State School No. 1490
9-11 Alfred Crescent, FITZROY NORTH VIC 3065 - Property No 237635
North Fitzroy Precinct
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Statement of Significance
This site was removed from the Government Building Register on 21 May 1998 and placed in the Yarra Planning Scheme. The Statement below was provided to the City of Yarra by Heritage Victoria on 25 May 1998.
The site is also subject to a Landscape Citation, which is provided after the Government Building Register Assessment Report.
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ASSESSMENT REPORT
NAME: North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490
LOCATION: Alfred Crescent, North Fitzroy 3068 FILE NO: 602334
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA: Yarra City
CONTEXTUAL HISTORY
Fitzroy
The suburbs of Fitzroy and Collingwood were originally known as the parish of Newtown. On February 1838, a land sale was held in Sydney of 25-acre lots for an average of £7 per acre. These were further subdivided by the purchasers and re-sold. In 1842 the area was officially named Collingwood after a British admiral. The area east of Smith Street became known as East Collingwood. Up till about 1851 it was almost a rural area with a few cottages, a few hotels and factories and a few homes of larger land-holders along the Yarra. Later it became an industrial centre with many factories, tanneries and other noxious trades on the Yarra as well as many workers cottages. The western area was re-named Fitzroy and by 1873 East Collingwood had become just Collingwood. Fitzroy, on the other hand, became a residential suburb with many early houses, elegant terraces and a layout incorporating some squares and public gardens.
The inner suburbs declined when the extension of the railway made the outer suburbs more attractive to professional and business men. By the end of the 1880s, Fitzroy was in decline. Large houses in Nicholson Street and Victoria Parade became boarding houses. Some houses were sub-divided and rented by their owners. Slum-dwellers who had lived in Little Bourke Street were forced out and moved into South Fitzroy. North and South Fitzroy developed in different ways. North Fitzroy remained largely a residential suburb, while South Fitzroy by the 1890s was a run;' down depressed area. In the 1930s the unemployed flocked back to Fitzroy and Collingwood in search of cheap rents. Waves of migration made Fitzroy and Carlton a half-way place for newly arrived ethnic groups. In the 1950s and 1960s, slum clearance policies demolished scores of houses in South Fitzroy and replaced them with high-rise tower blocks of Housing Commission flats. In the 1980s more than seventy ethnic groups were living in Fitzroy, and the suburb was transformed yet again by young, middle class newcomers, who wanted inner-city living.
The Architect
Bastow, Henry Robert (1839-1920) was born on 3 May 1839. He migrated to Australia from Bridport, Dorset. He practised as an architect and surveyor in Tasmania in 1863 and is known to have designed the Union Chapel in Hobart. He took up an appointment with the Victorian Public Service on 30 April1866, working as a draughtsman for the Victorian Water Supply and later as an architect and civil engineer for the Railway Department. In 1873 he was appointed to the Education Department as head of the architecture branch.
The introduction of free compulsory and secular education in Victoria in 1872 led to a wave of building of schools all over the state. As the architect in charge of the provision of school buildings, Henry Bastow left a huge legacy to the State in the form of hundreds of schools of every type and size. Bastow was attached to the Education Department from 1873 to 1883 when he and his staff were transferred to the Public Works Department as part of the State Schools Division, By 1885 he was Senior Architect. He then had responsibility for "the design and execution of all architectural works".
Bastow supervised the design of the new Crown Law Offices in 1892. He was retrenched on 30 April 1894, when reductions in the public service were made during the economic depression. He worked as an orchardist at Harcourt until his death on 30 September 1920.
HISTORY OF PLACE
The North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490 was constructed in polychromatic brick in 1875. Additions were made in 1886-87. In 1907-08 the school had a major addition to the rear where the existing four classrooms were extended and the two larger of them were partitioned to form six new classrooms off a spinal corridor running the length of the school.
The school was remodelled in 1925-26. All the original windows on the front elevation were removed and replaced by multi-paned windows with concrete lintels at this time.
A fire destroyed the main infant wing in August 1971; five classrooms and an office were destroyed. A new main building was constructed in 1972. The old building then became the infant school.
DESCRIPTION OF PLACE:
The North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490 is a polychrome brick single storey building with a square tower and much decorative banding to the Alfred Crescent elevation. The tower retains its slate roof but the rest of the building has been re- roofed in tiles. The original windows to the facade have been removed and replaced with large multi-paned units with concrete lintels. The interior has been substantially altered and the original floor plan is no longer intact.
At the rear of the original school is a 1970s concrete block-work building which is now used as the main section of the school.
COMPARISON:
The North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490 has been placed by the Historic Government School survey in the category 4.4. Large Later Urban Gothic Asymmetrical with Square tower. The Wandiligong and Armadale schools are more intact versions of this style. They have been transferred to the Victorian Heritage Register.
RECOMMENDATION
The North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490 does not warrant inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register as it is not of State Significance and more intact examples of its type have been transferred to the Victorian Heritage Register. The building is however a good representative example of a Large Later Urban Gothic asymmetrical with square tower school design and of local significance. Of particular note is the polychrome brick-work, and the particularly elaborate tower and parapet gable at the entry which has remained much of its original decorative detail. The building is important in the North Fitzroy street-scare and continues to play and continues to play an important role in the history of Fitzroy. The North Fitzroy Primary School No. 1490 has been removed from the Government Buildings Register and included in the Heritage Overlay of the relevant Local Planning Scheme.
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Landscape Citation, 1998
Description
The grounds of the Fitzroy North Primary School contain a number of mature, exotic trees, associated with the notable Victorian school building.
Remnant Fabric (Man Made)
None noted.
Remnant Fabric (Vegetation)
The site features a number of mature exotic trees. Specimens include Pepper Tree (Schinus molle), Desert Ash (Fraxinus oxycarpa), English Elm (Ulmus procera) and a short row of Dutch Elm (Ulmus x hollandica) on the southern boundary of the site. An unusual oak tree, which appears to be a Common Oak (Quercus robur) hybrid is located in the south western section of the site. All the trees are in reasonable condition. Most of the significant trees are located in the vicinity of the old wing of the school, and native trees and shrubs are planted elsewhere, forming an effective landscape scheme.
Statement of Significance
The mature exotic trees at North Fitzroy Primary School are of local interest as early plantings associated with an important local building. The trees contribute significantly to the heritage character of the site and the surrounding precinct, and to the amenity of the neighbourhood generally.
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State School No. 1490 - Physical Description 2
North part of site is playground and buildings
State School No. 1490 - Physical Description 1
The building is constructed in red brick with some diaper patterning and bands of cream brick. The roof, formerly slate, has been replaced by Marseilles tiles.
State School No. 1490 - Integrity
not assessed
Heritage Study and Grading
Yarra - North Fitzroy Conservation Study
Author: Jacobs Lewis Vines
Year: 1978
Grading: StateYarra - Fitzroy Urban Conservation Study
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates
Year: 1992
Grading:Yarra - City of Yarra Heritage Review
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates
Year: 1998
Grading:Yarra - City of Yarra Review of Heritage Overlay Areas
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading: Local
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