desire to become a Freemason while in England but he had also stated that he preferred to become initiated in Australia. He was initiated in the Clarke Lodge No. 98 on 6 February 1950. He became Worshipful Master of the Lodge only five months after his initiation and was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Victoria the following year.

At the time that the Dallas Brooks Hall was built, MWBro. Charles R. Darvall was Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Victoria.

“The new building complex at 300 Albert Street, East Melbourne, occupies an historic site, replacing as it does, the original home of the Presbyterian Ladies’ College now at Burwood.As the Headquarters for Freemasonry in Victoria, it in turn replaces that well known landmark at the top of Collins Street known as 25 Collins Street, which commenced its service to the Organisation in 1889 and is now to be sold.

The new Building, known as the Masonic Centre of Victoria, is one which we are proud to have brought into being, not only because of its architectural beauty and its functional excellence for our own purposes, but also

THE BUILDING

Image C/- National Library of Australia http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an12115152

because through its magnificent Auditorium and entertainment area, it is already proving to be a valuable asset to the Community of Melbourne. This particular aspect gives us great pleasure, as does also the great success of the efforts of the Architects in acheving the oustanding acoustic properties which are evident in the Auditorium. We therefore are most grateful and give full credit to The Architects - Godfrey and Spowers, Hughes, Mewton and Lobb.The Builders - E. A. Watts Pty Ltd and all the Allied Trades and Industries which have contributed to produce such a beautiful and fucntional building of considerable complexity”.

MWBro. Charles Roger Darvall, C.B.E

Sir Dallas Brooks 1886-1966

The Centre was designed and built at a cost of $3 million in 1963 by Architects Godfrey and Spowers, Hughes, Mewton and Lobb and was completed by Builders E. A. Watts Holdings Pty Ltd.

The ArchitectsMr John Davidson, Partner-in-charge of the project, visted many Masonic builders and auditoria overseas during a study trip for Grand Lodge during that year, and together with Mr Eric Taylor, an Associate of the firm, was responsible for the design of the building and the administration of the contract.

The BuildersMr Lewis D. Milne, Director, and Mr J. G. (Jock) Brockie, Project Supervisor, were key personel for the contractors. In spite of the complexity of the project, cooperation and coordination between the client, architect and contractor enabled the completion on due date, with a considerable portion available for occupancy three months earlier. All suppliers and sub-contractors played their part in achieving this result.

Structural Consultants John Connell & Associates

Acoustic Consultants Bolt Beranek & Newman Inc. Quantity Surveyors Peter O. Forster and Associates

THE ARCHITECTS AND BUILDERS

John M. Davidson Godfrey and Spowers, Hughes,

Mewton and Lobb

Eric Taylor Godfrey and Spowers, Hughes,

Mewton and Lobb

J. G. (Jock) Brockie, Project Supervisor

E. A. Watts Holdings Pty Ltd

Lewis D. Milne, Director E. A. Watts Holdings Pty Ltd

“Without good cooperation from top management down to the onsite project manager, leading hands and other tradesmen, a building project of this nature would be fraught with difficulties.”

John M. Davidson

CONSTRUCTION

The site is bounded by Albert Street on the south, Eades Street on the west and Victoria Parade on the north.

The exterior of the building was designed with a contemporary approach. To achieve this and to enhance the scale and dignity of the building, all four facades have been provided with a continuous pediment roof supported on 36 columns which are clad in white Sicilian marble.

The whole of the ground floor is glazed with bronze tinted solar glass set in bronze anodized aluminium frames. No other windows are provided above the ground floor because traditionally both Lodge Rooms and Auditoria require no natural light. The external walls of the building are clad with beige coloured glass mosaic tiles and these total some 4572 sq. meters in area. The remainder of the exterior surfaces, incuding the facia panels to the pediment roof and balconies, are clad in white ceramic mosaic tiles.

The building was planned in two distinct sections which occur on each floor and are separated by a 9 metre wide foyer running the full 36.6 metre width of the building from South to North.

The ground floor banquet and supper room complex consists of seven rooms of varying capacities from approximately 250 in the main banquet hall down to approximately 80 in the smallest room. Several of the supper rooms are provided with sound insulating folding walls which can be used in a number of combinations, or when fully opened up provide banquetting facilities for over 700 people, with overflow facilities in adjoining rooms connected by a public address system.

Scaffolding for external walls and colonnade, North Side.

