Former Malvern Dairy
37 Clarence Street and 39 Clarence Street MALVERN EAST, STONNINGTON CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The former Malvern Dairy at 37-39 Clarence Street, Malvern East, was established c1930 on the site of an earlier 1918 dairy. It consists of a single-storey Victorian Italianate style villa and a c1930 single-storey red-brick dairy, both facing the street. Three mature Canary Island palms (phoenix canariensis) stand in the front setback.
How is it Significant?
The former Malvern Dairy is of local historic significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it Significant?
Historically, the former Malvern Dairy is significant as a now rare surviving example of the model suburban dairies established in the 1930s when tighter controls were placed on the processing and supply of milk. Small dairies were once common in residential areas of Melbourne but were made obsolete by improved refrigerated transport and the shift towards industrial scale diary production.
The former Malvern Dairy also provides evidence of the development of essential services associated with a major phase of suburban development of Malvern East in the inter-war period.
The Victorian villa demonstrates how early dairies operated as independent family-run businesses with the dairyman living on site. This tradition was discontinued in the post war period when larger, centralised dairies become the norm.
The former Malvern Dairy is architecturally significance as a good representative example of an interwar suburban dairy with somewhat unusual design characteristics that set it apart from the more common Moderne style interwar dairies. It exhibits some of the principal elements of dairy design including the loading platform at the front and the side servery. The adjacent villa is a fine example of a late-Victorian Italianate style residence demonstrating a high level of integrity. The mature Canary Island palms in the front setback contribute to the early character of the place and provide an attractive setting for the dairy.
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Former Malvern Dairy - Physical Description 1
The former Malvern Dairy site at 37-39 Clarence Street, Malvern East is occupied by a late-Victorian villa, a c1930 dairy, and outbuildings. The site also has a reproduction cast iron palisade front fence and three mature Canary Island palms in the front setback. The palm trees can bee seen in a 1945 aerial photograph and may have been planted in the interwar period.[1]
The former dairy is a single-storey redbrick building with a hipped tiled roof that projects out over a loading platform at the front of the building. The roof is supported by Tuscan order columns located at either end of the loading platform. The front elevation contains a central, part-glazed timber door, flanked on either side by arched window openings. The north elevation has a cantilevered awning over the side entry.
The rear half of the dairy is an addition that appears to have been constructed prior to 1946 using similar materials and detailing. A plainer weatherboard clad skillion roofed addition is located at the very rear of the building.
Notwithstanding the sympathetic and low-key rear addition, the dairy exterior remains largely intact to its c1930 state. The cooling tower has been demolished and a brick balustrade has been constructed above the front loading platform. It is also apparent from the 1933 photograph above that the window opening on the right hand side of the front door was once a blind arch, containing a 'Malvern Dairy' sign.
The villa is a handsome, single-storey Victorian Italianate style building with bi-chrome brick walls and hipped slate roof. The villa's symmetrical front elevation is screened by an elegant cast iron verandah. Although it was rebuilt in the recent past, the verandah is very sympathetic to the early character of the residence. Aside from the verandah, and some modest brick and weatherboard rear additions, the villa exterior appears to remain substantially intact.
A garage is located at the rear of the site, where the c1930 stables once stood. It is a utilitarian, skillion roofed structure with timber and steel garage doors and red-brick walls that may be a remnant of the stables.
[1] University of Melbourne Library Map Collection:
www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/maps/historical/1945melb/l_sheets/849a3c.jpgFormer Malvern Dairy - Local Historical Themes
The former Malvern Dairy, 37-39 Clarence Street, Malvern East, illustrates the following theme, as explained in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, 2006):
6.1.3 Dairying
Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - Stables and Dairies in the City of Stonnington - Heritage Citations Project
Author: Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd
Year: 2011
Grading: A2
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CAULFIELD RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1665
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PRIMARY SCHOOL NO.2586Victorian Heritage Register H1710
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CENTRAL PARK CONSERVATORYVictorian Heritage Register H0908
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