T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building (under consideration to amend listing)

Item details


Name of item:	T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building (under consideration to amend listing)
Other name/s:	T&G Mutual Life Assurance Society Building; Scottish House
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Commercial
Category:	Insurance company/building
Location:	Lat: -32.9280724256 Long: 151.7846257470
Primary address:	45 Hunter Street, Newcastle, NSW 2300
Parish:	Newcastle
County:	Northumberland
Local govt. area:	Newcastle
Local Aboriginal Land Council:	Awabakal

Property description

Lot/Volume Code	Lot/Volume Number	Section Number	Plan/Folio Code	Plan/Folio Number
LOT	6		DP	75385

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
45 Hunter Street	Newcastle	Newcastle	Newcastle	Northumberland	Primary Address

Owner/s

Organisation Name	Owner Category	Date Ownership Updated
Cedtoy Pty Ltd	Private

Statement of significance:


	The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building has State significance for its historical and aesthetic values. As the largest mid-century office block built in Newcastle, it reflected the growing confidence in the city as a regional trading port and commercial centre. The original building, Scottish House, built for the shipping agency McIlwraith and McEacharn, was of a scale and location that made it one of Newcastle’s landmark commercial properties. As one of 12 shipping agencies on Watt Street, Scottish House demonstrated the importance of the port of Newcastle, and the shipping trade in coal and agricultural products from Newcastle which continues to the present day. The addition of two storeys transformed the building into one of Newcastle’s best examples of Art Deco office architecture and further enhanced its landmark qualities with the addition of a distinctive tower.
	Date significance updated: 17 Nov 25
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Designer/Maker:	Spain and Cosh (1923); Anketell and Kingsley Henderson (1937-39)
Builder/Maker:	Stuart Brothers (1923)
Construction years:	1923-1939
Physical description:	T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building is a seven-storey office building including a basement and a stepped tower at the corner. The building occupies the whole lot and abuts the Essington Apartments on the east and offices and a nightclub on the south. The corner of the building is chamfered to Hunter and Watt Streets. The building is of reinforced concrete frame construction with external stone walls (now painted) and a brown trachyte base to a height of approximately two metres. The ground and first floor exterior are treated with rusticated pilasters, with a frieze and cornice over them. Floors two to five display a vertically stretched mid-level Italian Palazzo style, having Doric columns and a frieze and projecting cornice above. The top level is similar but differentiated by the protruding cornice. It reflects an Interwar Commercial Palazzo style preferred by banks and insurance agencies, as designed by Spain and Cosh, with a later Art Deco style stepped tower, as was a common feature on T & G Mutual Life Assurance offices in Australia and New Zealand. Significant external elements comprise the facade, including the Hunter Street entry canopy, external light fittings and tower (Suters 1996). Internally the entrance vestibule and stairs were fitted with Australian marble, while the corridors are terrazzo with black borders. Internal walls are a combination of original masonry and subsequent lightweight partitions. Original wall and floor finishes, timber doors, balustrades, lift cages, safes and a mail chute are present throughout. Some subtle differences in finishes are evident in the transition between the lower five levels, commenced in 1923, and the upper two levels, built in 1937-39 (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 12 October 1923; Dunn 2019; Suters 1996). Significant internal elements include the entry vestibule, central stairway and detailing, marble and ceramic tile wall linings and trim, marble and terrazzo flooring and trim, plaster ceilings, original timber doors and joinery, lift cages, mail chute, strong rooms, and perimeter skirtings (Suters 1996; Carr 2025). Elements introduced during substantial modifications in 1983 and any subsequent modifications are considered non-significant and include internal partitions, elements that form part of the ground-floor shopfront on Watt Street, and the entry doors and staircase to the basement on the corner of Hunter and Watt Streets (Suters 1996).
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	The building is in good condition externally and in the public spaces.
	Date condition updated:12 Nov 25
Modifications and dates:	c.1923 - Scottish House constructed. c.1937-1939 - Upper floors, corner tower, facade light fittings and entry canopy on Hunter Street added. 1983 - Restoration undertaken. Modification of stairwells on upper levels separated with glass brick walls; fire hose reels and air conditioning installed; entry and stair to basement constructed at corner; much original joinery removed; original foundation stones and timber entry doors likely removed and pink colour scheme first adopted at this time, having been painted white some time prior (Suters 1996). Shop frontage on ground floor likely introduced at this time. 1997 - Upgrade of fire detection and emergency and exit lighting systems in compliance with Local Government Act 1993. The works included installation of new stair pressurisation and lift shaft ventilation. 1999 - Upgrade of lift infrastructure, including conversion of manual lift #2 to automatic; original lift cages maintained; upgrade of air conditioning system throughout the building. 2000 - Aluminium-framed, glazed entry door replaced with timber door designed by Randall Boydell of Suters Architects. 2012 - Repair of damaged timber casement facade windows; restoration of metal facade elements; repairs to tower and waterproofing of roof; external facade repainted from pink to off-white. 2014 - Energy-saving measures implemented. 2017 - Air-conditioning system replaced in all levels of the building. 2022 - Repair of damaged timber casement facade windows; restoration of metal light fixtures on facade; repairs to Hunter Street entrance hood; pipe work attached to southern facade. c.2024 - Lift infrastructure upgraded, maintaining original lift cages. 2025 - Repair of water damage to basement level.


