HOUSE (GIRRAWHEEN)
125-133 MCIVOR ROAD EAST BENDIGO, GREATER BENDIGO CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The property Girrahween at 125-133 McIvor Road comprising a house built c.1925 and its garden setting are significant.
How is it significant?
125-13 McIvor Road is of historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Greater Bendigo.
Why is it significant?
The house located on a rise at 125-133 McIvor Road is historically significant in its associations with the Beischer family, many of whom were prominent community members in Bendigo during the late nineteenth and early-twentieth Centuries. The building was constructed as the private residence of Albert Ludwig Beischer, a dentist who practiced out of offices in the City's commercial centre at Pall Mall. Albert was well known in his profession and contributed to the progression of dentistry as a medical science. The adjacent land parcel at 2-4 Doak Street contains the private residence of Albert's brother William Beischer, likewise a dentist, who built the home shortly after his marriage in 1928. Their father Wilhelm Beischer and his wife Henrietta also had a home at McIvor Road, known as 'Bignold Park', and ran a bakery at 4 Weeroona Avenue for several years before passing the family business on to their son Frederick. The homes of sisters Medora and Laura Katerina were situated in nearby Bobs Street, making the area very closely associated with the Beischer family.
The house built in 1925, most probably to a design by architect George Austen, and the garden laid out to complement the house, is an excellent example of the high quality Inter-war development in Bendigo. This period in Bendigo's history is demonstrated through some fine housing undertaken for prominent professional and business people. Residential development along McIvor Road was part of the expansion of Bendigo away from the Victorian and Edwardian era streets associated with mining and other industries. The property is a landmark near the top of the hill leading out of Bendigo and the house is complemented by the large garden setting of a comparable era to the house.
The house is an unusually large and intact Inter-war dwelling with Classical Revival features including porches supported by triple square pillars and multi-paned sash windows. The manner in which the house has been designed to sit on the large site through the introduction of two front elevations is notable. Particular features of the design include the use of face brick and render and the concrete tile hipped roof with restrained detail to the rendered chimneys. The pair of faceted bay windows and the recessed porch to the west elevation are notable, as is the original finely detailed door and window joinery. The glazing to the porch could be removed to reinstate the original west elevation should this be considered to be desirable. The quality of the design is similar to other residences known to have been designed by Architect George Austen, and he was known to have designed other houses for close family members.
The garden is a fine example of a layout and plantings contemporary with the design of the house, and still retaining aspects of hard landscaping in steps, pathways, driveway and rock garden edging. A lawn tennis court is also a notable part of the garden design. Some plantings are very typical of the 1920s and 30s such as the palm tree and shrubberies. Whilst the garden has lost significant mature plantings in recent years, there is still enough to the layout and some plantings that reflect the original design intent. (Criterion E)-
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HOUSE (GIRRAWHEEN) - Physical Description 1
The property known as Girrahween is located on 2.5 acres on the McIvor Highway. It comprises a large Inter-war bungalow with Classical Revival features. Built from face brick and render, it is surrounded by a garden that was laid out around the time of the construction of the house. The house is sited to take advantage of views to the west and the north over Bendigo city and has been designed with two main frontages raised above the ground level and with steps leading to the garden.
To the north, a flat roofed porch supported on square columns (tripled at the corners) is the central feature of the house's elevation. The roof form is hipped and clad with concrete tiles. Pairs of double-hung sash windows flank the central recessed doorway with sidelights. To the west the house is symmetrically composed around a large recessed porch (with later glazing) set between a pair of four sided bay windows. Three plain cement rendered chimneys are a feature of the roofscape. A set of central steps lead to the garden. A flat roofed section at the rear of the house is a later addition. The door and window joinery is particularly well detailed and has also been derived from Classical Revival patterns.
The extensive garden is laid out with a gravel driveway that curves up the hill in and ends at some outbuildings at the rear of the house. There is a grass tennis court with wire fence, a terraced lawn and concrete steps between rock-bordered shrubberies. A small palm tree and an oak provide specimen plantings to the garden. The site is still covered with a number of native and exotic trees; however a number of trees also succumbed to drought and have had to be removed, according to the current owner.
The site is bordered by 2-4 Doak Street which until recently had an extensive garden joining with that of Girrahween, however this site has recently been subdivided (2015) and a new driveway gives access to lots behind these two properties.
Heritage Study and Grading
Greater Bendigo - White Hills & East Bendigo Heritage Study 2016
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2015
Grading: Local
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