Background
The site of the Rialto Towers (Flinders Lane, Collins Street, Winfield Square and Robbs Lane) was occupied by several buildings including Robb's Buildings (now demolished), a grand classical styled 5 storey Victorian office building designed by Thomas Watts and Sons (and reputedly the tallest in the Melbourne City Centre in 1885), a 1920s building of the same size, the Rialto Building (1889) designed by William Pitt and the Winfield Building (1890) designed by Charles DEbro & Richard Speight all formed a uniform height limited streetscape along Collins Street and around the corner of King Street.
During the 1970s, the large derelict site was owned by the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia and it was around 1979 when the first development proposal was prepared and submitted to the Melbourne City Council.
Little progress was made until 1980 when the site was acquired by Grollo Australia. Despite the structural integrity of Robb's buildings and objections by the National Trust of Victoria, Grocon successfully argued that the retention of Robb's Buildings would spoil the effect of the proposed building and that as it would not integrate well with the new structure and that the Rialto should have its own modern concrete and glass podium. During the application process Rialto and Windfield buildings were added to heritage registers and a 10 metres frontage and side facades including Victorian roofscape and turrets and small access laneway were retained to be integrated into the development.
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