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Manchester Unity Building, 220-226 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
The BuildingsCOLLINS STREET

Manchester Unity Building

ArchitectMarcus Barlow
Completed1932
StyleNeo-Gothic
The building

Its Gothic spires have punctuated the city skyline since 1932, and the Manchester Unity Building remains the most recognisable silhouette at Melbourne's busiest intersection. Designed by Marcus Barlow for the Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows, it was built in an astonishing eleven months and twelve days — constructed around the clock in eight-hour shifts during the depths of the Depression. The result is Melbourne's answer to the Chicago Tribune Tower: a soaring commercial Gothic landmark that proved the city's ambition hadn't dimmed.

View on the heritage register (H0411) →

In brief

  1. 1928Manchester Unity IOOF purchases Stewart Dawson's Corner for £250,000
  2. 1932Demolition begins at midnight on New Year's Day; construction proceeds around the clock
  3. 1932Building completed and opened by the Premier of Victoria in just 11 months
  4. 1950Rooftop observation level becomes a popular tourist attraction
  5. 1988Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register
  6. 2015Major conservation works restore the facade and ground-floor arcade
The doorstep

Three places within a short walk.

What each one is, and how far it is from the front door. Select a place to see it on the map.

1
Nature508 m · 6 min walk
Birrarung Marr
The city's first major new parkland in a century, terraced down to the Yarra with a Wurundjeri name meaning river of mists.
2
Dining500 m · 6 min walk
Flower Drum
Gilbert Lau's 1975 Cantonese fine-diner on Market Lane, still the room Melbourne books for an occasion.
3
Character133 m · 2 min walk
The Melbourne Athenaeum
Founded in 1839, it housed the city's first library and gallery and still runs a subscription library above Collins St.
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