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80-564: Toowoomba Permanent Building Society is a heritage-listed former building society at 2 Russell Street, Toowoomba , Toowoomba Region , Queensland , Australia. It was designed by William Hodgen and built from 1934 to 1982. It is also known as Cleary & Lee Solicitors and Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The former Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society building

160-423: A breezeway assembly with decorative glass. Double hung sash, timber framed windows are located along the front facade , including in the extensions of the western side of the property, and also along the eastern elevation, facing Neil Street. All the windows have a breezeway assembly with glass panels. A second entrance, with timber French doors, is located at the western end of the northern elevation, forming part of

240-563: A building erected, that will meet the requirements of the Society for the next 25 years and that the foundation of the building be of sufficient strength to carry a two-storeyed building". The matter, however, was not dealt with for some time while the Board was preoccupied with the requirements resulting from the Depression. In July 1932, the question of office accommodation was revived and the search for

320-426: A conflict of interest between borrowers and savers. It was the task of the movement to reconcile that conflict of interest so as to enable savers to conclude that their interests and those of borrowers were to some extent complementary rather than conflictive. Conflict of interest between savers and borrowers was never fully reconciled in the building societies but upon deregulation that reconciliation became something of

400-538: A conversion, its managers derive more value from a conversion but do not suffer much loss of perks than if the bank were small. Their benefit is in the right to purchase the new stock, which are valuable because the new issues are consistently underpriced [referring to USA mutual bank conversions]. Moreover, by no means are all mutual managers incompetent, and conversions allows the bank to expand more easily and to grant executive stock options that are valuable to skilled managers". Instead of deploying their margin advantage as

480-553: A defence of mutuality, around 1980 building societies began setting mortgage rates with reference to market clearing levels. In sum they began behaving more like banks, seeking to maximise profit instead of the advantages of a mutual organisation. Thus, according to the Bank of England's Boxall & Gallagher (1997) : "... there was virtually no difference between banks and building society 'listed' interest rates for home finance mortgage lending between 1984 and 1997. This behaviour resulted in

560-603: A demutualisation and a merger in 2011, and four further mergers 2013–2018 which resulted in there being only one building society headquartered respectively in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Since then, the only merger has been in 2023, when the Manchester society merged with the Newcastle society. In the 1980s, changes to British banking laws allowed building societies to offer banking services equivalent to normal banks. The management of

640-699: A divide exists between building societies that operate in New Zealand, on the one hand, and those that (although formally registered in New Zealand) operate offshore: Building societies' registration details and filed documents are available in the Register of Building Societies held at the New Zealand Companies Office. Over the years, a number of building societies were established. Portico Porticos are sometimes topped with pediments . Palladio

720-448: A lost cause. The management of building societies apparently could expend considerable time and resources (which belonged the organisation) planning their effective capture—of as much of the assets as they could. If so, this is arguably insider dealing on a grand scale with the benefit of inside specialist knowledge of the business and resources of the firm not shared with outsiders like politicians and members (and, perhaps, regulators). Once

800-503: A member with £50,000 in each of Nationwide, Cheshire and Derbyshire at the time of the respective mergers would retain £150,000 of FSCS protection for their funds in the merged Nationwide. On 31 December 2010 the general FSCS limit for retail deposits was increased to £85,000 for banks and building societies and the transitional arrangements in respect of building society mergers came to an end. As of February 2024 , there are 42 independent building societies, all of which are members of

880-413: A number of societies still felt that they were unable to compete with the banks, and a new Building Societies Act was passed in 1986 in response to their concerns. This permitted societies to ' demutualise '. If more than 75% of members voted in favour, the building society would then become a limited company like any other. Members' mutual rights were exchanged for shares in this new company. A number of

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960-423: A number of workspaces using partitions. The plaster ceiling in the room is divided into panels which have decorative plaster dentilled cornices and mouldings. The rendered walls have a timber dado rail located around the room. Doric pilasters are located on all internal walls in the main part of the original section. In the original section, offices are located along the eastern side of the building. The walls in

