Ozone Hotel (formerly Baillieu House), 42 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff
42 Gellibrand Street QUEENSCLIFF, QUEENSCLIFFE BOROUGH
North Gellibrand Street Precinct
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Statement of Significance
Statement of Significance as recorded under the Queenscliff Heritage Study 2009
Following is the Heritage Victoria statement of significance:
What is significant?
The Ozone Hotel, formerly known as Baillieu House, was built in 1881 for James George Baillieu. It was designed by Melbourne architect William J Ellis and constructed by Thomas Dally. The hotel is a large and grand two storey stuccoed brick building that had two major wings added to it during the early 1880s. The building features an expansive two storeyed cast iron verandah and balcony, and a four storeyed tower.
How is it significant?
The Ozone Hotel is of social, architectural and historical significance to Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The Ozone Hotel, once referred to as the "Queen of Watering Places", is of social significance for its associations with wealthy Victorian society around the turn of the century who regarded Queenscliff as a fashionable summer holiday resort, particularly as it was within easy reach of Melbourne after the opening of the Geelong-Queenscliff railway in 1879 and the introduction of paddle steamers to transfer passengers from Melbourne by sea. The building's erection is important as it reflects the response to increased leisure income and time that occurred during the 1880s. The location on an elevated boulevard overlooking the sea represents the activities of holiday makers who took advantage of the area to swim, fish and rock hop.
The hotel is of architectural significance as a fine example of a three-storey picturesque Italianate styled building, asymmetrically composed and dominated by a French Renaissance tower with a mansard roof and widow's walk. The design of the building is important as it gives priority to the high quality residential facilities accessed from the building's front rather than the drinking facilities that are discreetly accessed via a side entry.
The hotel is of historical significance for its association with James George Baillieu, patriarch of the prominent Baillieu family, members of which were notable as financiers, politicians, pastoralists and racehorse owners. The building's change of name in 1887 to the Ozone Hotel is of interest as it reflects the connection with the British-built paddle steamer of the same name which was used to transfer passengers between Melbourne and Queenscliff.
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Ozone Hotel (formerly Baillieu House), 42 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Physical Description 1
Originally the stuccoed brick building extended its three levels over a rectangular plan; the northern return bay and dining room being completed early in 1883.(15) The adjacent summer residence was free standing and had an aspect to Gellibrand Street; now it is joined to the Ozone and is hidden behind another house built on Gellibrand Street. Externally, the original block has changed little with the exception of the loss of fishscale slating to the tower roof, the cast-iron finials and cresting to the roof ridges, general paintwork, the absence of the balustrade panels to the ground level verandah and the flag pole. The front picket fence has gone as have the corrugated iron side-fences and the Norfolk Island pines. Internally extensive removal of plaster and some original partitioning have left only the stair cases, some ceilings, most bedrooms and the added dining room in near to original conditions. The latter is a large space with the only decorative devices being a coffered plaster ceiling with panelled beam soffits and plaster roses to each ceiling bay.
The Ozone Hotel is a successful blend of the French Renaissance and the Italian Renaissance palazzo styles. The tower, with its mansard roof and widow's walk, provides a termination for the two-level cast iron verandah. It also provides a major element in what was seen as the major secondary facade, as viewed from down Gellibrand Street and elsewhere in the town. The verandah iron is intact with the exception of the intermediate balusters; the balustrade panels being similar to a pattern registered by Angus Maclean in 1877. The panelled friezes, with their centre roundels, and the painted posts and brackets, present an extensive showcase of the possibilities of cast iron.
Ozone Hotel (formerly Baillieu House), 42 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Physical Description 2
Extract from the 2009 study
The Ozone is a substantial late-Victorian hotel complex situated on the west side of Gellibrand Street, mid-block between Hobson and Stokes Streets. With Lathamstowe, immediately to its south, it forms a complementary pair of substantial Victorian buildings in this part of Gellibrand Street, and forms, with the Queenscliff and Esplanade hotels, a group of substantial Victorian hotels in this street that face over the foreshore reserve towards Port Phillip Bay.
The main building in the complex is a three-storey rendered brick structure setback from Gellibrand Street. A two-storey cast iron verandah extends across the street-facing elevation and returns along part of the side (north) elevation terminating at the base of a tower at the centre of the latter elevation. The tower has four stages with arched fenestration in each and is capped with a bellcast roof clad in slate tile. It is topped by a viewing platform with an iron railing and flagpole. The main hotel entrance is at the base of the tower. The remainder of the main building has a hipped roof clad in slate tile with shallow eaves. Along the ridge of the roof is a cast iron ridge capping.
Attached to the rear of the main building in the complex is a two-storey rendered brick wing with a hipped roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting. A single-storey weatherboard wing with a hipped roof clad in corrugated galvanised steel sheeting is connected to the main building by an enclosed walkway and extends in front of this two-storey rendered brick wing. Both of these wings are partially concealed from view from Gellibrand Street by a modest single-storey Victorian weatherboard cottage, which has been altered in recent years.
At the time of the physical survey, the complex was in the process of being converted into apartments. This development includes the construction of a new building at the rear of the site.
Ozone Hotel (formerly Baillieu House), 42 Gellibrand Street, Queenscliff - Intactness
GOOD
Heritage Study and Grading
Queenscliffe - Queenscliffe Urban Conservation Study
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates P/L, Architects
Year: 1982
Grading:Queenscliffe - Queenscliffe Heritage Study
Author: Lovell Chen
Year: 2009
Grading:
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LATHAMSTOWEVictorian Heritage Register H1052
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PILOTS COTTAGESVictorian Heritage Register H1618
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ROSENFELDVictorian Heritage Register H1134
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'ELAINE'Boroondara City
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-oonahYarra City
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..eld HouseYarra City
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