Located on the corner of Yarra and Malop Streets diagonally opposite the modern glass shard of Westfield Shopping Centre, the Corio Chambers or Cressy Building is one of the city’s most striking building from the late 1890’s. The heritage listed red brick and decorative slate tiled roof building takes on a nearly Gothic form. Built in what is known as the English Queen Anne Revival style a style popular at the time and designed by leading English architect Richard Norman Shaw. Originally the building was home to many of the city’s finest legal firms.
The building was also owned by The Union Investment Company and known as ‘Southern Union House’, the building’s parapet holds an inscription of this name.
Later the Cressy a rural supplies store occupied much of the ground floor of the complex through to until 1979. The store featured a wide range of rural supplies, hardware, fresh fruit and vegetables and groceries, a one stop shop for people from the farming community.
After extensive renovations that included sandblasting the exterior and a major interior refit in the early 1980’s the building was converted into smaller specialty shops. Today it is home to a popular Thai restaurant, seafood deli plus a range of clothing and specialty shops while much of the upstairs is dedicated to small office space.
