Mitchell House, Commercial building in Melbourne, Australia
Mitchell House is a six-storey reinforced concrete commercial building on the corner of Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets, with a curved corner wrapped in bands of steel-framed windows and spandrels incised with speed lines. A vertical element of paired fluted piers near the corner carries the name Mitchell House in gilded letters, and a panel at second-floor level shows the Victor brush logo.
The building was completed in 1937 by architect Harry Norris for Thomas Mitchell & Co, a brushware manufacturer. Its use shifted in 1940 when the Australian Survey Corps moved in to operate cartographic functions.
The structure displays elements of Streamline Moderne design from the 1930s, with green faience tiles and a barrel-vaulted ceiling in its entry foyer.
The building sits at the intersection of Elizabeth and Lonsdale Streets in central Melbourne. This corner location makes it easy to see the full facade and ground-level original features from the street.
The ground floor was originally designed as a showroom for Mitchell-brand brush products. This type of retail display space was common along Melbourne's shopping streets in the 1930s.
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