Reserve Bank of Australia Annual Report – 1961 Premises

Section 74 of the Reserve Bank Act 1959 provides that the Head Office of the Bank shall be at Sydney and that, after the expiration of a reasonable time after the commencement of the Act, the Head Office of the Bank shall not be in the same building as the Head Office of any other bank or of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation.

Arising from this requirement, tenders were called during June, 1961, for the erection of a multi-storeyed building on a site bounded by Martin Place, Macquarie and Phillip Streets, Sydney.

The building will rise 252 feet above Macquarie Street and will consist of three basement levels for vaults and bulk cash handling, a ground floor banking chamber with a mezzanine, and 19 upper floors. The construction of the building is expected to take approximately 2½ years.

Planning is also well advanced for a building on the corner of Collins and Exhibition Streets to house the Melbourne Office of the Bank and sketch plans for a building for the Adelaide branch on the corner of Victoria Square and Flinders Street are under consideration.

In Launceston, the Bank moved into newly-constructed premises at 85A George Street on 19th June, 1961.