Yuncken Freeman was founded in 1933 when Otto (Rob) Yuncken and John Freeman together with Freeman's brother, Tom, and William Balcombe Griffiths, all left their positions at
A & K Henderson to establish
Yuncken, Freeman Brothers and Griffiths. The firm took on hospital work, and designed a series of houses for a wealthy clientele, usually in a refined Georgian mode, but also some more modernist in style. In 1938 Roy Simpson started work with the firm, and was awarded the Robert Haddon travelling scholarship. The operations of the firm were disrupted by
World War II, with Rob Yuncken and Roy Simpson enlisted into service, providing planning and design services to the
United States Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, Yuncken and Simpson returned to Melbourne only to find the members of the original group scattered. They reunited the practice, and Simpson was made a partner to create
Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths and Simpson. possibly due to the experience Simpson and Yuncken gained with the U.S. Army. The result was timber houses, delivered pre-cut and partially assembled, largely produced in England, and shipped to Australia, beginning in 1949. Fifty years later, many of these homes remained occupied. Barry Patten and John Gates were admitted to the partnership in 1953 following the death of Rob Yuncken in 1951, by which time the firm was simply known as
Yuncken Freeman, a name that was made official in 1963. By then Balcombe Griffiths and Roy Simpson were the sole survivors of the five original partners, and had been joined by John Yuncken, Rob's son, Robert Peck, Jamie Learmonth and others. Patten introduced the firm's
international modernist architecture style, with work by the 1970s heavily influenced by work of
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, such as their own
King Street offices, and especially BHP House, their largest project and Melbourne's tallest building. After this success, the recession of the mid-1970s hit Yuncken Freeman hard, sacking 15 architects, and the eight directors took a 20% pay cut. Patten told
The Age: ''"The situation is very bad — there just isn't any work available. We have employed people for years and we are now finding it very difficult to keep them occupied. It is very worrying."'' In 1980, Balcombe Griffiths, Roy Simpson and John gates retired, and the firm was formally wound up in the late 1980s. ==Major architectural works==