Victoria St Precinct
VICTORIA STREET, BALLARAT EAST, BALLARAT CITY
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![VICTORIA STREET HERITAGE PRECINCT VICTORIA STREET HERITAGE PRECINCT](https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/vhd-images/places/000/150/126.jpg)
![VICTORIA STREET HERITAGE PRECINCT VICTORIA STREET HERITAGE PRECINCT](https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/vhd-images/places/000/150/126.jpg)
Statement of Significance
A.3Importance in exhibiting unusual richness or diversity of built landscapes and cultural features.
A.4 & H.1 Importance for association with events, developments, cultural phases and individuals which have had a significant role in the human occupation and evolution of the region.
The Victoria Street Precinct is architecturally and aesthetically significant at a LOCAL level.(AHC criteria D.2, E.1).
The Precinct is aesthetically significant as it demonstrates important visual qualities that reflect the historical, cultural and architectural development of the Precinct, and contribute to the setting of Ballarat. Victoria Street is a place of strong aesthetic value and is a significant foci of the Ballarat area and provides the setting for a variety of significant urban landmarks, a number of which can be seen from outside of the Precinct. Other attributes include the complex views across and through the precinct to other parts of Ballarat including to the northern and southern areas of East Ballarat, to Black Hill, to the Specimen Vale Creek Channel, to the city centre, and to the adjacent former civic area of the municipality of Ballarat East.
Furthermore, the visual qualities of the Precinct are specially enhanced by the continued use of the former tram shelters, and by the substantial integrity of the original engineering infrastructure, particularly as identified by the extensive network of spoon drain channels constructed of bluestone pitchers.
The Victoria Street Precinct is scientifically significant at a LOCAL level (AHC criteria C2).
(f) the place's importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.
The Victoria Street Precinct is socially significant at a LOCAL level (AHC criterion G.1).
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Victoria St Precinct - Physical Description 1
The Victoria Street Precinct is located to the east of the Ballarat City centre, within urban Ballarat. It is characterised by a heterogeneous combination of substantially intact residential buildings constructed from around the 1860s to the 1940s and interspersed with a notable collection of educational and cultural/community buildings constructed from the 1870s onwards. A small number of the residences also feature attached shops, and there is one former hotel building. The precinct is also characterised by the formal layout and mature to semi-mature tree avenues and plantings along Victoria Street, by other street tree plantings along many of the other streets in the precinct, and by scattered areas of grassed and landscaped public and private open space including McKenzie Reserve, school grounds, and a number of mature private gardens. Furthermore, the precinct is distinguished by the substantial integrity of much of its original engineering infrastructure, particularly as identified by the extensive network of spoon drain channels constructed of bluestone pitchers.
The precinct is effectively terminated at its easternmost end by Fussell Street and at its westernmost end by Humffray Street and the Bridge Mall/Bakery Hill Heritage Precinct. Running between Fussell Street and Humffray Street, Victoria Street provides a distinctive east-west oriented axis down the centre of the precinct, and forms the main eastern entry into Ballarat. The Melbourne to Ballarat railway line forms most of the northern boundary of the precinct (between Princes and Fussell Streets) and the Specimen Vale Creek Channel forms most of the southern boundary of the precinct (between Princes Street and Stawell Street).
The remaining part of the north boundary (to the west of Princes Street) is formed by a combination of the south side of part of Mair Street, the northern side of the small Public Reserve off Pearse Street, and the rear (north) boundaries of a small number of allotments facing Victoria Street adjacent to its intersection with Humffray Street North. The remaining part of the south boundary, to the east of Stawell Street, is formed by the rear (south) boundaries of the allotments facing Victoria Street, including the land belonging to the Victoria Street campus of Damascus College. To the west of Princes Street, the precinct is bordered on the south-west side by the Ballarat East Civic Heritage Precinct, which abuts Hopetoun Street on its south edge and Princes Street on its west edge.
The Victoria Street precinct extends from Humffray Street to Fussell Street, generally between the railway line and the Specimen Vale Creek channel.
Development in the Victoria Street area was hastened by the gold discoveries. Travellers from Melbourne crossed over Woodman's Hill, towards the Yarrowee Creek along ground that became the line of Eureka Street and then along the ridge line between Specimen Creek and the Yarrowee Creek which later became the line of Victoria Street. The street is the main entry point into Ballarat from Melbourne since the 1850's.
Settlements clustered around the gold leads in the area, populated mostly from the Irish community. In 1854, the western end of Victoria Street at Bakery Hill was the site of a large meeting that was the prelude to the Eureka Stockade uprising. By the late 1850's, Victoria Street had changed from a rough track to a wide thoroughfare fronted with houses and the occasional store or hotel.
The dominant tree lined character of Victoria Street commenced in the 1860's with the planting of Tasmanian Blue gums, grown from seeds obtained by Baron von Meuller. The plantings extended from Princes Street to the Caledonian Bridge. All but one was later replaced with oaks in 1891.
Throughout the 1880's - 1890's most of the streets in the area were formed and substantial bluestone drains constructed, while from the mid 1890's - 1900's, substantial investment was made into beautifying Victoria Street. The area remains mostly as surveyed in the 1870's. Allotments were mainly regular in shape but some of those in the southern section of the precinct reflect the undulating topography and tenure held under Miners Right leases for may years.
The precinct is important as it shows many original and early examples of Victorian, Federation and Inter War era residential, educational, cultural/community places built between 1860's - 1940's. The precinct is also important as the site of the earliest establishment of a place for Catholic worship in the district, being the St Alipius group of buildings.
Typically, the residential buildings, associated shops and the former hotel are single storey in height, with hipped and/or gabled roofs clad in either corrugated galvanised iron, slate or Marseilles pattern terra cotta tiles and have eaves and verandahs. Homes were generally constructed from weatherboard or brick, with unpainted brick chimneys, decorative detailing, timber doors and timber double hung or casement windows The educational and cultural/community buildings are one or two storey in height, steeper hipped or gabled roofs clad in corrugated galvanised iron, constructed from brick, bluestone or weatherboard, with timber windows and doors and complex and individual detailing and decoration.
Key landmark buildings include the former Baptist Church, former Sisters of Mercy convent, the St Alipius church, presbytery, hall and kindergarten. Other landmarks include the Ballarat East School No. 1998, the former hotel at the eastern end of Victoria Street, the road bridge and footbridge over the Buninyong branch line, the remains of the Sunshine Biscuit factory, the Old Curiosity shop at 7 Queen street.
The important visual qualities of the precinct include the formal landscape treatments in Victoria Street and the mature and juvenile street tree planting (consisting of English oak, plane, Pin Oaks, claret and other ash varieties, liquid ambers, Red Flowering Gums, Horse Chestnut, ornamental plum and Box Elders), the grass/gravel road shoulders, open grassed landscaped private and public open spaces and private gardens with mature canopy trees. The landscaped and treed areas give the precinct a garden setting, particularly along Victoria Street. The intact bluestone channels, gutters and kerbs, early short span integrated concrete spoon drains and asphalt footpaths are scientifically important as they show the development of Ballarat's East engineering infrastructure.
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MITRE TAVERNVictorian Heritage Register H0464
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MELBOURNE SAVAGE CLUBVictorian Heritage Register H0025
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FORMER LONDON CHARTERED BANKVictorian Heritage Register H0022
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