MOORE & HAMMOND

The Melbourne-based partnership of Moore & Hammond traced its origins back to a sole practice that was established in the mid-1950s by David Moore (1928-1983). Within a few years, Moore had elevated one of his staff, Theodore Hammond (c.1932-2006), into partnership, whereupon the office became Moore & Hammond. It remained in operation until 1974, when each of the two named partners decided to pursue sole practice.

Born in Melbourne on 28 August 1928, David Caldwell Moore completed his Leaving Certificate in 1944 and then spent three years as an engineering cadet with the Brighton City Council whilst undertaking night classes in engineering. In 1948, he transferred to the Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT) and commenced full-time architectural studies. Completing the three-year Diploma of Architecture in 1950, Moore obtained a part-time position in the office of Keith Shaw Campbell. The following year, his employment there became full-time. In mid-1952, Moore transferred to the architectural partnership then known as Seabrook, Fildes & Hunt, where he would remain for three years. During that time, he sat for the ARBV examinations and became registered as an architect in July 1955.

Leaving Seabrook's employ, Moore commenced practice under his own name, working from an office at 118 Hotham Street, East Melbourne. Initially, his practice tended to focus on suburban residential projects and small-scaled commercial buildings. Within a few years, however, it had expanded to embrace larger-scale multi-storey blocks of flats, which were just beginning to become viable, and indeed fashionable, at that time. By 1961, Moore had been joined by Theodore Hammond, a young architect from Western Australia. Born in Subiaco on 3 July 1929, Hammond had latterly relocated to Victoria and studied architecture at the University of Melbourne. Graduating in August 1956, he became a registered architect the following year. Although it is not clear when he joined David Moore's practice, it was around 1963 that he was elevated to full partnership, and the firm subsequently re-badged as Moore & Hammond.

The office of Moore & Hammond expanded further; it became a limited liability company in 1967, and staff members Igor Ocidacz and Maxwell McLagan were appointed as associates. Capitalising on its developing expertise in the design of highrise apartment blocks, the partnership rose to become one of Melbourne's leading exponents of the typology, typified by innumerable inner suburban examples (mostly in Toorak and South Yarra) and culminating in a much-published 35-storey tower in Spring Street, which, at the time if its completion in 1971, was the largest block of flats yet built in the Melbourne CBD. In many ways, this was also the swansong for Moore & Hammond. A few years later, in early 1974, the partnership was dissolved and each of its two named partners resumed sole practice.

Moore remained in practice for another decade; his office, David Moore & Company, became a limited liability company in 1981. With its registered office at 660 Bridge Road, Richmond, the company was under the joint directorship of Moore himself, his architectural associate Doug Maunder, and an accountant. Moore died suddenly on 13 July 1983, barely a month before his 55th birthday. The office later closed, with David Moore & Company Pty Ltd formally deregistered towards the end of 1984. Moore's former partner Hammond continued to practice under his own name, later merging with another firm to become Theo Hammond & Partners, Grant Heath & Wood. A long-time Carlton resident, Hammond died on 25 September 2006.