Mordechai Benshemesh

Mordechai Benshemesh (Tel Aviv, 16 January 1911 – Melbourne, 22 December 1993) was a noted architect who practiced in Melbourne, Australia from the 1950s to the 1970s. Born in Palestine, he was one of a number of often Jewish émigré architects who migrated to Australia both before and after World War II who brought a different approach to architecture, as well as an appreciation of apartment living. He is best known as the architect for one of the city's first high rise modernist apartment blocks, Edgewater Towers in St Kilda.

Biography Mordechai Benshemesh was born on 16 January 1911, in Tel Aviv, which at the time was part of the Ottoman Empire. He studied at the Polytechnical School in Tel Aviv between 1930 and 1933 before traveling to London where he completed diplomas from the British Institute of Engineering Technology and the International Correspondence School. At the age of 28, perhaps sensing the coming war and possibly under the ruse of being part of a Palestinian soccer club, he migrated to Australia, arriving on 13 June 1939. He spent the next ten years working with numerous Melbourne architects; most notably Arthur W. Plaisted (1940–41) and Harry Raymond 'Ray' Johnson (1946–49). While working for Johnson, he was the lead designer, producing a string of apartment projects in St Kilda and Elwood. When construction was complete the tower was advertised in The Age as "everything you'd find in a Manhattan building, only minutes from Collins Street". It was the first high rise apartment block in St Kilda, and one of the first in Melbourne. The tower supports 100 one bedroom and two bedroom apartments all with balconies, laundry and garbage disposal chutes, lounge rooms and dinettes. Throughout the 1960s numerous planning permits were permitted to allow enclosed balconies. Edgewater Towers is an example of International Style modernism, and is constructed largely out of reinforced concrete. The City of Port Phillip's heritage listing notes that it was "the first of St Kilda's residential highrise developments". The listing goes further to state "It still plays an important symbolic role in the perception of St Kilda's character and imagery.....Standing somewhat like a towering section of a stranded ocean liner, it announces St Kilda's uniquely nautical cosmopolitan zone at its southern approaches."

The group comprises: Francelaw Flats at 62 Hotham St in St Kilda East (designed 1948) 124 Balaclava Road, Caulfield North (built 1950–51) 38 Westbury Street, St Kilda east (designed 1951) Burnett Lodge at 11 Burnett St, St Kilda (designed 1951) Barkly Lodge at 289 Barkly St, St Kilda (designed 1953)

They are all constructed either primarily or entirely of blonde brick, have flat, traversable roofs and steel windows. Many feature distinctive porthole windows.

These buildings were all designed and constructed during a period of significant apartment construction in Melbourne's inner south-east following World War II, fueled by population growth, and changes to building codes and the introduction of land titles which allowed people to own individual flats. While many of these apartments are generic, a number were architect designed and are distinguished by their fine detailing and sit responsiveness. Significantly, many of the architects who designed these apartments were émigrés trained in Europe who moved to Melbourne either between the two world wars or after World War II, including Benshemesh himself, Kurt Popper, Ernest Fooks and Michael R. E. Feldhagen. They very often were also working for European émigré and refugee clients accustomed to apartment living. These buildings imbued the area with a progressive, international character, one which was supported by the local community.

All buildings are still standing and are in good condition.

“Benshemesh was a staunch advocate for the high-rise apartment dwelling. He states emphatically his belief that the future is in the high-rise apartment block, where the access to services, availability of resources, and social condensation were more economical, affordable and transferrable – particularly to counter the ills that large housing presented to ‘retired couples, spinsters, widows, single people etc.’ . He presented the benefits of apartments, particularly those of limited mobility, finances and time: “a more compact space provides more leisure hours and less cleaning work, no garden problems…and also brings them closer to stores, theatres and recreation areas”. This rhetoric was in contrast to some proponents of the continuation of the quarter acre blocks who opined that the concentration of these ‘types’ of people into high-rises would merely create vertical slums. However as Benshemesh states, the typical housing solution tended to appeal to the ‘family man’ as opposed to the perceived minorities listed earlier”.

A City of Port Phillip Heritage Recognition Plaque was unveiled at Edgewater Towers 23 September 2017 acknowledging Mordechai Benshemesh:

“Designed by architect Mordechai Benshemesh and built in 1961, Edgewater Towers was Melbourne's first privately developed high rise apartment block. Its multi-storey slab construction and international style promised Melburnian's sophisticated living with a beautiful view.”

Mordechai Benshemesh featured in the exhibition of post-war Modernist architecture in Melbourne "Excavating Modernism" together with other prominent architects Ernest Fooks, Kurt Popper and Herbert Tisher. "These architects contributed to the socio-cultural landscape and Melbourne's development at the time, particularly in the south-eastern suburbs". 1951 – Blackshaws Road, Spotswood – Factory 1951 - 38 Westbury Street, St Kilda East - Three storey flats 1955– 289 Barkly Street, St Kilda – Three storey flats (Barkly Lodge) 1955 – 614 St Kilda Road, Melbourne – Flats (Elizabeth Lodge) Demolished. 1957 – 26 Toorak Road West, South Yarra – Four storey flats (Gilbert Court) 1959 – 43-44 Marine Parade, St Kilda – Three storey flats 1959 – 11 Marine Parade, St Kilda – Four storey flats (Bay View Marina) c1959 - 11 Burnett Street, St Kilda - Three storey flats (Burnett Lodge) 1960 – 12 Marine Parade, St Kilda – 13 storey apartments (Edgewater Towers) 1960 – Toorak Road, South Yarra – 11 storey apartments (Pavic Investments) Not built. 1960 – St Kilda Road, Melbourne – Danglow Wing (Montefiore Home for the Aged) 1960 – 8 Westbury Street, St Kilda East – Three storey flats (Wolverton) (Westbury Co-operative Housing Society Ltd) 1961 – 166 Toorak Road West, South Yarra – Seven storey flats (St Ives) 1962 – 52 Queens Road, Albert Park – Palm Lake Motel Altered. Demolished 2023. 1963 – 21 The Esplanade, St Kilda – Ten storey flats (Questa Heights) 1967 – 610 St Kilda Road, Melbourne – Office building (General Insurance Company) Demolished. 1971 – 98-100 Albert Road, South Melbourne – Office building 1971 – 10 Queens Road, Melbourne – Office building (Nilex House) 1973 – Appleton Dock, Footscray – Cool store (BSC Containers)

Acquaintance of Josef Ganz Josef Ganz had accompanied Herma in the place of her father at her wedding to Mordechai Benshemesh. Earlier Josef Ganz had helped Herma with "key money" (flat rental deposit) when she had first arrived in Melbourne. Later Mordechai and Herma would help Josef Ganz stay in a flat at Edgewater Towers, St Kilda.

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