1040-735: A one-member, one-vote basis. Building societies often provide other retail banking services, such as current accounts, credit cards and personal loans. The term "building society" first arose in the 19th century in Great Britain from cooperative savings groups. In the United Kingdom, building societies compete with banks for most consumer banking services, especially mortgage lending and savings accounts , and regulations permit up to half of their lending to be funded by debt to non-members, allowing societies to access wholesale bond and money markets to fund mortgages. The world's largest building society

1120-472: A permanent society. Terminating loans were still available and used inside the permanent businesses by staff up until the 1980s because their existence was not widely known after the early 1960s. Because of strict regulations on banks, building societies flourished until the deregulation of the Australian financial industry in the 1980s. Eventually many of the smaller building societies disappeared, while some of

1200-454: A rather more direct and cynical conclusion: By adopting a policy of building up reserves by maintaining an excess margin, building societies simultaneously allowed banks to compete and may have undermined the long run viability of mutuality. A more cynical approach is that some societies may have adopted an excess-margin strategy simply to enhance their value for conversion. Some of these managements ended up in dispute with their own members. Of

1280-411: A return on assets for building societies which was at least as high as Plc banks and, in the absence of distribution, led to rapid accumulation of reserves". As Boxall & Gallagher (1997) also observe: "... accumulation of reserves in the early-1990s, beyond regulatory and future growth requirements, is difficult to reconcile with conventional theories of mutual behaviour". Llewellyn (1996) draws

1360-475: A rolling basis, continually taking in new members as earlier ones completed purchases, such as Leek Building Society . The main legislative framework for the building society was the Building Societies Act 1874 ( 37 & 38 Vict. c. 42), with subsequent amending legislation in 1894, 1939 (see Coney Hall ), and 1960. In their heyday, there were hundreds of building societies: just about every town in

1440-400: A site recommenced. Several possibilities were discussed including a site at the corner of Neil and Little Russell Streets. In June 1933, a new sub-committee comprising Director, HE Brown; an accountant, HJ Parsons and WR Smith, a builder-contractor, was given the brief of finding new premises or land within three weeks. On 20 July 1933, the sub-committee reported the purchase of the a property on

1520-407: A typical monument of 1930s commercial enterprise, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is single story and austere building with classical Georgian elements. The fence and grounds of the building are significant as elements of the original concept portraying domesticity rather than a commercial enterprise. The place is important because of its aesthetic significance. Located at

1600-455: Is Britain's Nationwide Building Society . In Australia, building societies also compete with retail banks and offer the full range of banking services to consumers. Building societies as an institution began in late-18th century Birmingham – a town which was undergoing rapid economic and physical expansion driven by a multiplicity of small metalworking firms, whose many highly skilled and prosperous owners readily invested in property. Many of

1680-419: Is a single storey, facebrick building constructed in 1934 with later extensions to the western side, located in a prominent position on the corner of Russell and Neil Streets, Toowoomba. The northern (front) elevation of the building, facing Russell Street, has a prominent, projecting, rendered front portico with a set of stairs leading to the entry, which has terrazzo tiles and timber framed French doors and

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1760-532: Is significant for its association with one of Toowoomba's oldest businesses and one of Queensland's longest-operating permanent building society's, and for its association with the members of the Society. [REDACTED] This Misplaced Pages article was originally based on "The Queensland heritage register" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 7 July 2014, archived on 8 October 2014). The geo-coordinates were originally computed from

1840-502: Is that Australian building societies are required to incorporate as limited companies . Current building societies are The Building Societies Act of 1962 allowed for the registration of building societies in Eswatini. For a long time the country only had one building society. A second was registered in late 2019. The Republic of Ireland had around 40 building societies at the mid-20th century peak. Many of these were very small and, as

