Swann House
office building in Melbourne, Australia
Swann House is a historic office building located at 22 William Street in the Central Business District of Melbourne, Australia.
History
It was built in 1921-2 as headquarters for the newly formed for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, which was established to develop electricity infrastructure based on the brown coal reserves of the Latrobe valley. The site, behind the grand Victorian era Custom House, was where John Pascoe Fawkner's built his first house in 1835. It was designed by the Commission's architect Alfred Romeo La Gerche employing "severe simplicity", with Egyptian and Greek detailing, also described as "commercial palazzo form with restrained Greek Revival detailing". It was constructed entirely of reinforced concrete and cos £82,000. The construction firm was Hansen & Yuncken.
Two decades later, in 1948–1949, two more floors were added at the top of the building. As such it is now twelve stories, 44.03 metres (144.5 ft) in height. At some point it was named Swann House, and renamed Lyle House.
In 2014 it was purchased by the Orion Group, and renamed Orion House.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Swann House” is office building in Melbourne, Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Swann, House and office, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “office building in Melbourne, Australia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18166064. Authority coordinates are -37.819, 144.960. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 1835, 1948 and 1949.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Swann House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Swann House primary sources, Swann House archive and Swann research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Swann House”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Swann House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.