Godfrey and Spowers

[2] In 1895, William Scott Purves Godfrey formed an architectural partnership with a surveyor named Howitt.

The firm was then registered as Godfrey and Spowers,[5] and shortly afterwards they moved into an office at 34 Queen Street, Melbourne.

Although a few commercial buildings were undertaken, until WW1 the firm’s practice consisted mainly of houses for the 'well-to-do', with coach-houses and servant’s wings.

In the mid-1920s a number of commercial and industrial projects were carried out, most significantly the 1926 Argus Building, a newspaper office and printery, on the north-west corner of Elizabeth and LaTrobe Streets.

The practice was commissioned to design the new Melbourne headquarters for the Bank of New South Wales,[6] and this building was the winner of the Street Architecture Medal for 1936.

[10] The firm continued to design commercial projects through the succeeding decades, changing name to Spowers in the 1990s, a firm that continues to design a wide range of buildings styles, and provide a range of services across Australia and internationally.

[15] Completed at a cost of AU$4.2 million, the high commission chancery was officially opened by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Andrew Peacock, on 21 January 1977.