History of Tasma Terrace

Tasma Terrace is the headquarters of the National Trust of Australia (Vic) and was built in the 1870s and 1880s. Plans in the 1970s by State Government to replace the terrace with a massive 40 storey office block were opposed in one of the Trust in its longest running campaign. The campaign to save Tasma Terrace, the Windsor Hotel and other buildings led to the first legislation of its kind in Australia in 1972 with the passing of the Government Buildings Advisory Council Act. In a momentous decision the Government Buildings Advisory Council recommended that the Trust’s proposal to the government be adopted, namely that the Tasma Terrace should not only be preserved, but vested in the Trust for use as their headquarters.

The first three buildings in the terrace, originally known as Parliament Place, were built for George Nipper, a wealthy grain merchant and shipowner. The designer was the notable architect Charles Webb. Nipper later commissioned Webb to design the nearby Windsor Hotel (the first section of the hotel was built in 1883-84). Nipper and his family lived at the northernmost building in the terrace (which was demolished in 1940) before moving to the Windsor in 1885. Due to financial difficulties, Nipper had to sell the terrace in 1885 to Joseph Thompson, a flamboyant and prominent bookmaker and racehorse owner. Thompson built four more matching terraced houses, also designed by Webb, thus extending the building to the corner of St Andrews Place in 1886-87.

From the time of its construction, Tasma was used mainly as rented accommodation and as some of Melbourne’s most up-market guest and boarding houses. It was customary for many women to conduct boarding houses in the period, and Tasma was no exception. Women who conducted the various guest houses included Miss Sarah Gould, Elizabeth Gow and Jean Borelli. The name ‘Tasma’ was associated first with terrace No 14 (originally Nipper’s residence) in 1905 when Elizabeth Gow conducted it as a private hotel named the ‘Tasma Guest House’. Tasma’s proximity to the city made it ideal accommodation for politicians, businessmen, journalists and entertainers (some of whom no doubt ‘trod the boards’ at the nearby Princess Theatre).

One of the most famous occupants was lawyer and future Prime Minister Harold Holt who lived here in 1934. Other uses for parts of Tasma included a trained nurses’ home in the late 1890s and medical suites in the 1940s and 1960s. For many years, No 14 was combined with an adjacent three storey building built in c1900 as the Tasma Guest House, but both were demolished for a seven-level office block in 1940. The office block became infamously known as the ‘Beirut Hilton’ because of its dilapidated state and was in turn demolished in 1995 to provide an entry for the new Park Hyatt Hotel.

After World War II Tasma attracted a different clientele, of more humble means. Some tenants included those who were marginalised by society and endured a range of health and social problems, including Vietnam War veterans. From 1941 Maurice Branagan conducted the Tasma Guest House in Nos 2, 4 and 6 for 30 years, including a successful restaurant, which specialised in mushrooms grown in the basement!! By the early 1970s all six remaining buildings were the property of the Crown Lands Department, and there were plans to demolish the buildings, which were considered very rundown. The terrace was saved by a concerted conservation campaign, led by the National Trust and various organisations and individuals. However the three-storey rear wings, which comprised many small rooms used as bedrooms for the guest houses, kitchens, staff rooms and bathrooms were all demolished. A glass conservatory was erected across the rear of the retained front portions to provide a rear link across the terrace.

The Premier Dick (later Sir Rupert) Hamer, who was primarily responsible for securing the terrace for the National Trust, officially opened the completed National Trust headquarters on 24 March 1979, ten years after the battle to save Tasma began. This event is recorded in a plaque on the exterior southern end of the terrace (St Andrew’s Place).

In 1979 the façade was restored to its 19th century appearance. It is believed that the restoration work at Tasma was the first serious attempt to accurately restore the exterior paint colours of a 19th building in Victoria by undertaking paint scrapings. The repainting in browns and greens was almost shocking in 1979, when cast-iron balconies were routinely painted white. The Portland cement render of the façade was left untreated but lower parts were cleaned with a low pressure spray of water. The fine decorative cast iron is unusual. The verandah brackets join to form graceful arches and the circular gothic ‘quatrefoil’ elements within them reflect the churches nearby. The cast iron features include the delicate, balanced leaf motif on the balconies and tassel-like spearheads on the fence railings. The oak wood grain effect of the front doors is a reproduction of the original finish. The main glazing of the doorways is not original but a reproduction of that typical of the period. The ground floor verandahs are paved with encaustic tiles. Replacement tiles were manufactured in England.

There are many surviving Victorian interior elements including heavily modelled cornices, high ceilings and sweeping arches. The Trust undertook a elaborate restoration for the ground level of Nos 2 and 4 to illustrate how these rooms would have originally appeared . Samples of wallpaper were removed and the original wood-graining, varnishing and paintwork revealed by careful scraping. Redecoration of these areas evolved as closely as possible according to the materials and styles of the original. It should be noted that this is not a restoration of what was originally there but rather a careful recreation of a typical late 19th century decorative scheme.

Wallpapers were chosen from existing English and French ranges in preference to reproduction of original papers which would have been too expensive. Some of these wallpapers, including dadoes, borders and friezes are authentic Victorian designs while others are adapted from earlier designs. The furnishing of these areas has been largely dictated by the intended functions of the rooms and also by the objects available from the Trust’s collections. The curtains and swags were made up and draped in the Victorian manner. Most of the fireplaces are original although some were relocated from other parts of the terrace, including the basement. Some replacement pieces were obtained from wreckers yards. The light fittings are not original but are reproductions of both gas and early electric lights. The terrace has Baltic pine tongue & groove floors throughout, except for basement areas. The cast iron, marble topped Prince Albert hall stand (c 1860) is a valuable piece from the Trust’s Dr E. Graeme Robertson cast iron collection.