Graeme Butler and Associates

Graeme Butler and Associates Based in Melbourne Victoria, we provide cultural heritage assessments and advice The list will be continuously updated. (Melbourne University), Advanced Cert.

The principals of Graeme Butler & Associates, have surveyed, recorded and assessed many heritage places and areas throughout Victoria and Australia since the 1970s and hence have a great depth of experience in the identification, categorising and assessment of the cultural environment, whether built form or landscape. The firm also specialises in research using newspapers, rate books and land titl

es, General Law or Torrens. BOOKS
Following on from the transfer of the Graeme Butler & Associates papers to the Royal Historical Society of Victoria in 2023 there remains the vast number of research books and periodicals in our collection. Some of these can be purchased online from the catalogue at the link below using EFT or PayPal, prices can be negotiated with a view to finding good homes. See catalogue at https://drive.google.com/file/d/12O4XQ6XpIOzOjx_E949wqaEaARsl3IAq/view?usp=drive_link

ARCHIVAL HERITAGE RECORDS

We also offer preparation of archival records of heritage places that includes a historical and physical description as well as archival photography – typically using full-frame DSLRs and primary lenses, including tilt-shift for perspective correction, and with an option of film (negative, positive) photography using 35mm or 6cm x 7cm medium format cameras. All images can be offered in a high resolution digital form with a dynamic range optimised. Prints can be provided on archive stock as printed with dye-based inks. Principals:

Graeme Butler Bachelor of Architecture 1972 (History major, Melbourne University) . Historical and architectural assessments
Lesley Butler B.Comm. of Horticulture (Burnley). Heritage plant management and identification, also genealogy.

We are currently researching the Upper Beaconsfield Assembly Hall, as a Victorian-era weatherboard hall that has grown o...
28/02/2026

We are currently researching the Upper Beaconsfield Assembly Hall, as a Victorian-era weatherboard hall that has grown over the years functioning as the social centre of Upper Beaconsfield. One difference from other country halls is that this was the focus of both country gentleman & women as well as the local mainly orcharding farming community. One 1917 press report from Upper Beaconsfield highlighted the controversial Day Light Saving Bill, showing that nothing ever changes.
`After giving the new Day Light Saving Bill a trial of about …months, there is a consensus of opinion amongst our district dairymen that if continued it will have a bad effect on the industry. Referring to the matter at the meeting on Monday evening last one speaker remarked - that it would result in dairymen having to do their own work They would he unable to get workmen. Mr I. Wanke, of Narre Warren, said he had partly solved the difficulty by putting in milking machines. '
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Another distinctive aspect of the project is discovery of the remarkable research carried out by the Upper Beaconsfield and district history group, curated by Marianne Rocke, as seen at their web site https://upperbeaconsfieldhistory.au/index.htm .
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(Image from the Upper Beaconsfield Community Centre web page- https://www.ubcc.org.au/hall-room-hire )

Dendy Theatre, later Cinema, Brighton 1940 (since demolished)___________________________photographed in 1982 as part of...
21/12/2025

Dendy Theatre, later Cinema, Brighton 1940 (since demolished)
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photographed in 1982 as part of the Twentieth Century Architecture Survey
A Moderne style masterpiece from Cowper Murphy & Appleford, this theatre held 1172 persons along with any crying babies in the specially designed Crying Room that allowed patrons to simultaneously weep and view the show through generous plate glass windows.
Happier patrons experienced seating throughout of sponge rubber, moquette covered and with each chair being fitted with a footwarmer . And there was housing for bicycles In a room adjoining the foyer- not seen today in our supposedly pedestrian conscious environment.
I recall it as the chosen venue for Art Cinema in the 1960s.

Parer's St Kilda Kiosk or Refreshment Rooms, later Kerby's, as surveyed by Graeme Butler in the 1980s as part of a State...
01/12/2025

