Key 31: Buildings for Engineering 1899-1914

 

The teaching of Engineering began in the Quadrangle building and it expanded into the basement left vacant when Professor McCoy moved the National Museum to its new quarters in 1864. The North Extension to the Quadrangle in 1874/5 included an engineering teaching room. This was the 'first specifically designated space for the academic study of Engineering, as distinct from the practical training in the basement workshop'.

Close view of Engineering School, c1901
Close view of Engineering School, c1901
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1015]

Subsequently, Engineering expanded into more of the ground floor of the North Extension and for a time used part of Wilson Hall as a drawing office.' Only after much dispute did work begin in 1899 on a building for the Engineering Faculty on the south-east corner of the University grounds near the recently built Teacher Training College ['the 1888 Building']. Students did not occupy the building till 1901. It was not Kernot's preferred location and its isolation contributed to a certain insularity in the faculty born partly of resentment at the snobbish attitudes of some members of Melbourne's academic and social elites towards studies associated with trades.

Designed by Reed, Tappin & Smart, the free-standing red-brick building with a tower on the south side is still recognisable despite additions and alterations. The functional design with suggestion of scholarly Gothic, though partly a result of limited funds, suited the expression of engineering as a utilitarian area of study and further set it apart from its more ornate predecessors.

Engineering and Geology Schools, c1910
View of Engineering and Geology Schools, c1910
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1060]

It was followed in 1906 by a building for Mining and Metallurgy to the north. The space between these two buildings was filled between 1911 and 1914 with a two-story building designed by the Victorian Public Works Department.

Interior of Drawing Office, c1901
Interior of Drawing Office, c1901
[Source: University of Melbourne Archives Image Catalogue, UMA-I-1016]