Smythes Creek State School No.1504 (former)
606 GLENELG HIGHWAY, SMYTHES CREEK - PROPERTY NUMBER 2012281, BALLARAT CITY
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Statement of Significance
Trees which provide an important setting include Pinus radiata (Monterey Pine), Salix caprea (Pussy Willow), Salix matsudana (Tortured Willow) a hedge of Cupressocyparis x leylandii (Leyland Cypress). Also of significance is the domed brick well at the rear of the school house, and remains of an early post and rail fence.
The c1930s fibro-cement extension to the north elevation is not of significance, nor is the large modern brick residence or outbuildings located to the rear of the school.
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Smythes Creek State School No.1504 (former) - Physical Description 1
The former Smythes Creek State School No 1504 is a small brick building, containing both the schoolroom and teacher's residence. The schoolroom has triple brick walls and the residence double brick walls resting on basalt foundations, neither with a cavity. The walls have been painted many times, the earliest layers showing an oxide red limewash, suggesting that damp penetration through the brick was an early problem.
The schoolroom has a gabled facade with a timber finial and a gabled porch on the left-hand side of the facade. The doorway has a flat-arched lintel and bluestone sill (cracked) and step. The door is four-panelled with shallow mouldings. The windows are all six-over-six double-hung sashes, with flat-arched lintels and basalt sills. The one on the facade and three on the east elevation are all at a normal height, while the one on the north end is high set to allow for a chalkboard below. There is a rectangular, louvered vent with basalt sill in the apex of each gable.
A doorway was added to the north end of the schoolroom, probably when it was converted to a house, as was an internal door linking it to the residence. The external door is ledged and framed.
The teacher's residence comprises a narrow gable perpendicular to and flush with the school room facade, with a skillion behind it. There is a joint in the bricks and the foundations where the kitchen section of the skillion was constructed as an early addition. There is an external brick kitchen chimney, to the west wall of the skillion, with a band of corbelling. This chimney is identical to the chimney near the ridgeline of this wing. The residence has the same type of windows as the school room (with modern shutters added).
The gable end of the residence has an identical bargeboard, finial and louvered vent as the schoolroom. The four-panelled door is also the same as the one to the school porch.
A fibro-walled bathroom and laundry extension was made to the north side of the residence, most likely when the entire building was converted to residential use in 1930. This has been partially demolished by the present owners to make way for a link with a new house set behind the school. Care has been taken for this link to be reversible. The new house is about twice the size as the school, but has been designed to echo it in form (gabled roofs) and materials (red brick).
Behind the schoolroom is a dome brick well (with a new pump installed on it). There are also two rough fence posts at the west side of the site, near the front boundary, which indicate the original diagonal rear boundary to the school site, which date post c1874.
The school building is surrounded by mature trees, including Pussy willow (Salix cinera), Tortured Willow (Salix matsudana). A traditional perimeter planting ofMonterey Pine (Pinus radiata) survive, as does a Cypress hedge.The garden and trees provide an attractive setting and context for the former School, and have some interest as they are likely to have an association with the children of the school.
Heritage Study and Grading
Ballarat - Sebastopol Heritage Study (Stage 2)
Author: Context Pty Ltd
Year: 2015
Grading: Local
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