T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society

T & G Building in Melbourne

T & G building in Geelong

T & G building in Mildura

T & G building in Horsham

T & G building in Wagga Wagga

The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society was an insurance company that operated in Australia and New Zealand.^[1] The 'T & G' stood for 'Temperance & General'.^[2] The company was founded in Victoria in 1876,^[3] emerging from the Assurance branch of the Independent Order of Rechabites. The branch was severed from the I.O.R Rechabite Lodge after six years of operations.^[4]

In 1983 the T&G Society amalgamated with the National Mutual Life Association.^[5]

The T&G Buildings

The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society was notable amongst Australian insurance companies for constructing a series of landmark buildings in cities and town across Australia and New Zealand in the interwar period.

In the boom years of the 1880s they built prominent headquarters in Melbourne and Sydney, the Melbourne one on Swanston Street on the north side of the town hall, and another even larger one in Sydney on Elizabeth Street on the corner of Park Street, overlooking Hyde Park.^[6] In 1908 they purchased the large, ornate Edwardian Moirs Chambers in St Georges Terrace in Perth for their branch there, and had a presence in other cities and towns.

Beginning in the mid 1920s, the company took the unusual step of engaging in a program of expanding its reach, and visibility, with a building program that was the most extensive of any insurance company in the Australasia. The branches were housed in buildings that included offices for rent, and usually incorporated a landmark tower displaying the company's name, even in small towns, in a kind of corporate advertising. Most were designed by the Melbourne firm of A & K Henderson, those of the 1920s designed in a matching stripped classical style, which evolved into a vertical Art Deco style in the 1930s. They were usually the most prominent buildings in the town, and the Melbourne and Sydney buildings were amongst the largest, most prominent, interwar commercial buildings in both cities.

In the postwar years, they continued this program, but in the form of more typical modernist office towers, branded mainly by the prominent signage.

List of T & G Buildings

Interwar period

• Australia
  • Sydney, cnr Elizabeth and Park Streets, north half with tower completed 1930, southern in 1932, architects A&K Henderson (demolished c1976)^[7]
  • Melbourne, Collins Street, 1929, extended 1938 and 1959, A & K Henderson .^[8]
  • Brisbane, cnr Albert and Queen Street, completed 1924, architect A&K Henderson,^[9] 9th mansard level added 1936, also by A&K Henderson.^[10] (demolished c1970)
  • Adelaide, King Wiliam Street, 1925, A&K Henderson ^[11]
  • Hobart, Collins Street, 1938, A&K Henderson ^[12]
  • Geelong^[13]
  • Horsham^[14]
  • Mildura^[15]
  • Warrnambool
  • Bendigo, View Street, 1925^[16]
  • Townsville designed c1940, not built until after the war, completed 1955 (demolished 2008)^[17]
  • Newcastle, Hunter Street, 1937 (addition of two floors and alterations to earlier building), by A&K Henderson^[18]
  • Albury Dean Street, tower front added 1940, designed by A & K Henderson ^[19]
  • Rockhampton, William Street, 1928, A&K Henderson ^[20]
  • Wagga Wagga cnr Fitzmaurice Street and Gurwood. Possibly 1941 alteration of an earlier building.^[21]
• New Zealand
  • Auckland, Elliott Street, 1930 alteration of 1880s warehouse.^[22]
  • Napier, cnr Marine Parade and Emerson Street, 1936, Mitchell & Mitchell architects Wellington. ^[23]
  • Palmerston North, 16-22 Broadway, 1938, A&K Henderson ^[24]
  • Wellington, cnr Lambton Quay and grey Street, 1928, A&K Henderson with Atkins & Mitchell as supervising architects. Now known as Harcourt's Building.^[25]
  • Christchurch, Hereford Street, 1929. Last known as Kenton Chambers. (demolished c2012 following Canterbury earthquake)

Postwar

• • Perth, built in 1960, altered 1980s, now known as Citibank House
  • Darwin
  • Brisbane, 1970 replacing the earlier building^[26]
  • Sydney, 1978, replacing the earlier building with a 40 storey tower^[27]

See also

• T & G Building, Brisbane
• T & G Building, Geelong
• T & G Building, Perth
• T & G Building, Townsville
• T & G Building, Wellington

Notes

1. Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI) New Zealand
2. State Library of Victoria: T & G (Temperance & General) Mutual Life Assurance Society Building
3. Guide to Australian Business Records
4. Commemoration Centenary & History of T&G Mutual Life Society
5. Townsville City Council: T & G BUILDING
6. "T & G Buildings & Elizabeth St from Hyde Park". State Library NSW catalogue. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
7. "T&G building nearing completion". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 January 1932. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
8. "T&G Building, National Trust citation". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Victoria. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
9. "T&G Building Final Inspection". The Daily Mail. 19 February 1924. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
10. "T&G Building to have ninth storey". The Telegraph. 19 May 1936. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
11. Emporis: Adelaide T&G Building
12. National Library of Australia: Murray St & T&G [building] from St Davids [picture] : Hobart, Tasmania
13. Begg, Peter. (1990). Geelong - The First 150 Years. Globe Press. ISBN 0-9592863-5-7
14. Image: Horsham street
15. Image: T&G Building, Mildura, Victoria
16. "31 View Street for sale". realestate.com. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
17. "T&G Building (former)". Australian Heritage Database. Australian Government. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
18. "Imposing Block, Newcastle Sun". Trove. National Library of Australia. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
19. "T&G Building Albury". Search for NSW Heritage. NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
20. "T&G Building Imposing Structure". Trove, National Library of Australia. Rockhampton Morning Bulletin. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
21. "Building at Wagga". Trove. Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga). Retrieved 3 April 2016.
22. Elliott Street Apartments - Hotel Accommodation Auckland
23. "T & G Building". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
24. "Ansett Tower (former T&G Building)". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
25. "Australian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited Head Office (Former)". Heritage New Zealand. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
26. "T&G Building". EMPORIS. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
27. "201 Elizabeth Street". EMPORIS. Retrieved 21 March 2016.

References

• Shirley Thomas, T & G : yours for life : the history of T & G Mutual Life Society Limited 1876-1976, T. & G. Mutual Life Society Limited