1920-740: Is the best-preserved Roman hexastyle temple surviving from antiquity . Octastyle buildings had eight columns; they were considerably rarer than the hexastyle ones in the classical Greek architectural canon . The best-known octastyle buildings surviving from antiquity are the Parthenon in Athens , built during the Age of Pericles (450–430 BCE), and the Pantheon in Rome (125 CE). The destroyed Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome,

2000-441: Is those who joined societies by lodging minimum amounts of £100 or so in the hope of profiting from a distribution of surplus after demutualisation. The deregulating Building Societies Act 1986 contained an anti-carpetbagger provision in the form of a two-year rule. This prescribed a qualifying period of two years before savers could participate in a residual claim. But, before the 1989 Abbey National Building Society demutualisation,

2080-535: The "Queensland heritage register boundaries" published by the State of Queensland under CC-BY 3.0 AU licence (accessed on 5 September 2014, archived on 15 October 2014). External links [REDACTED] Media related to Toowoomba Permanent Building Society at Wikimedia Commons Building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization , which offers banking and related financial services , especially savings and mortgage lending . They exist in

2160-552: The Acropolis of Athens . With the colonization by the Greeks of Southern Italy , hexastyle was adopted by the Etruscans and subsequently acquired by the ancient Romans . Roman taste favoured narrow pseudoperipteral and amphiprostyle buildings with tall columns, raised on podiums for the added pomp and grandeur conferred by considerable height. The Maison Carrée at Nîmes , France ,

2240-509: The Building Societies Association . Ten building societies of the United Kingdom demutualised between 1989 and 2000, either becoming a bank or being acquired by a larger bank. By 2008, every building society that floated on the stock market in the wave of demutualisations of the 1980s and 1990s had either been sold to a conventional bank, or been nationalised . The following is an incomplete list of building societies in

2320-566: The English Midlands was established in Leeds in 1785. Most of the original societies were fully terminating , where they would be dissolved when all members had a house: the last of them, First Salisbury and District Perfect Thrift Building Society , was wound up in March 1980. In the 1830s and 1840s a new development took place with the permanent building society , where the society continued on

2400-573: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), but Nationwide and Yorkshire building societies negotiated a temporary change to the terms of the FSCS to protect members of the societies they acquired in late 2008/early 2009. The amended terms allowed former members of multiple societies which merge into one to maintain multiple entitlements to FSCS protection until 30 September 2009 (later extended to 30 December 2010), so (for example)

2480-582: The Golden Cross inn, in 1775. Members of Ketley's society paid a monthly subscription to a central pool of funds which was used to finance the building of houses for members, which in turn acted as collateral to attract further funding to the society, enabling further construction. By 1781 three more societies had been established in Birmingham, with a fourth in the nearby town of Dudley ; and 19 more formed in Birmingham between 1782 and 1795. The first outside

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2560-682: The Temple of Portunus , and for amphiprostyle temples such as the Temple of Venus and Roma , and for the prostyle entrance porticos of large public buildings like the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine . Roman provincial capitals also manifested tetrastyle construction, such as the Capitoline Temple in Volubilis . The North Portico of the White House is perhaps the most notable four-columned portico in

2640-472: The Board, including sums for doors, steps and porch gates (£36); fanlights (£7-10-0) and a dwarf wall (£75). There was also the question of fences, lawns and cementing the driveway from the street to the garage. The new premises were ready for occupation in mid-October and the Society celebrated the move with a photograph and publicity piece in the Toowoomba Chronicle. The Board held its first meeting in

2720-460: The Irish commercial banks began to originate residential mortgages, the small building societies ceased to be competitive. Most merged or dissolved or, in the case of First Active plc , converted into conventional banks. The last remaining building societies, EBS Building Society and Irish Nationwide Building Society , demutualised and were transferred or acquired into Bank subsidiaries in 2011 following

