T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society

T & G Building in Melbourne

T & G building in Geelong

T & G building in Mildura

T & G building in Horsham

T & G building in Wagga Wagga

The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society was an insurance company that operated in Australia and New Zealand.^[1] The 'T & G' stood for 'Temperance & General'.^[2] The company was founded in Victoria in 1876,^[3] emerging from the Assurance branch of the Independent Order of Rechabites with 132 policies. The branch was severed from the I.O.R Rechabite Lodge after six years of operations.^[4]

By 1920, the Society had 385,000 policies and by 1930 had grown to become the largest ordinary-industrial life society operating solely within Australia and New Zealand, with 737,000 policies, with an income of nearly 4 million pounds, and assets totaling over 16 million pounds.^[5] By 1952 the income had increased to 16 million pounds and funds to 86 million pounds.^[6]

In 1983 the T&G Society amalgamated with the National Mutual Life Association.^[7] which was itself purchased by AXA, a French multinational, in the 1990s.

The T&G Buildings

The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society was notable amongst Australian insurance companies for constructing a series of landmark buildings in cities and town across Australia and New Zealand in the interwar period.

In the boom years of the 1880s they built prominent headquarters in Melbourne and Sydney, the Melbourne one on Swanston Street on the north side of the town hall, and another even larger one in Sydney on Elizabeth Street on the corner of Park Street, overlooking Hyde Park.^[8] In 1908 they purchased the large, ornate Edwardian Moirs Chambers in St Georges Terrace in Perth for their branch there, and had a presence in other cities and towns.

Beginning in the mid 1920s, the company took the unusual step of engaging in a program of expanding its reach, and visibility, with a building program that was the most extensive of any insurance company in the Australasia. The branches were housed in buildings larger than the average in the town or city that included offices for rent, and and from the late 1920s all incorporated a landmark tower displaying the company's name, even in small towns, in a kind of corporate advertising. Almost all were designed by the Melbourne firm of A & K Henderson, those of the 1920s designed in a matching stripped classical style, which evolved into a vertical Art Deco style in the 1930s. They were usually the most prominent buildings in the town, and the Melbourne and Sydney buildings were amongst the largest, most prominent, interwar commercial buildings in both cities.

In the postwar years, they continued this program, but in the form of more typical modernist office towers, branded mainly by the prominent signage.

List of T & G Buildings

Interwar period

• Australia
  • Brisbane, cnr Albert and Queen Streets, completed 1924, A&K Henderson.^[9] 9th mansard level added 1936, also by A&K Henderson.^[10] Demolished c1970.
  • Adelaide, cnr King William and Grenfell Streets, 1925, A&K Henderson. ^[11] In 2016 operating as the Quest on King William Hotel.
  • Bendigo, 31-33 View Street, 1925, A&K Henderson. ^[12]
  • Rockhampton, William Street, 1928, A&K Henderson. ^[13]
  • Melbourne, cnr Collins and Russell Street, 1929, extended 1939 to the west with new tower, and 1959 to the south, A&K Henderson.^[14]
  • Sydney, cnr Elizabeth and Park Streets, north half with tower completed 1930, southern in 1932, A&K Henderson. (demolished c1976)^[15]
  • Geelong, Cnr Ryrie and Moorabool Street, completed 1934.^[16] A&K Henderson ^[17]
  • Mildura, cnr Eighth and Langtree Mall, 1937, A&K Henderson. (alterations to an earlier building) ^[18]
  • Newcastle, cnr Hunter and Watt Streets, 1937 (addition of two floors and alterations to earlier building), A&K Henderson.^[19]
  • Hobart, cnr Collins and Murray Streets, 1938, A&K Henderson. ^[20]
  • Horsham, cnr McLachlan and Firebrace Streets, 1940, A&K Henderson.^[21][22]
  • Warrnambool, cnr Liebig and Lava Streets, 1940, A&K Henderson.^[23]
  • Albury, 553 Dean Street, tower front designed by A&K Henderson added to an earlier building in 1940. ^[24]
  • Wagga Wagga, cnr Fitzmaurice Street and Gurwood. Possibly 1941 alteration of an earlier building.^[25]
  • Townsville, cnr Flinders and Stanley Streets, designed 1939, A&K Henderson.^[26] Not built until well after the war, completed 1959 (demolished 2008)^[27]

• New Zealand
  • Christchurch, cnr Hereford and Liverpool Streets, 1926, A&K Henderson with Alsop & Martin.^[28] Last known as Kenton Chambers, and demolished c2012 following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
  • Wellington, cnr Lambton Quay and grey Street, 1928, A&K Henderson with Atkins & Mitchell as supervising architects. Now known as Harcourt's Building.^[29]
  • Auckland, cne Wellesley and Elliott Streets, 1929 alteration by A&K Henderson of a 1909 warehouse.^[30]
  • Napier, cnr Marine Parade and Emerson Street, 1936, Mitchell & Mitchell architects of Wellington.^[31]
  • Palmerston North, 16-22 Broadway, 1938, A&K Henderson ^[32]

Postwar

• • Dunedin, New Zealand, 1956. ^[33]
  • Perth, built in 1960, altered 1980s, now known as Citibank House
  • Darwin, c1970. ^[34]
  • Brisbane, 1970 replacing the earlier building.^[35]
  • Sydney, 1978, replacing the earlier building with a 40 storey tower.^[36]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to T & G Mutual Life Assurance Society.

• T & G Building, Brisbane
• T & G Building, Geelong
• T & G Building, Perth
• T & G Building, Townsville
• T & G Building, Wellington

Notes

References

• Shirley Thomas, T & G : yours for life : the history of T & G Mutual Life Society Limited 1876-1976, T. & G. Mutual Life Society Limited