Former National Mutual Building

kenikat (52)in #steemit • 6 years ago

Former National Mutual Building
348 - 352 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000

This is one of my favourite buildings to go to on my lunchtime walks 😊 It is now a place of mixed business, but I just love the stairs so much, and the stained glass roof.

I have been told the building is over 65% staircase, and they couldn’t build something like this anymore even if they wanted too, because it is a ‘waste of space’ and a fire hazard, but I think its beautiful! I wish more buildings looked like this. Now it is a mixed business building.

Fun facts:

Built on a site that was bought for 96,000 pounds in 1890

The main George Street entrance is a huge arch spanning 13 metres

An early notable occupant of the building’s upper floors was the pioneer Australian feminist and advocate for female suffrage, Maybanke Wolstenholme, who ran her journal, Woman’s Voice, and the Women’s Federation League from offices within the building.

During World War II, the original glass crown that domed the internal stairwell was dismantled (and lost), while the lower ground floor was converted into an air-raid shelter.

In 1984, the building was comprehensively renovated for use as the headquarters of Societe-Generale Australia. During this restoration work, the leadlight ceiling in the atrium was restored; while other work required a Belgian quarry to be reopened in order to obtain marble that would match the original.

Includes a grand fifth-floor “ballroom”

350 George is also famous as being one of the first buildings in Australia to use construction techniques such as terracotta and marble slab floors supported directly on steelwork

Its interior is further enhanced by a grand staircase (with a Belgian marble balustrade) that provides access to six tiers of galleried corridors, which are ornately framed in silver-coated wrought steel relieved with bronze gold.