2800-543: The Registrar of Building Societies under the Building Societies Act 1965. Registration as a building society is merely a process of establishing the entity as a corporation. It is largely a formality, and easily achieved, as the capital requirement is minimal (20 members must be issued shares of not less than NZ$ 1,000 each, for a total minimum foundation share capital of NZ$ 200,000). As regards prudential supervision,

2880-413: The Society accepted half of Bernard Dowd's offer for £1500 for premises situated on the southern side of Russell Street. Marks and Sons architects prepared plans and specifications for the renovation of the premises. The lowest tender, by HC Olsen for £260 and eight weeks, was accepted on 13 March 1906. Several modifications of this office occurred, particularly in the 1920s. These included modifications to

2960-419: The Society began to consider moving to larger premises. In October 1929 the Board appointed a sub-committee to consider the question of new office premises and equipment. Failing to report by mid-1930, the sub-committee was urged to consider the alteration of the existing office to accommodate new equipment. In August it reported that no further alterations should be made, "but that a suitable site be procured, and

3040-568: The Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. The Society moved to new premises in Ruthven Street in March 1979. Extensions to the building were carried out in 1982, when the building was occupied by Cleary and Lee Solicitors. Extensions included placing a second entrance, a French door bordered by Doric pilasters, on the western side of the main entry. Part of the fence along Russell Street was demolished, following extensions to

3120-452: The UK are members of the Building Societies Association . At the start of 2008, there were 59 building societies in the UK, with total assets exceeding £360 billion. The number of societies in the UK fell by four during 2008 due to a series of mergers brought about, to a large extent, by the consequences of the financial crisis of 2007–2008 . There were three further mergers in each of 2009 and 2010,

3200-470: The United Kingdom that no longer exist independently, since they either merged with or were taken over by other organisations. They may still have an active presence on the high street (or online) as a trading name or as a distinct brand. This is typically because brands will often build up specific reputations and attract certain clientele, and this can continue to be marketed successfully. In Australia, building societies evolved along British lines. Following

3280-474: The United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and formerly in Ireland and several Commonwealth countries, including South Africa as mutual banks. They are similar to credit unions , but rather than promoting thrift and offering unsecured and business loans, the purpose of a building society is to provide home mortgages to members. Borrowers and depositors are society members, setting policy and appointing directors on

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3360-572: The United States. Hexastyle buildings had six columns and were the standard façade in canonical Greek Doric architecture between the archaic period 600–550 BCE up to the Age of Pericles 450–430 BCE. Some well-known examples of classical Doric hexastyle Greek temples : Hexastyle was also applied to Ionic temples, such as the prostyle porch of the sanctuary of Athena on the Erechtheum , at

3440-543: The advantage of the town. The formation of the building society played an integral part in such economic growth. If wage earners could be encouraged to secure their own piece of land, they would make a contribution to the prosperity of the town. Since 1876 the office of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society had been located in a suite of rooms in Beirne's Chambers in Margaret Street. With the increased workload associated with

3520-427: The balance and taken account of in formulation of policy. They were a nuisance to be dealt with by the costly use of public relations advisers and legal processes. In the end, after a number of large demutualisations, and pressure from carpetbaggers moving from one building society to another to cream off the windfalls, most of the societies whose management wished to keep them mutual modified their rules of membership in

3600-439: The building and along part of the western side. The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria. The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history. Designed in 1934 by William Hodgen, former director of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society and noted Toowoomba architect,

3680-460: The building, to provide for a parking area. When the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society vacated the premises in 1976 a time capsule was placed behind the plaque on the south wall of the plaza in the interior of the building, to be opened in 2026. The legal firm of Cleary and Lee Solicitors leased the building for a number of years from March 1980, however, the building is currently unoccupied. The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building

3760-492: The corner of Neil and Russell Streets from Mrs DE Campbell for £1500, including the existing dwelling valued at £300, which was sold at public auction in October. The Board ratified the purchase and engaged architect William Hodgen, a former director, to draw up plans and estimates. On 18 October 1933, with Hodgen's estimate of £4390 and twenty-six weeks, was successful. Over the next few months there were several "extras" brought before

