BIOSIS RESEARCH Cross Street Electrical Substation. Footscray Report for City of Maribyrnong July 2007 Biosis Research Pty Ltd. Project no: 6388 Author: Gary Vines Ballarat: 449 Doveton Street North Ballarat3350 Ph: (03) 5331 7000 Fax: (03) 5331 7033 email: [email protected] Melbourne: 38 Bertie Street Port Melbourne 3207 Ph: (03) 9646 9499 Fax: (03) 9646 9242 email: [email protected] Queanbeyan: 55 Lorn Road Queanbeyan 2620 Ph: (02) 6284 4633 Fax: (02) 6284 4699 email: [email protected] Sydney: 15 – 17 Henrietta Street Chippendale 2008 Ph: (02) 9690 2777 Fax: (02) 9690 2577 email: [email protected] Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Biosis Research acknowledges the contribution of the following people and organisations in preparing this report: • Kerryn O’Keeffe, (City of Maribyrnong) • David Moloney (National Trust of Australia (Victoria) ABBREVIATIONS AHC Australian Heritage Commission AMG Australian Map Grid ARC Australian Research Council DSE Department of Sustainability and Environment DOI Department of Infrastructure DPI Department of Primary Industries HO Heritage Overlay HPA 1995 Heritage Protection Act 1995 HV Heritage Victoria (DSE) HVI Heritage Victoria Inventory ICOMOS International Council on Monuments and Sites NT National Trust of Australia (Victoria) PEA 1987 Planning and Environment Act 1987 PROV Public Records Office of Victoria RNE Register of the National Estate SLV State Library of Victoria VHR Victorian Heritage Register BIOSIS RESEARCH i Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray CONTENTS 1.0 PROJECT BACKGROUND........................................................................................................3 2.0 LOCATION...................................................................................................................................3 3.0 DESCRIPTION .............................................................................................................................4 4.0 CONDITION .................................................................................................................................5 5.0 HISTORY ....................................................................................................................................10 5.1 BACKGROUND AND USE OF ELECTRICITY SUBSTATIONS ............................................................10 5.2 FOOTSCRAY ELECTRICITY SUPPLY DEPARTMENT .....................................................................11 5.3 ARCHITECT JOSEPH PLOTTELL...................................................................................................12 5.4 FOOTSCRAY SUBSTATIONS ........................................................................................................18 5.5 COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT .....................................................................................................20 6.0 SIGNIFICANCE .........................................................................................................................30 REFERENCES .........................................................................................................................................34 BIOSIS RESEARCH ii Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray 1.0 PROJECT BACKGROUND The City of Maribyrnong has undertaken a series of Heritage Studies in the past decade to document heritage places in the municipality. These studies have been thorough, but not entirely comprehensive, as new heritage places can still be uncovered. One of these is the Cross Street electricity substation. This place has been identified through the interest of the Art Deco Society, which included it in an article on the architectural of Joseph Plottel in their journal Spirit of Progress.1 Kerryn O’Keeffe of the City of Maribyrnong subsequently commissioned an assessment to determine the cultural heritage significance of the site. 2.0 LOCATION The Cross Street electricity substation is located on the south side of Cross Street, West Footscray, immediately west of the Geelong road overpass and north of the Footscray railway line. The land is owned by VicTrack as part of the Melbourne suburban rail network and comprises part of Lot 9 Section 13 in the Parish of Cut Paw Paw. Substation and switch yard Figure 1: Location of Cross Street Substation 1 Robin Grow, 2005, Joseph Plottel, A Man Ahead of his Time, Spirit of Progress Vol 6 No 3, 2005, pp.9-11. BIOSIS RESEARCH 3 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray 3.0 DESCRIPTION The Cross Street substation comprises a tall brick structure with a duplicate facade featuring twin large timber doors and a pattern of tall vertical openings either side of a wide horizontal rectangular window above the doorways. Each of these compositions is flanked by pilasters with streamlined rain heads and downspouts completing the design symmetry. In plan the building is square, with an internal dividing wall extending through the flat roof and an adjoining switch yard to the west enclosed by tall concrete walls. These are evidently freestanding reinforced concrete with recessed horizontal lines spaced about 1 metre intervals. The shaping of mortar courses and brickwork at the junction with the concrete wall indicate that the concrete wall was erected at the same time or prior to the substation. The design is balanced with a tripartite elevation through use of a clinker brick plinth with cream rendered top, red brick walls and clinker frieze to the parapet above. The frieze comprises alternate double rows of expressed and recessed brick courses and has cream cement-rendered lines in the two recesses and top of the wall. The plinth on the eastern half of the building projects about a foot (300mm), although it would appear that both parts of the structure were erected at the same time. This subtle difference in the design may relate to the difference in function of the two halves of the building, with the larger foundation slab needed at the east end to accommodate the transformers. The doorway is framed by projecting brick pilaster and soldier course lintel, which extends through to the horizontal window above. The red painted steel-framed windows and the lights above the doors have galvanised pipe framed Cyclone mesh panels to prevent access. Steps at the doorways are also of clinker bricks, continuing the plinth line, with a slight slope in ground level and the projecting plinth at the eastern end reflected in an additional step on the eastern door, while the western lower steps protrude beyond the building line. Other details include the terracotta vents (in the western half of the facade and end walls), a flat projecting concrete shade over the east facing windows, rendered window sills, the streamlined rain heads (originally painted a red-brown colour along with the down spouts) and eight roof ventilators. These last are obscured from view by the parapet, but can be seen from the adjoining (and later) pedestrian bridge at West Footscray Station and Geelong Road overpass. Nearby contemporary industries such as Olympic Tyres, textile mills, margarine factory, canning works, foundries, wool stores, Olex Cables, Wiltshire files and oat mills provide the industrial context for the substation. Factories on both sides of the railway built in the 1900- 1940s period were part of a major expansion of industry in the West Footscray and Tottenham ares. BIOSIS RESEARCH 4 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray 4.0 CONDITION The building appears structurally sound with no evidence of cracking, as would be expected of a building designed to hold transformers and other equipment weighing many tons. Render has flaked off the plinth and string courses and the down spouts are rusted and decayed. There are no remaining switchgear or supporting frames in the switchyard and it would appear that the substation has been disconnected from the grid for some time. One of the rain heads on the façade is missing and another at the back of the building has been repaired, therefore losing part of its streamlined profile. One down spout is totally missing (in NE corner), while most of the others are damaged and perforated. Figure 2: View from north west BIOSIS RESEARCH 5 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray Figure 3: View from east showing large eastern windows. Figure 4: View from south east showing roof vents BIOSIS RESEARCH 6 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray Figure 5: View from north west looking over concrete walled switch yard Figure 6: View from east showing concrete wall around switch yard. BIOSIS RESEARCH 7 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray Figure 7: Detail of windows and frieze Figure 8: Detail of rain head BIOSIS RESEARCH 8 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray Figure 9: Detail of junction between brickworks and concrete switch yard wall . BIOSIS RESEARCH 9 Cross Street electricity substation, West Footscray 5.0 HISTORY 5.1 Background and use of Electricity substations A substation is a high-voltage electric system facility used to switch generators, equipment and circuits or lines in and out of a system. It also is used to change AC voltages from one level to another and/or change alternating current to direct current or direct current to alternating current. Some substations are small with little more than a transformer and associated switches. Others are very large with several transformers and dozens of switches and other equipment. There