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140 High Street Building |
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The architect of the High Street building was Ernest Horatio Willis (1867-1947). Born in South Yarra, Willis was also the architect of Fawkner Mansions in Punt Road, classified by the National Trust as “the earliest major block of flats extant in Melbourne”. Willis was a member of the Prahran Council 1908-1920 and was Mayor 1913-14 and 1918-19. The Institute mortgaged the Chapel Street building to purchase land in High Street and build the school. The Institute and Library moved to High Street in 1915 (with the Mechanics’ Institute library residing in the back portion of the present building). The mortgage took the Institute 32 years to pay off! The Chapel Street buildings have been |
leased commercially as a source of revenue ever since.
In 1914 the High Street buildings were leased to the Minister for Education for 33 years for 20 shillings per year, so that the government could administer and maintain the Prahran Technical School. When the lease expired in 1947, a second lease (99 years for one shilling per year) was offered to and accepted by the Minister for Education. This second lease will expire in the year 2046. In the 1970s the Prahran Mechanics' Institute Library was moved from the back to the front portion of the building, where it remains today. (Source: Prahran Mechanics’ Institute Archives) |
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