3840-469: The corner of Russell and Neil Streets, with its specifically designed low, brick and iron fence, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building is significant for its contribution to the streetscape. The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history. The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society building

3920-463: The country had a building society named after that town. Over succeeding decades the number of societies has decreased, as various societies merged to form larger ones, often renaming in the process, and other societies opted for demutualisation followed by – in the great majority of cases – eventual takeover by a listed bank. Most of the existing larger building societies are the result of the mergers of many smaller societies. All building societies in

4000-450: The courts found against the two-year rule after legal action brought by Abbey National itself to circumvent the intent of the legislators. After this the legislation did prevent a cash distribution to members of less than two years standing, but the same result was obtained by permitting the issue of 'free' shares in the acquiring plc, saleable for cash. The Thatcher Conservative government declined to introduce amending legislation to make good

4080-494: The defect in the 'two-year rule'. Building societies, like mutual life insurers, arose as people clubbed together to address a common need interest; in the case of the building societies, this was housing and members were originally both savers and borrowers. But it very quickly became clear that 'outsider' savers were needed whose motive was profit through interest on deposits. Thus permanent building societies quickly became mortgage banks and in such institutions there always existed

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4160-470: The early building societies were based in taverns or coffeehouses , which had become the focus for a network of clubs and societies for co-operation and the exchange of ideas among Birmingham's highly active citizenry as part of the movement known as the Midlands Enlightenment . The first building society to be established was Ketley's Building Society , founded by Richard Ketley, the landlord of

4240-1241: The effects of the Irish financial crisis . Leeds Building Society Ireland and Nationwide UK (Ireland) were Irish branches of building societies based in the United Kingdom; both have since ceased all Irish operations. Irish Industrial Building Society (1969–1975) Irish Nationwide Building Society (1975 – Feb 2011) loan book Anglo Irish Bank (February 2011–June 2011) Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (July 2011–February 2013 ) EBS Building Society (1991–2011) Irish Permanent Benefit Building Society (1888–1940) Irish Permanent Building Society (1940–1994) Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc (1999–) merged with TSB Bank, 2001 Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc Irish Civil Service and General (Permanent Benefit) Building Society (1867–1874) Irish Civil Service (Permanent) Building Society (1874–1969) Irish Civil Service Building Society (1969–1984) First National Building Society (1960–1998) acquired by Ulster Bank 2004 and retired in 2009 In Jamaica , three building societies compete with commercial banks and credit unions for most consumer financial services: In New Zealand , building societies are registered with

4320-420: The elevation. The original, detached facebrick garage located in the south-western corner of the site, now attached to the main building, is still apparent. The parapet concealing the hipped roof clad with corrugated galvanised iron is still extant. Internally, the former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society has a large open area which forms the main section of the building. The large space has been divided into

4400-448: The end of World War II , the terminating model was revived to fund returning servicemen's need for new houses. Hundreds were created with government seed capital, whereby the capital was returned to the government and the terminating societies retained the interest accumulated. Once all the seed funds were loaned, each terminating society could reapply for more seed capital to the point where they could re-lend their own funds and thus became

4480-419: The end of mutuality brought joint stock company (plc) style remuneration committee pay standards and share options. Share options for management of converting societies appear to be a powerful factor in management calculation. Rasmusen (1988) refers to this in the following terms: " ... perks do not rise in proportion to [mutual] bank size. If a mutual is large, or is expected to grow if it can raise capital by

4560-441: The entrance to the cella , or shrine. Roman temples commonly had an open pronaos, usually with only columns and no walls, and the pronaos could be as long as the cella . The word pronaos ( πρόναος ) is Greek for "before a temple". In Latin , a pronaos is also referred to as an anticum or prodomus . The pronaos of a Greek and Roman temple is typically topped with a pediment. The different variants of porticos are named by

