Lygon Street Precinct E
38-114 & 51-117 LYGON STREET AND 151 BARKLY STREET BRUNSWICK EAST, MERRI-BEK CITY
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Statement of Significance
Elements which contribute to the significance of the precinct include (but are not limited to):
- Victorian, Edwardian and interwar commercial buildings and shops (many originally built with living accommodation over the shop or at the rear).
- The row of single storey residences dating to 1884 at No 38-42 Lygon Street
- The generally high integrity of upper level facades and original detailing and finishes typically comprising face brick or render.
- The intact shopfronts at 117(part), 88-90,106, 100a and 115 Lygon Street
- The intact verandahs at 38-42, 86, 103, 109-109a, 113 Lygon Street
- The traces of early painted signage 'Ironmongers' on the facade at No. 56 Lygon Street
- The unpainted render finish on buildings at 103-07 and 108-112 Lygon Street
- Retail buildings with roofs concealed by parapets
- The consistent one or two storey scale of retail buildings.
- The attached form of retail buildings with no front setbacks and similar facade widths creating a repetitive module.
- The form and fabric of surviving early shopfronts, typically built with large timber or metal framed display windows above stall boards, smaller highlight windows (often with leadlight glazing), glazed ceramic tile surfaces, and recessed doorways.
- The limited number of modern internally illuminated signs.
- Road alignments and allotment patterns resulting from nineteenth and early twentieth century subdivisions.
- The single storey store room at the rear of 92-92a Lygon Street is not significant
- Lygon Street: 51-53, 5761, 65-73, 74-74A, 93-97, 99, 99B & 104
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Lygon Street Precinct E - Physical Description 1
This precinct is situated at the south end of Lygon Street, Brunswick East. On the east side of the street, the precinct stretches from just north of Brunswick Road to four blocks north at Edward Street. On the west side, the precinct is only the block between Weston and Edward streets.
The precinct can be divided into two distinct sections. The first, from Brunswick Road to Weston, is the first part of Lygon Street to be opened and it is quite wide and has a consistent Victorian character on the east side. The Quarry Hotel (No 101) and the pharmacy at No 92 provide a two-storey gateway marking a narrowing of Lygon Street as it continues northward. This second section, Weston to Edward Street, continues a two-storey scale on the west side, while most of the east side is single-storey. This part of the precinct is much more diverse in building dates and styles, ranging from simple Victorian shops to interwar buildings.
The southern section of the precinct was predominantly constructed by 1890, as shown on MMBW maps. Even those buildings that date to early in the 20th century, such as Nos 76, & 88-90, are quite similar in architectural expression to their Victorian neighbours. The only exception being the single-storey brick and render shop at No 60 which is clearly of 20th-century origin. There is a mix of single and two-storey buildings starting at No 40, which becomes consistently two-storey from No 76.
While the precinct is almost solely commercial, its mixed-use origins are demonstrated by a row of single-storey houses dating to 1884 at Nos 38-42, which were built along with a two-storey shop (No 44). Clyde Villa, a double-fronted house at No 42, is particularly distinguished by its fine parapet detail and intact verandah (cast-iron columns and frieze, biscuit tiles), while the whole row retains its palisade fences. The entire row has identical balustraded parapets with a shell motif at the centre. Further north, No 86 of 1887 also has a balustraded parapet with an exaggeratedly raised centre panel. This building is also distinguished by the upper-storey balcony on the facade, with a concave roof and cast-iron balustrade.
The two shops at the corner of Barkly Street are an early (non-identical) pair of single-storey shops with chamfered corners and very simple, low parapets. There is only other single-storey Victorian shop at No 66, also quite simple in its details. There are quite a few simple two-storey shops (Nos 50, 56-58, 68-70, 78-84), all of which have rendered facades and a semi-circular motif at the centre of a solid parapet. Nos 78-84 are distinguished by their round-headed arched windows to the first floor.
The Pharmacy at No 92 is a landmark both due to its prominent corner location, with the Weston Street elevation entirely visible when looking north from the wide part of Lygon Street, and also as one of the more ornate Victorian two-storey buildings with a balustraded parapet which addresses the corner. The first-storey windows are also distinguished as they have round arched heads and triangular and arched aedicules. A Palladian window faces Lygon Street. Opposite it is the Quarry Hotel, a two-storey building of three pavilions, extensively renovated in the 1920s. Each pavilion has its own stepped parapet above a heavy cornice, and the windows are domestic-type six-over-one sashes.
To the north of these two landmark buildings is a varied collection of single and two-storey buildings. Many of them are Victorian in era, with the earliest a pair of single-storey shops at the corner of Edward Street, Nos 115-117. While No 115 is quite simple, No 117 addresses the corner with a chamfer and arched pediment over the corner door. On the other side of the street is a row of three single-storey Victorian shops, Nos 98-100A, which also have an arched motif at the centre of the parapet, as does the two-storey No 102 (probably built together). No 106 is the final Victorian commercial building, with a triangular motif at the centre of the parapet and faux balustrades. No 96, a single-storey shop, also with a triangular parapet motif, is similar in form to the Victorian shops, but dates to the first decade of the 20th century.
The row of three two-storey shops at Nos 103-107 are more typical of their c1900 date, with face brick walls, render dressings and flat scalloped surrounds to the first-storey windows.
The final group are the 1920s buildings, ranging from the very plain, single-storey shop at No 113, through the handsome Centreway Buildings (Nos 108-114), to the idiosyncratic two-storey building at Nos 109-109A. This final building is an unusual Arts & Crafts building finished in roughcast render with bullnose red brick details, including two oculus windows and a segmental arched opening to a recessed balcony (since infilled). The Centreway Buildings are a row of four single-storey shops in red brick with render dressings. They have simple classical details to the parapets including engaged piers between shops and dentils.
Intact shopfronts of note include a partial 19th-century timber shopfront at No 117; early-20th century green Art Nouveau tiles at Nos 88-90; an interwar metal-framed shopfront at No 106 (a Victorian building); and sympathetic postwar shopfronts at Nos 100A and 115. Intact verandahs include posted verandahs at Nos 38-42, 86, (92 is a reproduction), and103; and original cantilevered verandahs at Nos 109-109A, and 113. The shop at No 56 retains traces of early painted signage ('Ironmongers') on its facade. Buildings which retain unpainted render include Nos 103-107 and 108-112.
Alterations include the replacement of all shopfronts and verandahs not mentioned above, replacement of the first-floor window sashes to Nos 44, 50, and replacement of arched windows with large steel windows (as well as removal of parapet detail) at No 84. An unsympathetic upper floor extension has been built on No 114. Brick has been overpainted at Nos 40, 62-64, and 114.
Condition: The precinct is in good to very good condition overall
Integrity: The precinct retains a very good degree of integrity, much of the second storey is highly intact, as are a number of original shopfronts and verandahs. There are limited noncontributory elements within the precinct.
Heritage Study and Grading
Moreland - Lygon Street Heritage Study Stage 2
Author: Context Pty Ltd
Year: 2012
Grading: Local
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COTTAGEVictorian Heritage Register H0594
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IRON HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0665
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TERRACEVictorian Heritage Register H0076
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