Grosvenor Chambers, at number 9

Collins Street, Melbourne Collins Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in the first survey of Melbourne, the original 1837 Hoddle Grid, and soon became the most desired address in the city. Collins ...

, contained the first custom-built complex of artists' studios in Australia. The construction costs were almost £6,000 and the building opened in April 1888. The owner was Charles Stewart Paterson (1843-1917). He, in partnership with his brother James, had a high-end decorating business in Melbourne. Another brother was the painter

John Ford Paterson John Ford Paterson (1851, Dundee – 30 June 1912, Carlton), often referred to as Ford or J. Ford Paterson, was a Scottish-born Australian artist. He specialised in landscapes. Biography While still a teenager, he began his studies at the Royal ...

who sometimes exhibited with the

Heidelberg School The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. It has latterly been described as Australian impressionism. Melbourne art critic Sidney Dickinson coined the term in an 1891 review of works by Arthur Streeton and ...

artists. The basement

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...

was occupied initially by sculptor Percival Ball. The upper floor consisted of five well-lit artists' studios. The ground floor housed the showroom for the Paterson’s decorative arts business. The middle floor had space for a costumier, fabric showroom and workshop. Many notable artists rented a studio in the building or exhibited their work there. These include,

Tom Roberts Thomas William Roberts (8 March 185614 September 1931) was an English-born Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. After studying in Melbourne, he travelled to Europe ...

Frederick McCubbin Frederick McCubbin (25 February 1855 – 20 December 1917) was an Australian artist, art teacher and prominent member of the Heidelberg School art movement, also known as Australian impressionism. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria, McCubb ...

Arthur Streeton Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton (8 April 1867 – 1 September 1943) was an Australian landscape painter and a leading member of the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. Early life Streeton was born in Mt Moriac, Victoria, sou ...

, Percival Ball, Charles Francis Summers,

Clara Southern Clara Southern (3 October 1860 – 15 December 1940) was an Australian artist associated with the Heidelberg School, also known as Australian Impressionism. She was active between the years 1883 and her death in 1940. Physically, Southern was t ...

, Jane Sutherland,

Charles Conder Charles Edward Conder (24 October 1868 – 9 February 1909) was an English-born painter, lithographer and designer. He emigrated to Australia and was a key figure in the Heidelberg School, arguably the beginning of a distinctively Australi ...

E. Phillips Fox Emanuel Phillips Fox (12 March 1865 – 8 October 1915) was an Australian impressionist painter. After studying at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne, Fox travelled to Paris to study in 1886. He remained in Europe until 1 ...

John Longstaff Sir John Campbell Longstaff (10 March 1861 – 1 October 1941) was an Australian painter, war artist and a five-time winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture. His cousin Will Longstaff was also a painter and war artist. Longstaff was known ...

Girolamo Nerli Girolamo Pieri Pecci Ballati Nerli (21 February 1860 – 24 June 1926), was an Italian painter who worked and travelled in Australia and New Zealand in the late 19th century influencing Charles Conder and Frances Hodgkins and helping to mo ...

, Louis Abrahams, Rose Walker, George Lambert,

Ola Cohn Ola Cohn (born Carola Cohn; 25 April 1892 – 23 December 1964) was an Australian artist, author and philanthropist best known for her work in sculpture in a modernist style and famous for her ''Fairies Tree'' in the Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. ...

, Dora Wilson,

Max Meldrum Duncan Max Meldrum (3 December 1875 – 6 June 1955) was a Scottish-born Australian artist and art teacher, best known as the founder of Australian tonalism, a representational painting style that became popular in Melbourne during the interwa ...

Mirka Mora Mirka Madeleine Mora (18 March 1928 – 27 August 2018) was a French-born Australian visual artist and cultural figure who contributed significantly to the development of contemporary art in Australia. Her media included drawing, painting, s ...

and Albert Tucker. Notable photographers, such as Gordon De Lisle and

Wolfgang Sievers Wolfgang Georg Sievers, AO (18 September 1913 – 7 August 2007) was an Australian photographer who specialised in architectural and industrial photography. Early life and career Sievers was born in Berlin, Germany. His father was Profes ...

, had rooms in the building in the 1950s. Artists continued to rent studios there until the mid-1970s, when all but the facade of the building was demolished to make way for a high-rise office building.Alex Taylor, ''Perils of the Studio: Inside the Artistic Affairs of Bohemian Melbourne'', Australian Scholarly Publishing & State Library of Victoria: North Melbourne, 2007,

References

{{Heidelberg School, state=collapsed Heidelberg School Australian sculpture History of Melbourne Australian art 1888 establishments in Australia Artists' studios in Australia Landmarks in Melbourne Collins Street, Melbourne Demolished buildings and structures in Melbourne