4640-454: The expansion of the business at the turn of the century, these premises became too cramped. By September 1905, the Directors began looking for new premises. In January 1906, rather than tendering for a new building, and declining Beirne's offer of the current premises for £1 per week, the Society called for offers of existing buildings. Within a week, the Society had six offers. On 15 January 1906,

4720-496: The first major conversion of the Abbey in 1989, Kay (1991) observed: [T]he paradox of the Abbey members who campaigned against flotation [conversion to a shareholder-owned bank] of their building society. They were fighting to preserve a degree of accountability to the membership which the management of the Society patently did not feel. For incumbent management, the contrary views of some of their members were not matters to be weighed in

4800-423: The former Toowoomba Permanent Building Society, is significant as an example of a purpose-built commercial premise. The building is the last major work designed by Hodgen before his death in 1943, and served for many years as a public symbol of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places. A good example of

4880-410: The front office, which faces Russell Street are slightly more detailed. The original garage, which functioned also as a store room, located in the south-western corner is now divided into two offices. Similar to the other offices, these spaces are austere with simple, decorative plaster cornices. A low, brick fence with rendered capitals on the plinths is located along the northern and eastern sides of

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4960-619: The larger societies made such proposals to their members and all were accepted. Some listed on the London Stock Exchange , while others were acquired by larger financial groups. The process began with the demutualisation of the Abbey National Building Society in 1989. Then, from 1995 to late 1999, eight societies demutualised accounting for two-thirds of building societies assets as at 1994. Five of these societies became joint stock banks (plc), one merged with another and

5040-514: The largest (such as Advance and St George ) attained the status of banks. More recent conversions have included Heritage Bank which converted from building society to bank in 2011, Hume in 2014, while Wide Bay Building Society became Auswide Bank and IMB followed suit in 2015, and Greater Building Society became Greater Bank in 2016. Building societies converting to banks are no longer required to demutualise. A particular difference between Australian building societies and those elsewhere,

5120-411: The late 1990s. The method usually adopted were membership rules to ensure that anyone newly joining a society would, for the first few years, be unable to get any profit out of a demutualisation. With the chance of a quick profit removed, the wave of demutualisations came to an end in 2000. One academic study ( Heffernan 2003 ) found that demutualised societies' pricing behaviour on deposits and mortgages

5200-537: The later extensions. The rendered pediment is located right around the building and conceals the hipped roof clad with tiles. Raised lettering reading "CLEARY AND LEE SOLICITORS" is located along the top of the projecting portico and along the eastern elevation. Along the northern and eastern elevations, the building has decorative rendered and painted mouldings and a dentilled cornice . The facebrick western elevation has no windows or entrances. The southern (rear) elevation has timber framed, double hung sash windows along

5280-507: The lowering of the ceiling. A panelled, timber door, with sidelights , located in the north-western corner of the office, opens to the main office area. Toilets and kitchen facilities, with recent renovations, are located on the southern side of the building. Brick extensions have been undertaken on the western side of the building. In this section, a number of offices open from a central corridor. These offices are austere with simple, decorative plaster cornices. The decorative plaster ceiling in

5360-528: The new Board Room on 18 October 1934. Between 1934 and 1979 the building served as the office and public symbol of the Toowoomba Permanent Building Society. Its corner position at the intersection of Neil and Russell Streets ensured that the building and its grounds were prominent in the streetscape. In August 1977, a special meeting of members authorised a change in name from the Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society to

5440-546: The number of columns they have. The "style" suffix comes from the Greek στῦλος , "column". In Greek and Roman architecture, the pronaos of a temple is typically topped with a pediment . The tetrastyle has four columns; it was commonly employed by the Greeks and the Etruscans for small structures such as public buildings and amphiprostyles . The Romans favoured the four columned portico for their pseudoperipteral temples like

5520-456: The office balcony, installation of iron bars on rear windows, the installation of a telephone, and later, plans were initiated to connect the office to the sewerage system. In 1928, no action was taken by the Society on the request from the City Electric and Radio Service to improve the lighting of the building and to install "electric advertising". Given the many modifications to the building,