Current use:	commercial office building
Former use:	Aboriginal land; bakery, butcher, grocer, fireworks merchant; lodging house; commercial office building

History

Historical notes:

STATEMENT OF COUNTRY

The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building stands on Awabakal Country (AIATSIS 1996). The Awabakal have lived in the Newcastle area for many thousands of years. The landscape around Newcastle contains many places of cultural importance to the Awabakal. Following the arrival of Europeans in the late 1790s and subsequent dispossession, the Awabakal retained strong connections to the Newcastle area, as have other Aboriginal people (Miromaa Language & Technology Centre n.d.). Convict artist Joseph Lycett painted a series of scenes of Aboriginal people in Newcastle in the period 1817-19, showing that the traditional life of the Awabakal continued after the the establishment of a convict station in 1804 (Dunn 2019).

EASTWARD EXTENSION OF HUNTER STREET

Watt Street was one of the earliest streets formed in Newcastle, laid out in 1804 and running from the harbour up to the site of the Commandants residence at the southern end of the fledgling town. In 1823, the first town plan of Newcastle shows Hunter Street terminating at Watt Street although a narrow laneway continued eastward allowing access to the beach and Newcastle East on the alignment of Hunter Street.

The site where T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building now stands was at this time 23 Watt Street and was occupied by the 1880s by a two-storey brick and timber commercial and residential terrace. In the rear was a collection of buildings which included a butcher and a long stables building from the 1850s. In 1888, the shop was occupied by William Ah Gin, a Chinese fireworks merchant, with a lodging house, a grocer and butcher also operating from the site. Ah Gin was still there in 1909.

By the 1880s there was increasing calls for the extension of Hunter Street to the east, to provide more building lots in the city and to deal with the large sand hills to the east of Watt Street. After nearly 30 years of delays, Council was granted powers to resume the necessary properties in September 1908, and demolitions began soon after. While the shop at 23 Watt Street survived the demolitions it would eventually be replaced by Scottish House (Dunn 2019).

McILWRAITH AND McEACHARN

In 1920, the shipping agents McIlwraith and McEacharn purchased the corner block on Hunter and Watt Street to erect their new office. With its proximity to nearby banks, the wharves and the Customs House, Watt Street had become home to many of the shipping agents working from the port of Newcastle. Up to 12 shipping agents operated from Watt Street in the first half of the twentieth century. The collection of shipping agents was such that they were collectively and colloquially known as the Watt Street Admirals (Scanlon 2015).

McIlwraith and McEacharn were founded in London in 1875 by two Scottish sea captains Andrew McIlwraith and Malcolm McEacharn. In 1876, they were contracted to take six shiploads of British migrants to North Queensland. In 1879, they were part of the pioneering of refrigerated cargoes, shipping frozen meat back to Britain from Australia. They opened their first Australian office in Melbourne in 1886, followed by others in Sydney and began an involvement with coal export through the Bellambi Colliery on the NSW Illawarra Coast and the Thornley Coal Company at East Maitland in 1887 (Dunn 2019).

By the 1890s, McIlwraith and McEacharn were also involved in coastal steamers, running ships between Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle and had opened a shipping office in Newcastle by 1914. With a growing business in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley, the construction of new offices would establish McIlwraith and McEacharn as one of the largest and most prominent agencies in the city (Dunn 2019).

Foundation stones for the new offices were laid in 1923, with the Sydney architectural company of Spain and Cosh commissioned to design the building and the Stuart Brothers building it (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 10 June 1923). Spain and Cosh were by then a well-established firm of commercial architects, having been in practice in one form or another since the mid-1850s The firm designed a wide variety of building types, from terrace houses and villas in the 1880s, through warehouses, hotels and office blocks. In 1912, the firm designed Culwulla Chambers in Pitt Street, Sydney, then the tallest building in Sydney. The Stuart Brothers were also well established by the 1920s and one of the leading construction and engineering firms in Sydney, having built numerous woolsheds, office towers, banking chambers and theatres (Sydney Morning Herald 1930). The firm ran their own quarries and joinery workshops to keep total control on quality and production on their worksites (Dunn 2019).

