Naval and Military Club

The Naval and Military club at 25-35 Little Collins Street is to be demolished soon and replaced by a 32 storey hotel and apartment complex. The club went under in 2008 after some failed property deals – the building, which opened in 1967, has been subject to development proposals in 2000 (18 storey, rejected by council and approved at VCAT) and 2008 (24 storeys, approved). The 2000 proposal was opposed by the nearby Melbourne Club, the famous garden of which would have been cast in morning shadow.

The latest proposal, which was approved in 2010, is by Buchan Group – some images can be seen here (soon), and here is the planning report (PDF).

The planning report states (#73) that:
“The subject site is not affected by any heritage overlay and is not a graded building under Council’s Central Activities District Conservation Study 1984. The demolition of the existing building on the site does not raise any issues relating to heritage.”

The current building is registered at Heritage Victoria in its “Heritage Inventory Site” category, which doesn’t have much clout.

According to this post at Walking Melbourne, the architects could have been Oakley & Parkes & Partners, or Demaine, Russell, Trundle, Armstrong & Orton.