This is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful of the surviving interwar buildings in the city. I say surviving because unfortunately I'm discovering that a large percentage of the buildings built in Brisbane during the 20s and 30s have been demolished.
It was built for the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society in 1930/31 as their office HQ, to the design of architects Hennessy & Hennessy. The 9-storey building has a very narrow frontage (9.9m or 33feet wide) to Queen Street and covers the entire depth of the lot back to Edison Lane behind. From when it was built until 1966 it was Brisbane's tallest occupied building (only the clock tower of the City Hall was taller).It was built during the depths of the Depression and created jobs for many Queenslanders. The structure is concrete but the building facades are clad in beautiful Benedict Stone - an innovative, synthetic, composite material that can be coloured and cast like concrete. All of the decoration is cast not carved and the multi-colouration is due to the use of the local porphyry - Brisbane tuff - as the base stone in the composite, which is naturally candy pink, mint green, lavender, and sandy beige.
The facades are truly beautiful and are artfully composed. Every time I pass this building I look for the grimaces and stares of all the different gargoyles and grotesques.
All of the interiors, including the beautiful ground floor chamber pictured, are lost. Apparently, only a stair remains. What a shame. There's a sneaky penthouse behind the parapet that used to be the caretakers flat. It was recently for sale at A$790,000. It has a large room up in the mansard roofs and terraces overlooking the city. I wish.
It is heritage listed and you can see the Queensland Heritage Register listing for the CML building here. Most of the building is now a hotel so you can stay there too.
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