Parer's St Kilda Kiosk or Refreshment Rooms, later Kerby's, as surveyed by Graeme Butler in the 1980s as part of a State wide assessment of 20th century architecture.
This structure has been the subject of much conjecture and debate, particularly after recent fire damage. The important name Parer however seems to have been forgotten even in the VHR citation for the kiosk. Last seen it was empty.
(see https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/1117)
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Francis Parer was a Catalan immigrant who, along with his brother Joseph, built a successful business empire in Melbourne in the late 19th century, owning numerous hotels and restaurants, and are believed to be among the first to commercialize the meat pie in Australia. He is also credited with being one of the first people to grow tomatoes commercially in Australia at his property in Box Hill.
Early business ventures: Arriving in Melbourne in the mid-1850s, the brothers first tried a poultry farm near Sydney, which failed. They then moved to the Bendigo goldfields and eventually settled in Melbourne.
Meat pie business:
After meeting a French chef who showed them how to make meat pies, the Parer brothers began selling them to gold miners, which quickly became a popular and profitable business.
Hospitality and land ownership:
Their success in the food and hospitality industries grew to include owning over 30 pubs and restaurants, such as Melbourne's first Spanish restaurant and the grand Parer's Crystal Café and Hotel. They also bought a large property in Box Hill, where Francis grew produce for their businesses, including tomatoes, which he is believed to have been one of the first to grow commercially in the country.
Later life:
Francis Parer operated a café at the end of the St Kilda Pier for a time and passed away in 1935 at the age of 75
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1904 THE PIER.
The Kiosk on the St. Kilda Pier is now in course of er****on and when finished will be an imposing and useful adjunct to the attractions of the resort. The plan of the building was drawn by government architects and is being put into effect by Mr J. Douglas, builder, of Block-place, City, for Mr Francis Parer. The situation of tbe kiosk is just in the corner of the first L of the pier where some 60 piles have been driven into the water on which to erect the decking covering a space of 66 feet by 48 feet. On top of this the superstructure is being bolted having also corner angle plates of 2 inch by | inch iron. Around the edge of the decking has been erected a very handsome jarrah picket fence 8 feet 3 inches high with jarrah rounded capping. The style of architecture is oriental with a large circular sweep of window on every side to be glazed with the best Muranese glass. There is a concert room about 26 feet square, which will contain comfortable lounges, and all appurtenances for musical enjoyment. A neat shop will form the angle corner nearest the pier behind which will be the kitchen. On the flat roof will be erected an observatory 19 feet by 9 feet glazed on all sides from which will be seen a magnificent sea view as well aa a wonderful panorama of the metro, polis. Then on the top of the observatory will be another outlook safely fenced in. The design is being carried out in the best plain and fancy weather boards with embellishments of fancy scalloped scrolls and wood work. The necessity for great strength has not been lost sight of as may be exemplified by the fact that 4x4 best Oregon struts and 3x4 inter mediates are being used while the joists are 3 x 4 by 9 inches. Inside the concert room the roof promenade will be shored up with iron pillars. Around the whole of the building has been left a wide promenade where tete-a-tete tables will In placed for refreshments. Seats and lounges are to be plentifully provided. Mr Parer's intention is tc provide only fish and fruit luncheon without any intoxicating liquors of any sort. It is expected that the kiosk will be partly opened on Caulfield Cup Day, October 15, as the work is well in hand, and the whole is to be finished by the end of the month.
see https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/144607303

The fascinating King's house (68) later Frederick Lording's houses (66, 68) Molesworth Street and garden________________...
16/09/2025

The fascinating King's house (68) later Frederick Lording's houses (66, 68) Molesworth Street and garden
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Devonshire man and softgoods importer Samuel Grey King commissioned Crouch and Wilson, architects to design him a Chalet style timber house facing sideways onto his garden and built by 1870.
He was the grantee for the property in 1865 and from an early date cultivated a large garden on the land before the house was erected. King was elected to the first Hotham council in 1859 and later vied for a Victorian government post.

Failing to reach the Assembly King was nevertheless given a complimentary banquet in the Hotham Town hall in 1880, as `...recognition of his conduct in recently contesting North Melbourne at the election of members to represent that district in the Legislative Assembly ...Mr King was a gentleman who had lived in Hotham for 25 years, and who had the esteem of all who knew him Though defeated they were not disheartened, and probably at some future time Mr King would be called upon to take up arms and fight the battle successfully. (Loud cheers ).'

King moved to a Leongatha farm in his retirement after a serving key role in local Wesleyanism and a successful career that included urging some of his young employees to take up an agricultural life, echoing his own early gardening pursuit at Molesworth Street. He died at Leongatha in 1906.

