ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY OF THE BERWICK-PAKENHAM CORRJDO~ A REPORT PREPARED BY THE HERITAGE BRANCH MINISTRY FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT FEBRUARY 1989 711.4 099452 BER Archit. copy 1 ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY OF THE BERWICK-PAKENHAM CORRIDOR A REPORT PREPARED BY THE H~KITAGE BRANCH MINISTRY FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT FEBRUARY 1989 MINISTRY FOR PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT LIBRARY I •• 1 ARCHITECTURAL SURVEY OF THE BERWICK-PAKENHAM CORRIDOR CONTENTS 1 PREAHBLE 2 DISCUSSION OF SURVEY AND FINDINGS 2.1 The Corridor 2.2 Priority Zones 2.3 Data Collected and Building Classification 2.4 Buildings listed without annotation 2.5 Further Notes 3 RECOJlfll:fENDATIONS 3.1 Matters for Action by the Ministry for Planning 3.2 Matters for Action by Local Government 3.3 Historic Precincts 3.4 Doveton's Industrial Strip 3.5 Timber Tramway Remains 3.6 Buildings Outside the Corridor 4 LIST OF SIGNIFICANT BUILDINGS BY LOCATION ego CITY OF BERWICK BERWICK Ardblair i P d c C Quarry Hills i P d B Edrington i P d c A Old Post Office i P d c B The Springs homestead i P C i-inspected ; p - photographed ; d - data collected c - citation prepared ; A, B, C - classification 5 BUILDINGS OUTSIDE THE CORRIDOR 6" BUILDINGS NOTED AS DEJl:fOLISHED AND NOTED SITES 7 LIST OF SIGNIFICANT BUILDINGS BY CLASSIFICATION ego A BUILDINGS Edrington, Berwick Springfield homestead, outbuilding and cheese factory 8 INDIVIDUAL DATA SHEETS AND CITATIONS (A and B Buildings Only) 1 PREAMBLE This survey was undertaken as a seven week project commissioned by the Heritage Branch, Ministry for Planning and Environment. The parameters of the brief were to locate buildings or sites of architectural or historical significance in the Berwick-Pakenham Corridor. The resultant report is to be used in the strategic planning for the Corridor. Insofar as the project was limited in time and funds, and the major use of the. final document was to be a heritage analysis of the suitability 6f land for future development, the compiling of this report was organised around specific priorities. It was decided not to conduct an exhaustive conservation study, in which every building in the area would be analysed for architectural or historical significance and classified on the basis of.a thorough search of all available primary and secondary source material, as this approach would inevitably run short of time, and thus in all likelihood overlook some important areas, buildings and places. Instead an attempt was made at'a general survey, which would locate all previously identified or obviously significant buildings (and hopefully a large proportion of the more obscure examples) and gather such information as was most readily available on the major buildingu. ·AS a result, most of the information gathered has come from secondary sources such as local histories and interviews with owners, occupiers and other interested parties, rather than the more time consuming study of primary material such as rate books, notices of intention and the like. This remains an . option for those buildings which may come under consideration for statutory protection. The study has also concentrated on a number of specific priority zones established by the Ministry, and on the smaller towns and rural areas outside the well established urbs of Berwick, Cranbourne, Doveton and Pakenham. Some buildings of importance have been identified in the built up areas of Berwick, Cranbourne, Doveton and , I Pakenham though the list is by no means comprehensive as these I highly developed areas will remain largely unaffected by the corridor planning exercise. 2 DISCUSSION OF SURVEY AND FINDINGS 2.1 The Corridor The Corridor comprises an irregular area roughly 44 kilometres in length and varying in width from about 14 kilometres at the west end to 3 kilometres at the east. Its spine is the Princes Highway, along which it extends for the full 44 kilometres from west to east. 2.2 Priority Zones (Refer Illustration 1) Of the total area, 9 small zones around the Berwick and Beaconsfield townships have been targeted by the Ministry for II immediate residential zoning (illustration 1). These were I I , surveyed in detail, and generally found to contain little of note. By way of exception, however, Zone 8 is adjacent to Melville Park (the Edrington estate), Zone 4 is adjacent to the Springfield cheese factory and home·stead complex and The Springs homestead and outbuildings (but appears to include no buildings from either), and Zone 9 includes Clover Cottage and the Minard and Meadowbrooks homesteads. Edrington is already adequately protected by its inclusion on the Register of the Historic Buildings and the easements established around the building in plans for the development of Melville Park as a retirement home (plans which have already received a permit from the H B C). II The east boundarY of Zone 4 needs to be carefully established in relation to the Springfield complex, as it