5600-451: The offices have been rendered and each have a timber dado rail and picture rail. Most of the offices have a dentilled plaster cornice, however, one, at the southern end of the building has only a moulded plaster cornice, without dentils . The original strong room is still extant and is located on the southern side of the building. An office on the western side of the building, forming part of the original section, has been refurbished, including

5680-438: The opportunity to claim was presented by management the savers in particular could be relied upon to seize it. There were sufficient hard-up borrowers to take the inducement offered them by management (in spite of few simple sums sufficing to demonstrate that they were probably going to end up effectively paying back the inducement). ( Tayler 2003 ) Management promoting demutualisation also thereby met managerial objectives because

5760-422: The other four were taken over by plcs (in two cases after the mutual had previously converted to a plc). As Tayler (2003) mentions, demutualisation moves succeeded immediately because neither Conservative nor Labour party UK governments created a framework which put obstacles in the way of demutualisation. Political acquiescence in demutualisation was clearest in the case of the position on ' carpetbaggers ', that

5840-575: The other two societies being established in Brisbane in July and August. The establishment of a permanent building society had come about following the formation and subsequent closure of a number of terminating societies. Evidence suggests that the first terminating society was formed in Toowoomba late in 1862, on the initiative of William Henry Groom , the first Mayor of Toowoomba . The permanent society differed to

5920-509: The prevailing rates set by the banks, and the bank crash of 1893 was even the ruin of a number of dependent societies. On 16 Sept 1874, the Toowoomba Chronicle 's Brisbane correspondent published an editorial comment on the principles of co-operation and self-help reflected in the building society movement. The article emphasised how "an industrious man [has] an excellent opportunity to shake himself...free of his landlord...it facilitates

6000-533: The settlement in and around the settlement of trade of a....body of people who, having secured a stake in a place...are not tempted to migrate upon every trivial occasion..." The benefits of retaining an itinerant workforce in or near a town meant increased population and, accordingly, increased prosperity. Such increases ultimately benefited the local building and agricultural industries, as well as commerce and trade. Greater government revenue became available through taxation and could be channelled into public works to

6080-594: The terminating society in that its system accredited interest annually rather that at termination. Most Australian building societies were larger in size and function than the British societies with a tendency to evolve into building companies, land and mortgage banks or estate companies. They also tended to rely on small overdrafts from the trading banks in times of financial crisis or economic recession. Hence, in Australia, building society interest rates were frequently subject to

6160-460: Was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings. In the UK , the temple-front applied to The Vyne , Hampshire, was the first portico applied to an English country house . A pronaos ( UK : / p r oʊ ˈ n eɪ . ɒ s / or US : / p r oʊ ˈ n eɪ . ə s / ) is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple , situated between the portico's colonnade or walls and

6240-405: Was designed as a solid and austere edifice of red facing brick. It was constructed in 1934 by contractor WR Smith, at a cost of £4390. The design was by prominent Toowoomba architect, William Hodgen. The building was Hodgen's last major work produced by him before his death in 1943. The building was extended on the western side in 1982. The Toowoomba Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society

6320-514: Was established in 1875 in offices in Margaret Street. As the business expanded larger accommodation was sought in 1906 in Russell Street. In 1934 a decision was made to build an office on another site in Russell Street and these premises were opened in October 1934. The Toowoomba Permanent Building Society remained in this building until 1979. The Toowoomba Permanent Building Society was the third permanent building society to be established in 1874,

6400-700: Was more favourable to shareholders than to customers, with the remaining mutual building societies offering consistently better rates. The Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Act 2007 , known as the Butterfill Act, was passed in 2007 giving building societies greater powers to merge with other companies. These powers have been used by the Britannia in 2009 and Kent Reliance in 2011 leading to their demutualisation. Prior to 31 December 2010, deposits with building societies of up to £50,000 per individual, per institution, were normally protected by

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