Back at Molesworth Street after King had moved to the middle suburbs, the land was sold to carpenter Frederick Henry Lording c1871, from a large Lording family group scattered around the inner west of Melbourne and later at Ferntree Gulley. Lording built the picturesque double gabled house facing Molesworth Street, sharing fretted barges with those of the earlier King house. Lording named one or both of these houses Marianne Cottage after his wife.
Miraculously the two houses co-exist today on the generously sized lot, along with a large garden that reflects the siting of a garden depicted there in 1895, and may echo the 1860s cultivation.
see more at https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=1603733

JAMES GEORGE JOWETTThe intriguing case of architect James George Jowett, a man who designed at least two of North & West...
10/08/2025

JAMES GEORGE JOWETT
The intriguing case of architect James George Jowett, a man who designed at least two of North & West Melbourne's key Victorian-era buildings - Ekman's coffee palace and drapery 1886 and Railway Hotel 1888.
His marital affairs were spread across the nation's newspapers, with inferences of scandal
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James George Jowett was born in Ireland in 1855 to Charles and Mary Jowett. He married Sarah Ann Palmer on December 12, 1883, in Darlington, Durham. They had one child, Annie Jowett, and James had five brothers and two sisters. After their marriage, they emigrated to Victoria, and his wife, Sarah Ann Palmer, died around 1900 in Malvern, Victoria. James Jowett remarried on July 30, 1902, to Mary Elizabeth Lillith, who was the former Mrs. Michael Gavin Duffy.

James Jowett worked as an architect and an engineer. In 1886, he was the architect for a large drapery shop, coffee palace, and other additions in West Melbourne. In 1888, he invited tenders for a large hotel and later for bar fittings for the New Railway Hotel, both in North Melbourne. At this time, his address was listed as Everton Cottage, Barry-street, Carlton. In 1894, he was granted a Certificate of Competency from the Municipal Surveyors Board and was listed as being from Malvern. Later, he was listed as town clerk and engineer for Horsham, earning around £500 per year.

In 1908, Mary Jowett filed a maintenance case against her husband, James George Jowett, a civil engineer. She also charged him with leaving their child, Helarine Louise Marguerite Jowett, without support. Mary Jowett claimed £2 per week for herself and the child. She alleged that James was cruel and a heavy drinker, and that he had been drinking since a month after they were married. She claimed he had struck her on several occasions. James denied being cruel to his wife and claimed the trouble was caused by his wife's friend, Miss Luth. He admitted to slapping his wife once after receiving an anonymous letter suggesting she was going to Sydney with a "prominent public man". He denied ever assaulting her otherwise. James claimed his wife ran him into debt and went insolvent for about £300 in a massaging business she started with Miss Luth. The magistrate, Mr. Dwyer, dismissed the case, stating that the complainant's allegations of ill-treatment were "meagre" and that James Jowett's attitude was "more in the direction of kindness than cruelty...
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RESEARCH for City of Melbourne Libraries BY GRAEME BUTLER 2025
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See more at https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=1338892

Green Room Club (Demolished), 12 Queens Road Melbourne (Albert Park) from TWENTIETH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE REGISTER OF ROY...
26/07/2025

Green Room Club (Demolished), 12 Queens Road Melbourne (Albert Park) from TWENTIETH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE REGISTER OF ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS
Termed a Bohemian establishment , the club motto:
`live to amuse and by amusing live."
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Cross Section (monthly) announced in Oct 1963 that the building was...
`The epitome of pleasing finesse, precise taste and precious formality, this façade belongs to The Green Room Club, Queens Road, Melbourne. Yuncken Freeman Architects Pty Ltd, archts.'
And in May 1963 `The following buildings were commended by the jury: The Green Room Club. Yuncken Freeman, archt (C-S No. 132. Oct. '63) and The office building for Siemens Halske Siemens Schukert (Australasia) Pty. Lid, Gerd & Renate Block, archts (C-s No. 132, Oct. *63)'.
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This recognition and listing on the TWENTIETH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE REGISTER OF ROYAL AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS did not stop its demolition.
The original Green Room Club was founded in the Edwardian-era -opened by the late Sir Thomas Bent. Mr. Bert Bailey, the actor, was the original president, and Mr. Robert McLeish, who is also president of the Cinematograph Exhibitors' Association, has been president for the last 15 years in 1934. When first established the club's offices were situated at the top of Bourke street, but subsequently they were moved to the Theatre Royal, in Bourke street, where they remained until the theatre was pulled down and an emporium erected on the site...
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In 1924
Green Room Raidedthe Green Room Club, the rendezvous of the theatrical profession in Melbourne, was raided by the police last.....breasting the bar. The charge against the club is for drinking after prescribed hours. This is the first.....time, during its long career, that the Green Room has been the scene of a police raid.