The design for the new McIlwraith and McEacharn offices was to take full advantage of the prominent city corner of Hunter and Watt Streets. The building was five storeys of office space with a basement and a caretaker's apartment at the top. The ground floor was for the company offices, booking office and shipping agency, with the main public entrance addressing the corner of Watt and Hunter. Upper floors were designed to be let to tenants.

The new building was named Scottish House, in line with all McIlwraith and McEacharn offices around Australia. When completed, it was the largest office building built in Newcastle to that time and heralded the growing importance of Newcastle as a regional port and trading centre (Dunn 2019).

T & G MUTUAL ASSURANCE LIFE SOCIETY

In 1935, the Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society, otherwise known as T & G, purchased Scottish House for around (Pounds)90,000 (Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate 1935). The Australasian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society had formed in Victoria in 1876 as a branch of the Independent Order of Rechasbites, an English friendly society which itself had first established in Victoria in 1847. While membership of the Rechasbites was dependent on the member abstaining for alcohol as one of its conditions, T & G relaxed this requirement to allow for the society to grow in the Australian colonies. With offices in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney by 1880, through the 1890s T & G expanded to have offices in all capital cities and major regional centres. By 1891, T & G had an agent in Newcastle trading in Bolton Street, before they moved the office to 19 Watt Street at the turn of the 20th century (Dunn 2019).

The purchase of Scottish House allowed T & G to increase their business in Newcastle and the Hunter region. The site mirrored the locations of many of their other city offices, which were also on prominent corners. Plans were made to enlarge the building with the addition of two extra floors and the construction of a corner tower, again a common feature of T & G offices in other cities, including Sydney (demolished), Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Geelong, Townsville and Wellington (NZ), among others (Dunn 2019).

T & G commissioned Melbourne-based architecture firm Anketell and Kingsley Henderson to design the additions and the tower. The firm had designed a number of the T & G offices including Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington, giving T & G offices a branded uniformity and making them instantly recognisable in a city skyline. The work on the Newcastle offices was carried out between 1937 and 1939 (Dunn 2019).

T & G used the building in much the same way as McIlwraith and McEacharn had, by using some of the office space for themselves and leasing the remaining offices to tenants. The building was restored in 1983 by developer Bontes Pty Ltd and remained as a mixed office space. Throughout its working life the building has had a multitude of tenancies occupying the various floors (Dunn 2019). This use continues in the current owner and lessees. It was purchased by Cedtoy Pty Ltd in 1995.

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Commerce-Activities relating to buying, selling and exchanging goods and services	Shipping agency and insurance offices-
3. Economy-Developing local, regional and national economies	Transport-Activities associated with the moving of people and goods from one place to another, and systems for the provision of such movements	Shipping agency-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Street extensions and development-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	Landmark constructions-
5. Working-Working	Labour-Activities associated with work practises and organised and unorganised labour	Commercial offices-
8. Culture-Developing cultural institutions and ways of life	Creative endeavour-Activities associated with the production and performance of literary, artistic, architectural and other imaginative, interpretive or inventive works; and/or associated with the production and expression of cultural phenomena; and/or environments that have inspired such creative activities.	Architectural landmarks-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building holds historical values of State significance by demonstrating the development of Newcastle in the interwar years as a regional capital and a major shipping port for NSW. In its original guise as the office of McIlwraith and McEacharn, the building was one of 12 shipping agencies operating in Watt Street or the surrounding blocks taking advantage of the nearby wharves, banks and Customs House. Scottish House, as it was known, was the largest office building to be built in Newcastle to that time and cemented McIlwraith and McEacharn’s importance in the shipping trade locally and in NSW.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	The T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building demonstrates State-significant aesthetic values. Built in two stages, the first design by Spain and Cosh took full advantage of the newly extended Hunter Street to show off its Interwar Commercial Palazzo style façade. The later addition by Anketell and Kingsley Henderson added two floors and a prominent stepped Art Deco tower that is a feature of T & G offices around Australia and New Zealand. The uniformity of design for T & G in their office towers was an early form of architectural branding that made their buildings instantly recognisable and significant local landmarks. Anketell and Kingsley Henderson’s intervention elevated the prominence of the building in the Newcastle city skyline and added to a growing transnational architectural trademark. The demolition of Anketell and Kingsley Henderson’s T & G offices on the corner of Elizabeth and Park Streets in Sydney in the mid-1970s, heightened the Newcastle building’s role in helping interpret the series of interwar-period T & G buildings that cover several Australian states and New Zealand.
Integrity/Intactness:	High
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Procedures /Exemptions

