Lygon Street Precinct B
398-406 LYGON STREET, BRUNSWICK EAST, MORELAND CITY
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Statement of Significance
The Lygon Street Precinct B area comprises a row of single storey shops terminating in a two storey shop on the east side of Lygon Street between Hickford and Queen Streets. It comprises the buildings from 398-406 Lygon Street, and a bluestone pitcher lane at the rear of the row. The row of shops was built at the same time (1929-1926), and exhibit similar restrained classical detailing and features throughout all buildings. The precinct is in good to fair condition, and despite the loss of details and some alterations, retains a fair degree of integrity.
- The row itself which is a cohesive unit stretching from Queen to Hickford Streets
- The bluestone access lane at the rear of the row
- The intact shopfront at 398 and 406 Lygon Street
- The intact cantilever verandahs at 400 and 406 Lygon Street (NB: the verandahs at Nos. 402 & 404 have been replaced in kind)
- The intact parapet form and design of 398 &402-406
- Roofs concealed by parapets
- Both corner buildings actively respond to their location
- The two storey form of the auction room on the corner provides an anchor to the row and embellishes on the details used on the other shops.
- The attached form shops with no front setbacks and identical facade widths creating a repetitive module.
- The limited number of modern internally illuminated signs
- Signage generally located on parapet, verandah fascia or beneath verandah
The Lygon Street Precinct B is of historical and aesthetic significance to the City of Merri-bek.
The Lygon Street Precinct B is aesthetically significant as a rare surviving example of a row of interwar row of shops that stretches from street to street. The corner buildings respond to their location, and the two-storey building provides an anchor to the row and embellishes on the details used on the other shops. It is of further aesthetic significance as a good representative example of a cohesively designed row of interwar shops with classical details. The use of restrained classical details, particularly Greek inspired, is one of the markers of 1920s commercial architecture. (Criterion B & E)
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Lygon Street Precinct B - Physical Description 1
This precinct occupies the east side of Lygon Street, between Hickford and Queen streets, Brunswick East. It comprises a row of late-1920s commercial buildings which were designed in a simplified Classical Revival style, as was popular during the 1920s. The shops were built as a whole, both physically with party walls, and in their detail and presentation. Each red-brick shop has a flat parapet articulated with piers at either end, brick dentils below the simple render cornice, and flat panels of render both for signage and as a decorative feature. The single-storey shops at Nos 400-406 have a continuous cantilevered verandah.
The shops at each end, Nos 398 and 406, respond to their corner sites with a corner entry and chamfered corner of the building. Shop No 406 retains its original metal-framed shopfront and highlights.
No 398, the former Auction Rooms, provides a visual anchor to the row, as it is two-storey and has more wall space to elaborate on the same palette of Classical Revival details. The Lygon Street elevation is divided into two uneven bays by flat render panels, suggesting pilasters. The parapet is also divided into multiple panels, unlike the single-storey shops that have a single panel each. A recessed balcony (infilled) has brick dentils below it, echoing the dentils beneath the cornices. The upper-storey windows are domestic in scale and style, with six-over-one sashes. There is a residential entrance on Hickford Street, recessed beneath an arch.
Alterations include removal of the cantilevered verandah and enclosure of the recessed balcony to No 398; replacement of shopfronts to Nos 398-404; and the stripping of all details from the parapet of No 400 (cornice, dentils, render panels). No 400 is also in a neglected condition.
Condition: The condition of the precinct overall is fair - good, with there being a variance in the condition of the buildings within the precinct.
Integrity: The precinct retains a fair degree of integrity, retaining much of the essential built form of the 1930s shops despite numerous removals and stripping of detail.
Heritage Study and Grading
Moreland - Lygon Street Heritage Study Stage 2
Author: Context Pty Ltd
Year: 2012
Grading: Local
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BRUNSWICK FIRE STATION AND FLATSVictorian Heritage Register H0916
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H1219
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FORMER HOOPERS STOREVictorian Heritage Register H1296
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