While researching the historical land uses of the Nar-Nar-Goon township area I came across this marvellous sketch of onc...
07/06/2025

While researching the historical land uses of the Nar-Nar-Goon township area I came across this marvellous sketch of once, one of the area's most significant farm houses, of seven room built for the commercial traveller, James Eves, by 1881. He named it Evesham.

His daughter Mary Jane married into another important Nar-Nar-Goon family the O'Briens.

James' son, Thomas H Eves, was a later owner - educated at Melbourne Grammar School in the late 1880s; Henry Eves followed. The house was also used a s a government school in the 1880s.
This house, then Jussam Lodge, was extant when identified in the 1990s Cardinia heritage study and eventually protected in the planning scheme but sadly was demolished after falling into disrepair.
James Matson Eves was born on 12 April 1841 in St Pancras, Middlesex; his father, James, and his mother, Jane. He was baptized 18 May 1845. He emigrated to Australia aged 19.

"Welcome Back"Nar Nar Goon North public hall 2025`....The year after WW2 ended saw a successful dance held on Saturday i...
20/05/2025

"Welcome Back"
Nar Nar Goon North public hall 2025
`....The year after WW2 ended saw a successful dance held on Saturday in April in aid of the Nar Nar Goon North Hall Building Improvement Fund.
`The popular president (Mr. F. C. Andrews) and the genial secretary (Mr. L. Warren) were very pleased with the result achieved, viz., £40. Mr. Bert Edwards, winner of the Ugly Man competition, replying to a vote of thanks, said that his success was largely due to his wife, but he considered his good looks would have carried him through all the same. Highlight of the evening was an exhibition of tap dancing…’
In the following October the unveiling of the Honor Roll at the Nar, Nar Goon North Hall was planned. The Welcome Home Committee extended to cordial welcome to those attending the ceremony and ladies are asked to bring a basket...'

Latest project is the Nar Nar Goon North public hall conservation management plan for Cardinia Shire.Built in 1926 appar...
07/05/2025

Latest project is the Nar Nar Goon North public hall conservation management plan for Cardinia Shire.
Built in 1926 apparently to the design of architect AK Lyons the hall replaced a 1916 hall burnt in 1923. The Nar Nar Goon North district saw the usual hardship of selectors from the 1870s onwards, struggling under various Land Acts.
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From “The Poems of Marie E. J. Pitt.” ...
`The hills lay panting in the heat.
Too faint to pray for boon.
But Bessie’s song was low and sweet
At North Nar-Nar-Goon.’
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See below for:
-Plan of proposed Nar Nar Goon North public hall 1926, Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV)
- First Nar Nar Goon North hall- drawings received at BOPH 25 March 1914, Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV)
- Nar Nar Goon North memorial hall from the Victoria Heritage Database Victorian War Heritage Inventory.
- Unclaimed letter sent to Martha Ann Olsen... selector.

PRINCE CHARLIE HOTEL, later HOTHAM HOUSE, Arden Street North Melbourne was an old refaced North Melbourne hotel put to s...
06/11/2024