Rear wall of Auditorium. Plaster sound-diffusers which were

eventually covered by curtains and screen.

Organ platform and framing for panelling Lodge Room No. 1.

In the Western section of the building is the Grand Secretary’s department, Board Room, Committee Room, Library and Museum and Cloak Rooms. Being situated on the ground floor they have natural daylight around the perimeter. The first, second and third floors of this section contain seven Lodge Rooms, six Rehearsal rooms, and other meeting rooms, two of which are no longer in use today and are being used for educational purposes and storage. The capacity of Lodge Room 1 is 400 persons, and the other Lodge Rooms equipped for 200 x 2, 120 x 2 and 100 x 2.

The main 400 capacity Lodge Room is two storeys in height with a gallery over the rear section.

All of the Lodge Rooms are covered in dark blue carpet with gold symbolic motif and five of the rooms are equipped with pipe organs.

Two passenger lifts are provided in the Western section and serve all floors. The fourth floor is non-accessible to the public and houses a ‘Caretaker’s flat’ and mechanical plant rooms. The whole of the basement houses mechanical plant rooms, storage rooms, electrical sub-station and catering store rooms.

The main auditorium in the Eastern section takes up the equivalent of four storeys in height (18 metres). This has been designed primarilly as a first class concert hall, which can be adapted for use for Masonic functions, conventions, conferences and exhibitions.

For concerts, the auditorium will accommodate 880 people at Stalls level, plus a 100 piece orchestra, 621 people at Lounge level, plus 140 people in the choir gallery behind the orchestra, and 534 people in the upper Gallery level.

The Lounge and Gallery balconies encompass three sides of the auditorium and are divided into eight sections at each level.

CONSTRUCTION

Wall truss and cranked cantilever beams for side balconies.

Auditorium 1.

Steel framing for curved plaster soffits of balconies.

Auditorium.

Scaffolding necessary for erection of false ceiling and reflector panels.

Auditorium.

MAP Third Floor

AERIAL VIEW May 1969

VIEW FROM FITZROY GARDENS May 1969

The symbolic pillars standing at the entrance of the Centre are cast in aluminium.

Artist and sculptor Rein Slagmolen prepared patterns in wax on the semi-circular from, from the architects’ design. These patterns were then moulded in sand and the aluminium castings poured in two half sections. The casting was executed by Stephen Firman & Sons Pty Ltd. Slagmolen completed the work with black patina.

The Centre was designed as a simple statement of a traditional Temple. It was decided to surround the building with a colonnade of 36 columns, each some 18 metres in height.

To build these columns in solid stone would have been expensive and impractical. They were constructed therefore in solid concrete and clad externally in imported Carrara (Sicillian) marble.

Carrara marble was chosen for its whiteness, durability and economy. The only relief to simplicity in the design of the columns was the provision of recessed mosaic tiled strips in the front and rear faces. A practical solution was evolved for fixing these tiled strips, in that front and rear faces were cast onto a reinforced backing, and tiles being applied in the shop before delivery and adjustments made after erection.

For the ground floor foyer and front entrance steps, Australian Wombeyan marble was laid.

The exterior walls of the Masonic Centre are faced with ‘Vetricolor’ Italian Mosaic tiles in a bone colour which combines well with the white marble columns. Japanese semi-glazed mosaic tiles are used on the spandrils.

PILLARS AND COLUMNS

All external and internal cast bronze symbols were created by the Lettering Centre Pty Ltd., who designed and manufactured the brass metal work. The Square and Compasses, Holy Bible and the United Grand Lodge of Victoria emblem measure nearly one metre in height.

These were originally interpreted by the architect in a carved timber pattern, executed by skilled craftsmen. Casting in bronze and enamelling then produced an ever-lasting visual element to identify and enhance the building facade.

Decorative finishes in the Masonic Temple were selected by Spowers, Hughes, Mewton & Lobb.

Approximately 5200 metres of Nylex vinyl fabric were applied to walls and doors throughout the building by Spindler, Pollack & Staff Pty Ltd. These specialists had also carried out the installation of vinyl in numerous other building projects including the Stock Exchange, the Reserve Bank, the AMP Building and the Camberwell Civic Centre.

Parquetry flooring was chosen for the banquet area. The obvious choice was a timber known as Wandoo, which was laid by Reliable Floors Pty Ltd in the form of 3/8” mosaic parquetry. Wandoo is a particularly hard wearing timber, eminently suitable for a floor that is subjected to a great deal of traffic.

