VICTORIA PARK ABBOTSFORD Conservation Management Plan ` VICTORIA PARK ABBOTSFORD Conservation Management Plan Prepared for CITY OF YARRA Allom Lovell & Associates Conservation Architects 35 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000 October 2003 Contents Contents i List of Figures iii Executive Summary v Project Team viii Acknowledgements ix 1.0 Introduction 11 1.1 Background and Brief 11 1.2 Methodology 11 1.3 Aims & Objectives 11 1.4 Sources 12 1.5 Objects & Memorabilia 12 1.6 Community Consultation 12 1.7 Listings & Classification 12 1.8 Location 13 2.0 History 15 2.1 In the Beginning 15 2.2 Australian Rules Football 17 2.3 Collingwood at Victoria Park 18 2.4 The Evolving Ground 28 2.5 Home Ground Advantage 41 2.6 Cricket & Other Activities 43 3.0 Physical Survey and Analysis 45 3.1 Introduction 45 3.2 Documentation 45 3.3 The Site 45 3.4 Buildings & Other Elements 47 Allom Lovell & Associates i VICTORIA PARK 4.0 Assessment of Significance 51 4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Historical Significance 51 4.3 Social Significance 58 4.4 Aesthetic/Architectural Significance 59 4.5 Statement of Significance 74 4.6 Assessment Against Heritage Criteria 76 5.0 Conservation Policy and Management Plan 79 5.1 Introduction 79 5.2 Understanding the Place 79 5.3 Significant Elements 80 5.4 Conservation Policies 84 Endnotes 92 Bibliography 96 Appendix A The Burra Charter Appendix B Data Sheets Appendix C Aerial Photographs Appendix D Chronological Overview of Development ii Allom Lovell & Associates List of Figures Figure 1 Location plan 13 Figure 2 1881 subdivision plan of the former Dights Paddock, showing Victoria Park (pre-football ground and pre-railway line) at the centre of the subdivision. Note also Campbellfield House near the bend in the river. 16 Figure 3 An early c.1902 postcard image of Victoria Park, showing William Pitt’s 1892 grandstand on the left, the 1900 Women’s Pavilion in the centre, terraced areas on the embankment, and a timber picket fence. Note also the gravel track around the oval, which is believed to have been used for cycling. 20 Figure 4 1904 plan of Victoria Park. Note the ‘earthen embankment’ and the spectator viewing area on the ‘inner slope’, and the caretaker’s cottage adjacent to Abbott Street. 21 Figure 5 1905 Weekly Times spread on Collingwood training methods. The training room shown is presumably beneath the 1892 stand. 22 Figure 6 Victoria Park in c.1907. Note the 1892 stand on the left, and the Women’s Pavilion on the right of picture, with the Victoria Park Primary School on Abbott Street to the rear (demolished). 23 Figure 7 The 1909 stand, just before its official opening. 24 Figure 8 The football club Committee, in what is believed to be the first meeting in their new room underneath the 1909 stand. Note the framed photographs and other memorabilia, which the club had already collected. 24 Figure 9 Demolishing the old 1909 stand, in 1968. 25 Figure 10 1962 team photograph, with the old 1909 grandstand in the background. Note the stripes painted on the roof, and the pennants on the flagpoles. 25 Figure 11 A 1920 view of Victoria Park, appearing to be taken from near the junction of Turner and Bath Streets. Note the plantings and landscape treatment. 26 Figure 12 1930 plan of Victoria Park. Note the various stands, bars, tennis courts and the edge (top) of the embankment around the outer reserve. 26 Figure 13 Social Club Stand entrance, c.1959, prior to modifications. 31 Figure 14 C.1970 view of the Social Club Stand, also prior to modifications (with Des Tuddenham in centre picture). 32 Figure 15 Interior of the new clubrooms, c. 1959. 32 Figure 16 Interior of the Social Club, c. 1968. 33 Figure 17 Laying agricultural drainage pipes on the oval, c.1963. 34 Allom Lovell & Associates iii VICTORIA PARK Figure 18 The terraces in the outer, c.1960s. 35 Figure 19 Cross sectional drawing of the R T Rush Stand. 35 Figure 20 The newly opened R T Rush Stand, in 1966 (with Peter McKenna in centre picture). 36 Figure 21 1978 plan of Victoria Park, which appears to show the proposed extension of the Rush Stand around the whole of the outer. 37 Figure 22 c.1990s view of the (extended) Sherrin Stand (right of picture), with the Rush Stand at left. 40 Figure 23 The ‘glue pot’ in the centre of Victoria Park, c.1980-1. 40 Figure 24 Site plan of Victoria Park 46 Figure 25 Women’s Pavilion at Victoria Park, b.1900 (demolished). 60 Figure 26 Two postcard views of the William Pitt designed stand at Victoria Park, b.1892 (demolished). 60 Figure 27 Members’ Stand, Victoria Park, b.1909 (demolished). 61 Figure 28 Grandstand, Brunswick Street Oval, b.1888. 61 Figure 29 Kevin Murray Stand, Junction Oval, St Kilda, b. 1924/25. 62 Figure 30 R S Reynolds Stand, Windy Hill, b. c.1922. 62 Figure 31 Grandstand, Lakeside Oval, b.1926. 