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BAFS Building is a heritage-listed former pharmacy at 331 & 333 George Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1915 to 1916 by B Cunningham. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 22 February 2002. == History == The Brisbane Associated Friendly Societies' (BAFS) Building was officially opened in 1916 as a pharmaceutical dispensary and headquarters of the Brisbane Associated Friendly Societies. The building is located on the corner of George and Turbot Streets in Brisbane city and was designed by the notable local architectural firm, Chambers and Powell. It was the fourth city building occupied by the BAFS and the first that the society constructed themselves. The BAFS has had a presence in Brisbane city since 1885. A focal point for friendly societies throughout Queensland and the thousands of members they served, BAFS was an important force in health care in Queensland up to the mid twentieth century.〔 Queensland's first friendly society was established in 1843, members paid a monthly fee and were then entitled to claim sick and funeral benefits as necessary. Friendly Societies had emerged in Britain in the late eighteenth century as the country industrialised and a new class of urban worker emerged. Originally formed with the purpose of organising recreational activities for city workers, Friendly Societies soon grew into self-help organisations where members pooled their resources and helped each other out in times of need.〔 During the 1860s, membership of Friendly Societies flourished in Australia and the Societies expanded their services, contracting doctors to provide consultations to their members and beginning to provide free medicines. The medical fraternity became increasingly alarmed at the expansion of Friendly Societies and the threat they perceived to their profession. In response, the Societies amalgamated further, with the aim of providing even more comprehensive services. They aimed to offer greater choice of doctors and services, in premises they owned themselves. Pharmacists were less "protectionist" than doctors and Associated Friendly Societies (AFS) dispensaries were established throughout the capital cities of Australia.〔 The first BAFS dispensary was set up on 1 January 1885 in a small room in the Oddfellows Hall in Charlotte Street. At this time, the BAFS had 1200 members and incorporated nineteen Lodges. In 1893, a South Brisbane dispensary was opened by the BAFS. The next year the city dispensary moved to designated premises at 217 Queen Street. The dispensary stayed there until 1905 when it moved again to 344 Queen Street, in one of the premier retail blocks in the city.〔 In 1909, the BAFS celebrated its Silver Jubilee, its membership was 7185 and it now incorporated 100 Lodges. The same year, they established their third dispensary in Fortitude Valley. At the Annual Meeting in February 1915, it was reported that the membership had reached a total of 13,000 and that the property on George Street had been secured at the cost of £4080 for the purposes of building their own premises. A prospectus was prepared and sent out to all member Lodges, inviting them to support the building project through a debenture scheme. Debentures worth £12,000 were issued, the response from the Lodges was overwhelming and the amount was oversubscribed. Chambers and Powell Architects were commissioned to design the building and the Foundation Stone was laid on the 4th September 1915.〔 Lange Powell was the designer of the building as his partner Claude Chambers had moved to Sydney in 1915. Powell responded to the toast to "The Architects and Builders" at the opening ceremony. Powell went on to do further architectural work for the BAFS, such as re-furbishing the building they purchased in 1919 at 146 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley. Powell was an eclectic architect who understood well the design canons of the styles of the Interwar period. The best known of his surviving city buildings demonstrate considerable stylistic literacy, for example, the Ann Street Masonic Temple in Ancient Classical style and St Martins Hospital in Arts and Crafts style. The design of the BAFS Building has stylistic similarities, albeit on a smaller scale, with other examples of his commercial work in the city, such as Perry House, Preston House and Exton House.〔 The George Street building was designed as a "head dispensary", intended to showcase the success and progress of the BAFS. The inscription of "1885-1916" on the George Street facade clearly reflected the Society's desire to maintain links with their history in Brisbane. A souvenir booklet written in 1916 claimed ''"it stands as a monument to the enterprise and progressiveness of the Associated Friendly Societies and is an acquisition to the architecture of George Street and the city, generally"''. The building had three floors and a basement, the whole of the ground floor, at street level, was occupied by the dispensary, the first floor accommodated offices for lease and the third floor contained two large rooms for use for meetings by the Board of Management and Lodges. The building, constructed by B Cunningham, had been completed at a cost of £11,707 15s 7d.〔 By the 1920s, the battle that had been raging between doctors and Lodges over who should control medical care had been largely won by the doctors due to the formidable fight waged by the British Medical Association - a dispute that had consequences across Australia. The BAFS Medical Institute, a collection of doctors who worked for the BAFS management committee considered amalgamating with the dispensaries but did not, effectively ending the connection doctors had with the BAFS.〔 Dispensaries, however, continued to flourish and the 1920s was characterised by strong growth. BAFS purchased their own premises in Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane; however George Street attracted over half of the total sales and over 60% of the total number of prescriptions for most of the decade. The interwar years were the "golden age" for the BAFS. The building was a hub of Lodge activity, the shops and offices of the "BAFS Chambers" were constantly let and included tenants such as a milliner, a masseuse and a car hire firm. There was also an Honorary Dentist and Honorary Optician who were paid a salary by BAFS and provided free services to members until at least 1940. One half of the top floor was used as a hall by Lodges who did not have their own premises, as well as for BAFS annual and quarterly meetings and a variety of social events such as smoke concerts.〔 The BAFS is now known as Friendly Care Chemists and has pharmacies in six locations across Brisbane, including George Street. The head office of the Society is still at George Street; however, both the Fortitude Valley and Woolloongabba premises have been sold. Only a small number of the offices are used and tenants include a barber, doctor and modelling agency.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「BAFS Building」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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