Furniture and fittings for the Secretarial offices at the Centre were specially chosen from the Harvey Nudex Pty Ltd range. Harvey Nudex Pty Ltd manufactured and carried the largest range of traditional to Danish modern office furnture in Melbourne at the time.

Design 250 supplied many of the small important functional pieces in the Centre like the fine Scandinavian stoneware and vases.

SYMBOLS AND FINISHES

The Timbrock Façade Antique Bronze doors were created to appear as beaten copper and bronze. Original materials such as beaten copper and/or bronze prooved far too expensive so spray-on ‘antique bronze’, provided by Hardboards Australia Limited was a more economical alternative.

Highlighting masonic symbolism, these doors were used for dividing the Masonic and Public sections of the building.

The Timbrock facade, facing on three hour fire doors, separating the Masonic area from the public area, has been applied on all levels of the building.

This functional yet striking staircase was designed to connect all of the levels within the Dallas Brooks Centre from one access point whilst also adhering to Occupational Health & Safety regulations. Manufactured by Slattery & Acquroff Pty Ltd, the stair case was largely constructed in African Mahogany and exposed timbers stained and polished.

In total, there are 55 stairways in the building to comply with health regulations for escape from the auditorium and other parts of the building.

SLIDING DOORS

STAIRS

In all, five out of the seven Lodge Rooms originally had organs installed. A standard model was installed in rooms 2,3,4,5 and within Lodge Room 1 a substantially larger organ was added later.

As a result of the sound absorbent materials used within the construction of the Lodge Rooms, organs responded better than others. Lodge Room 1 experienced the most problems especially with the console, being some 45 metres in length. But a large conduit was installed to take all of the electrical connections, and provision was made in the panelling to gain access to all of the wiring if alterations were required at a later date.

This is a unique pipe organ facade designed by architects Godfrey & Spowers, Hughes, Mewton & Lobb and constructed by George Fincham & Sons. The facade has a strongly sculptural quality and is unlike any other known grouping of organ facade pipes. The organs consist of flue pipes (with flat rather than customary conical feet) of random lengths and diameters placed without visible support. With a central motif of shorter pipes and brighter alloy, the instrument stands forward and provides an abstract reference to the outline of Victoria. Horizontal copper reed pipes punctuate the design. It is a design of great originality representing an unorthodox and imaginative solution.

ORGAN

ENTERTAINERS

Dallas Brooks Centre (Hall) has a rich history with past performances with an impressive line-up on international and local talent including:

• Diana Ross• Sky Hooks• Kylie Minogue• Billy Joel• Peggy Lee• Jose Feliciano• Tommy Emmanual• The Wiggles• IFBB Bodybuilding Championships• High 5• Justine Clarke• Deadliest Catch with Captain Sig• National Institute of Youth and Performing

Arts These are only a few of the entertainers that have walked the stage at the Dallas Brooks Centre.

The list is huge and is virtually a list of who’s who of the entertainment industry from all around the world. Even the film industry has had members of its fraternity walk the stage including Kate Blanchet, Jack Thompson, Guy Pearce and more recently the Centre was utilised for the filming of Channel 9’s Underbelly Fat Tony & Co., and House Husbands.

It is no surprise that the first televised broadcast of the Australian Rules Brownlow Medal took place in the Centre with Peter Bedford taking out the top prize.

Well known church group Planet Shakers has also been using the premises for it’s programs and events since 2006, transforming the Centre back into a concert venue every weekend. The Planet Shakers have reinvigorated the Centre, but like all growing organisations, the need to relocate to a larger space became necessary in 2014.

The Wiggles, 1996

Skyhooks, 1975

Peter Bedford, 1970Peter Bedford, 1970

WE SAY GOODBYE

The amount of people that would have stepped through the doors of the Dallas Brooks Centre over the years, sat in the auditorium seats and occupied it’s many meeting rooms is simply too many to comprehend. If only the Centre could talk - what stories it could tell of the memorable moments, mishaps and magic that has happened since 1969.

Freemasons Victoria would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the wonderful spirit of the Dallas Brooks Centre, as its members relocate temporarilly to allow for its redevelopment.

Characteristic pieces of the building and it’s heritage will be carefully stored and archived for all to enjoy for many years from now.

300 ALBERT STREETEAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002