64 Figure 32 MCG Members Pavilion, soon after completion, b.1927-28. 64 Figure 33 J C Ryder Stand, Victoria Park, b. 1929. 65 Figure 34 View from rear of the Ryder Stand, looking east. 65 Figure 35 Michael Tuck Stand, Glenferrie Oval, b.1930s. 66 Figure 36 Arthur Showers Stand, Windy Hill, b.1939. 66 Figure 37 The large covered public stand in the outer at Moorabbin, b.c.1965, and extended in 1970. 68 Figure 38 E J Whitten Stand, Western Oval, b.1968. 68 Figure 39 W H Cookson Stand, Windy Hill, b.1969. 69 Figure 40 Allan Hird Stand, Windy Hill, b.1973. 69 Figure 41 Princes Park, oblique aerial (recent), showing the substantial development of the ground. 70 Figure 42 R T Rush Stand (in the distance), Victoria Park, b. 1966. 70 Figure 43 Sherrin Stand, Victoria Park, b.1969/78. 71 Figure 44 E J Smith Stand (covered outer stand), Western Oval, b.1955. 71 Figure 45 Social Club Stand (Coventry Pavilion, Bob Rose Stand), Victoria Park. b.1959/81/89. 72 Figure 46 Social Club building, Punt Road oval, reconfigured in 1980 from the old 1930s Ernest H King Stand. 72 Figure 47 Photograph of Victoria Park indicating the elements recommended for retention (hatched and shaded). The dotted line in places around the perimeter of the ground also indicates the sections of perimeter wall recommended for retention. 85 iv Allom Lovell & Associates Executive Summary Report Structure Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the report, including an overview of the principal aims and objectives of the study. A history of Victoria Park, its evolution, development and use, is contained in Chapter 2, and is complemented by an analysis of historic aerial photographs in Appendix C, and a chronological overview of the development of the site and its associated structures in Appendix D. Chapter 3 contains a description of the ground and its various components, with a more detailed physical overview contained in Appendix B. Chapter 4 provides an analysis of the historical and social significance of Victoria Park, including a brief comparison with other VFL/AFL grounds in Victoria. The grandstands at Victoria Park are also assessed in the context of grandstand development in Victoria. The chapter concludes with a statement of cultural heritage significance. Chapter 5 contains detailed conservation policies and strategies for Victoria Park, which are complemented by recommendations relating to the individual elements (on retention, conservation, adaptation, redevelopment, etc) in Appendix B. Significance This study concludes that Victoria Park is of considerable historical and social significance (at a State level), while the stands and built elements are generally of moderate aesthetic/architectural significance. The following is a summary of the more complete statement of cultural heritage significance found at the end of Chapter 4. Appendix B also contains assessments of the significance of the individual elements of Victoria Park. Victoria Park derives considerable historical and social significance from its association with the Collingwood Football Club for over 110 years, and for being a stronghold of football tribalism. The football club was a founding member of the VFL in 1897, became a powerhouse in the competition, and one of the most successful and popularly supported of all football clubs in Victoria. Collingwood has also been influential in the ongoing development of the game, has produced notable players, coaches and administrators, and has helped to shape the distinctive and fanatical character of football following in Victoria. Collingwood’s continuous use of Victoria Park (having played home games there for 107 years) is the longest association at the highest level between any Victorian AFL club and its ground. In 1999 Victoria Park was also the last suburban VFL/AFL ground in Melbourne (excluding Princes Park), to host a league game. The community of Collingwood Football Club supporters have a strong attachment to the ground, regard it as the spiritual home of the club, and invest the place with great symbolic and iconic importance. Victoria Park is additionally of significance as a focal point of the Collingwood community for a long period, and for its associations with the Collingwood Cricket Club from 1906 to 1996. Allom Lovell & Associates v VICTORIA PARK Architecturally, the stands and built elements at Victoria Park have some distinguishing qualities, without being structures of high architectural merit. The rear treatment of the Ryder Stand, with its architectural presentation to Abbott Street, is of some note. The Sherrin Stand has a strong presence within the ground, and a high degree of external prominence and visibility. The Social Club Stand originally had some architectural distinction, but this has been diminished by later works, while the Rush Stand is a generally utilitarian structure of limited significance.