Section of act	Description	Title	Comments	Action date
57(2)	Exemption to allow work	Standard Exemptions	HERITAGE ACT 1977 ORDER UNDER SECTION 57(2) TO GRANT STANDARD EXEMPTIONS FROM APPROVAL I, Penny Sharpe, the Minister for Heritage, on the recommendation of the Heritage Council of New South Wales and under section 57(2) of the Heritage Act 1977: revoke the order made on 2 June 2022 and published in the Government Gazette Number 262 of 17 June 2022; and grant an exemption from section 57(1) of the Act in respect of the engaging in or carrying out the class of activities described in clause 2 Schedule A in such circumstances specified by the relevant standards in clause 2 Schedule A and General Conditions in clause 3 Schedule A. This Order takes effect on the date it is published in the NSW Government Gazette. Dated this 29th day of October 2025 The Hon Penny Sharpe MLC Minister for Heritage For more information on standard exemptions click on the link below.	Nov 7 2025

Standard exemptions for engaging in or carrying out activities / works otherwise prohibited by section 57(1) of the Heritage Act 1977

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Heritage Act - State Heritage Register	T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building	00316	02 Apr 99	27	1546
Heritage Act - Permanent Conservation Order - former	T & G Mutual Life Society Building	00316	21 Sep 84	137	4657
Local Environmental Plan	T & G Mutual Life Assurance Building	I391	03 Jul 92	083	4664
Local Environmental Plan	Newcastle City Centre Heritage Conservation Area		15 Jun 12
National Trust of Australia register
Royal Australian Institute of Architects register	T&G Building	4702439

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Conservation Plan: T & G Building, Cnr Hunter & Watt Streets, Newcastle	1996	Project 4865	Suters Architects	orrn	No

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title	Internet Links
Graphic			Spain and Cosh Architectural Plans Collection, PXD 532 folio 395-409
Written	Barry Maitland and David Stafford	1997	Architecture Newcastle: A Guide
Written	David Stray	2025	Some of the work of Melbourne architects A and K Henderson	View detail
Written	F.W. Fitzpatrick	1915	'Up! To what height is a building profitable?', Building, vol 15, no 89	View detail
Electronic	J. Ann Hone	2006	'McIlwraith, John (1828-1902)', Australian Dictionary of Biography	View detail
Electronic	John Carr	2025	'Re: Site specific exemptions for owner support', personal communication, 20 November 2025
Electronic	Mark Dunn	2019	SHR Data Improvement Project Report, 31 May
Written	Mary Nilsson	2001	Art Deco in Australia: Sunrise over the Pacific
Electronic	Mike Scanlon	2015	'Watt Street Admirals a lost era of Newcastle's maritime history', Newcastle Herald	View detail
Electronic	Miromaa Language & Technology Centre		'Post-Settlement Awabakal & Our Neighbours' History', Awabakal Language Program	View detail
Written	Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate	1936	'Scottish House. Work in progress. To be completed this year', 4 Jul	View detail
Written	Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate	1935	'Scottish House. Sold for about 90,000. Big sale in city. Bought by T. and G. Society', 3 October	View detail
Written	Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate	1923	'Scottish House. McIlwrath, McEacharn's building', Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Adovcate, 10 January	View detail
Written	Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate	1923	'Scottish House. Newcastle enterprise', 12 October	View detail
Written	Newcastle Sun	1922	'Building big. Newcastle's new offices. Among the workmen', 6 November	View detail
Written	Newcastle Sun	1922	'Big shipping offices. Newcastle work. Improvements in design', 26 December	View detail
Written	Newcastle Sun	1922	'Building and property. Basement drainage', 3 April	View detail
Written	Newcastle Sun	1922	'McIlwraiths, McEacharn's new building', 22 May	View detail
Written	Richard Apperly, Robert Irving and Peter Reynolds	1989	A pictorial guide to identifying Australian architecture
Electronic	State Library of New South Wales		'Spain & Cosh', Dictionary of Sydney	View detail
Electronic	Sydney Morning Herald	1930	'Stuart Bros., Ltd.', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 May	View detail
Written	Sydney Morning Herald	1925	'Opportunities', 12 August	View detail
Written	Sydney Morning Herald	1924	'Buildings and works. New offices at Newcastle', 6 February	View detail
Written	Sydney Morning Herald	1923	'Architecture. Annual exhibition. Improved standard', 8 March	View detail
Written	Sydney Morning Herald	1922	'Buildings and works. Shipping offices at Newcastle', 29 November	View detail

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

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Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Heritage NSW
Database number:	5045337
File number:	EF11/11668

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