PRINCE CHARLIE HOTEL, later HOTHAM HOUSE, Arden Street North Melbourne was an old refaced North Melbourne hotel put to surprising new uses as part of the Melbourne City Mission in the 1920s but was an unruly house in its heyday.
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IN 1925 The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne) screamed the headlines:
`P.M. OVERRULED
North Melbourne Riot
CHARGES DISMISSED
Accusations Against Guider "HASN’T it become a scandal the way you have been hitting people?’'’ asked Mr. Luke Murphy of Alfred Cecil Guider, a licensing constable in the North Melbourne Court yesterday. "No,” replied witness..
Partisan feeling was shown by supporters of both sides in a case which arose out of the activities of licensing constables in the vicinity of the Prince Charlie Hotel, Abbotsford-street, North Melbourne, on the evening of July 4.
THE CHARGES
The following were before the court:—Claude Dyson, charged with assaulting Constables Guider and Cahill, and using insulting words; D. Dwyer, assaulting Constable Guider; William Robert Campbell, assaulting Constable Guider; Mrs. Ruby Dwyer, using threatening words; Michael Lane, obstructing Constable Cahill: and Mrs. Dyson, using threatening Claude Dyson also cross summoned Guider for alleged assault
BAG OF BEER.
Guider said at 7.50 p.m. on July 4 he saw Dyson approach the hotel and receive a bag. Dyson at tempted to run away when asked for the bag, and called witness "a pimp.” When he was picking up the bag, which contained beer, Dyson hit him in the stomach. “Dyson tried to throw me,” said Guider, “and as he continued to fight I struck him. A number of women and men came up and called me a pimp. "Whilst I was struggling, Campbell hit me on the neck. Dwyer also hit me on the side of the face.
WOMEN SCREAMED
Witness said Constables Cahill and Loveridge were with him, and a large crowd gathered. Women commenced to scream and urged the men to attack. Mr. Murphy (for a number of defendants): Were you wearing a ring or a knuckle-duster.—No. Well, were your hands covered in blood?—No. But I washed them at the hotel. Guider denied that he was in the habit of ‘‘slogging” people. He had only been in the ring on one occasion.
FOR THE DEFENCE
Twelve witnesses were called for the defence. Irene Dyson, daughter of Claude Dyson, said she saw Guider strike her father without any warning. “He hit him a cowardly blow on the eye,” said witness, “and when he fell to his knees, struck him again. He fell right on his face. My mother went into hysterics. My father has been weak ever since the assault.” Isabel Dyson, married, said when site asked the police why they had struck her husband. Cahill pushed her away. Daniel Dwyer, railway employe, said Cahill made use of a most obscene expression. He also hit him over the head with the case.
P.M. OVERRULED
The Bench consented to the charge against the women defendants being withdrawn.. “All the cases will he dismissed,” said Mr. Wade, P.M., on the conclusion of the evidence. “I am not in favor of the decision. I am not going to say any more.” With the P.M. were Messrs. F. Young, T. Crosbie and T. Hewitt, J’s. P.
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The new hall adjoining and renovation of the hotel was designed by Edwin J. and C. L. Ruck.
see more at https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=747996

William Muir's grocer's shop and residence, Arden Street, North Melbourne 1879___________________________Muir was invol...
05/11/2024

William Muir's grocer's shop and residence, Arden Street, North Melbourne 1879
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Muir was involved in a tragic tale as reported in 1887
`An old woman named Mary Grainger was found dead shortly after 7 o'clock on Wednesday in a miserable 'hovel, situated in Hotham place, off Courtney street, North Melbourne. A
man named William Muir, a grocer who lives in the neighbourhood, discovered the dead woman. Deceased was about 70 years of age, and the place she lived in- had been condemned by the Local Board of Health as unfit for human habitation. The woman could not, however, be got to leave the hovel and she would have been forcibly
ejected if she had lived. ...Decease was very eccentric in her habits, and kept a number of dogs about her. Therefore the state of the old tenement where she resided can be well imagined. She never did any work, and .was supposed to have a small income which enabled her to support herself. Of this, however, nothing is known for certain; and the police are now making enquiries with a view to ascertain whether deceased possessed property of any description. ..'

see more at https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=1347093

The North Melbourne home of A Mattingley, or Wallace House 6- Alfred Street: his letter to the Age 1904 on national park...
05/11/2024

The North Melbourne home of A Mattingley, or Wallace House 6- Alfred Street: his letter to the Age 1904 on national parks and Wilsons Promontory.
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`TO THE EDITOR OF THE AGE, Sir,— Mr. F. Geach, in his letter of 16th inst;, admits the necessity of a national park, and what place is more suitable than Wilson's Promontory? As mentioned in my previous letter, it is fenced in by nature. If the park were situated on an inland site it would have to be in time surrounded by a fence to prevent the game from straying on to and destroying adjoining property, beside which the area would be overrun by rabbits, much to the disadvantage of the native game, which would die out, as it has already done in many districts where the native game slowly disappeared as the rodents encroached on their habitat. The promontory is devoid of rabbits and likely to remain so— this portion of Gippsland seeming to be an 'impenetrable harrier to their advancement. Mr. Geach is ill-informed when he states that the national park is devoid of native game, as a little time ago it was thickly populated with wallabies, paddy melons, hears, opossums, &c., whilst the streams teemed with native black fish, which cannot hold their own against the wiles of the angler and the depredations of introduced fish: and it is well known in the surrounding districts that trappers have taken surreptitiously thousands upon thousands of pelts from its forest, and l have beard-that during one year a party obtained 7000 wallaby skins alone.
— Y ours, &c..
A. H. E. MATTINGLEY . 6 Alfred-street, North Melbourne'
see more at https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/WPAC/ARCENQ?SETLVL=&RNI=1626089

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