seems to run very close to these important buildings, and may even include them. Protection of the buildings should be· facilitated by their position on Crown Land, at present administered by the Berwick City Council. The southern boundary runs along Greaves Road, and is thus adjacent to The Springs property, which extends south of this road. However, the homestead and outbuildings are set a considerable way back from the road, and thus should not be immediately affected. Zone 9 includes the Clover Cottage, Minard and Meadowbrooks properties, all of which may be threatened by demolition when the land is rezoned. Clover Cottage has been examined by the National Trust but is considered not to be of National or State significance. However, it is considered that the building may make an architectural and historic contribution at the local level. Further research is necessary. Minard and Meadowbrooks are of less apparent interest, but also need to be assessed in terms of age and intactness. Meadowbrooks provides an example of an unusual construction type, while Minard dates in part from the nineteenth century. Zones 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 may be considered free of bu~ldings of significance. J3ERWICK- PAKENHAM CORRIDOR· LEGEND Ii ~W~~fRCIAl ZONES 0 COP.RIOOR ZONES 0 HIGHWAY ZOSES ~ { CD INDUSTRIAl ZONES 0 RESIOENTlAl ZONES rREEWAYS • F (PROPOSED AND EXISTING) ... .... I ....... _ ._--------'="U 115000 Illustration 1: priority zones within the Corridor 2.3 Data Collected and Building Classification Approximately 120 buildings and sites of significance have been identified within the planning corridor (see Section 4). A further 60 buildings and sites (approx.), located outside the corridor~ have also been identified (see Section 5). Of the total number of buildings and sites, only a small proportion were previously known to the Heritage Branch. Files have now been established for many of the more significant buildings. These files have each been allocated a status of either Ber/Pak A, Ber/Pak B or Ber/Pak C within the HBC computer system. The A buildings are of national or state significance, and are included on or should be recommended for inclusion on the Register of Historic Buildings and the Register of the National Estate. The B buildings are of regional or local significance, are relatively intact and of considerable architectural merit and/or. historical importance. These may be included upon or should be recommended for the Register of the National Estate. The C buildings make an architectural or historic contribution that is important within the local area. This includes well preserved examples of particular styles of construction, as well as individually significant buildings that have been altered or defaced. This last category, though by far the largest, should also be considered the least complete, until such a time as comprehensive heritage studies of the several municipal~ties of the Corridor have been undertaken. All A, Band C buildings should be considered for statutory protection by means of an amendment to the various municipal planning schemes. Of the approximately 120 buildings and sites within the corridor, 103 have been graded as follows: Ber/Pak A 5 Ber/Pak B 19 Ber/Pak C 79 This inventory is supplemented by another three lists. The first notes significant buildings falling just outside the corridor. Some of these sites have also been graded. The second list records buildings identified in secondary sources, but found to have been demolished. The third list is a record of significant buildings both inside and outside the corridor according to their level of categorisation. 2.4 Buildings listed without annotation A number of buildings in the lists have not been annotated in any way. The majority of such buildings are listed as falling immediately outside the confines of the Corridor. These buildings were not inspected either because of their position outside the Corridor or because .their possible significance was brought to the attention of the survey after field work had been completed. No information on their present condition or status has been obtained, and this should be made a priority of subsequent municipal heritage studies. 2.5 Further Notes Two major factors should be taken into account when reviewing these lists and statistics. The first is the rapid development of the corridor area since the late 1960s, particularly in Berwick, Cranbourne and Pakenham, which has seen the destruction or radical alteration of a high proportion of the few town buildings surviving from the pioneering era in these towns.. The second is the frequency and ferocity with which bushfires have swept through the area, destroying many isolated homesteads as well as large sections of some of the smaller towns such as Bunyip or Garfield. These factors have resulted in a poverty of significant building stock in the Corridor, a poverty especially noticeable around the Cranbourne township, which has lost almost all major commercial, residential or public buildings from pre 1950.