Hornby St/Somerset Place, McIlwick St
Hornby Street WINDSOR, Stonnington City
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Hornby Street Precinct, Windsor, is a residential area of late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings developed adjacent to, and incorporating, the Presentation College and Prahran Windsor Primary School. Development in the area largely occurred through the 1870s, predating the land boom, although consolidation of the area to its current arrangement continued into the 1880s and beyond. Some important buildings, most notably school buildings in Hornby Street associated with the Presentation College were constructed during the early decades of twentieth century.
Elements which contribute to the significance of the precinct include:
. Tight subdivision patterns in residential streets and lanes of the Precinct contrasted with the large institutional sites.
. High degree of intactness of the area to its c.1920s state.
. Streetscapes of straightforward residential buildings which engender a late nineteenth/early twentieth century character. These include some simple but unusually early buildings such as important early group at 15-19 Hornby Street
. Individual residences such as 19 Hornby Street, 35 and 37 McIlwrick Street, Hopetoun Terrace, at 1-11 Elm Place, Victorian dwellings at 169 and 171 Dandenong Road and others are of individual note.
. Intactness of individual dwellings to their original states. Early cottages and villas typically survive with their presentation to the street largely intact retaining verandahs and decorative detailing.
. Small garden setbacks to the street which are generally free from vehicle accommodation.
. General absence of modern infill development and prominent additions and alterations particularly in Elm Place, Frederick Street and the western sections of McIlwrick Street.
. Face brick, timber or render materiality to external walls.
. Roofscapes with chimneys and pitched roof forms clad in corrugated galvanised steel or slate tiles.
. Modest scale of the residential buildings which are typically of one storey.
. Institutional buildings of high architectural distinction, including buildings and impressive fences on the Presentation College site and the Prahran/Windsor Primary school (including 1915 additions).
. The modest factory group around the intersection of Frederick and James Street dates from c.1920 but nonetheless contributes to the character and significance of the area and an understanding of its later development.
. Bluestone kerb, channelling and paving in some streets and laneways.
How is it significant?
The McIlwrick Street Precinct, Windsor, is of local historical and aesthetic significance.
Why is it significant?
The Hornby Street Precinct, is of historical significance, retaining some of the earliest, fully-developed streets in the former City of Prahran (3.3.1 Crown Land Sales, 3.3.3 Speculation and land boomers). Development in the area generally predates the surge of urban development which swept across South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor during the land boom although some development continued into the 1880s and beyond. In addition, the precinct illustrates the way in which rapid and unplanned speculative development c.1870s often produced dense streetscapes of modest workers housing (8.5.1 Struggletown - working class housing) adjacent to grander institutional buildings (3.3.4. Uncontrolled and unplanned development). The working class origins of this area are also reflected in the small factories, which demonstrate the growth of manufacturing in and around Chapel Street during the interwar period (6.2 Creating a manufacturing industry for Victoria).
The Hornby Street area is of aesthetic significance for its largely intact collection of late nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings. The neighbourhood contains representative examples of modest cottages and villas of the period as well and a number of individually significant residential and institutional buildings. The Presentation College is of particular significance as fine Victorian Gothic building. The adjacent Windsor Prahran Primary School is a handsome towered edifice in polychrome brick and is an important building in its own right. Together, the schools create an early educational precinct around Hornby Street. Unusually tight and intact arrangements of Victorian and Edwardian housing stock, prominent institutional buildings and the contrasting grain of the two, combine to create an urban landscape that is found rarely within the Municipality. The precinct remains largely intact to its early state with few modern infill buildings or visible additions.
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Hornby St/Somerset Place, McIlwick St - Physical Description 1
Despite its location a short distance from open areas in Chapel Street and Dandenong Road, the McIlwrick Street Precinct comprises a nest of narrow streets and lanes incorporating a dense and unplanned arrangement of modest nineteenth and early twentieth century residences adjacent to large institutional sites. The area is typified by reasonably generic built form dating primarily from the 1870s although some dwellings dating from the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are scattered through the mix. The eastern sections of the Precinct are notable for Institutional buildings of high individual significance.
The City of Prahran Character and Conservation Study (1992) summarised the characteristics of the area as follows:
Many small brick and timber workers cottage were traditionally located in this area and today a large percentage of these remain, giving the feeling of the original character of this part of Windsor. In contrast, the large educational buildings of the Presentation Convent in Dandenong Road commenced, in 1874. Further east, in Hornby Street, the Windsor Primary school was erected in 1877 with subsequent expansion in 1915.[1]
Housing predominantly comprises small, single-storey cottages constructed of timber or brick with pitched roofs clad in slate or corrugated steel. Houses typically have small of no front or side setbacks. Chimneys typically survive and there form an important part of local roofscapes. Many dwellings were constructed as semi-detached pairs.
Frederick Street and Elm Place provide the most intact early streetscapes in the area. Frederick Street, incorporates a sequence of early residences along its west side. Its eastern streetscape adopts a similar arrangement but is notable for a small factory group from c.1920 at the corner of James Street and a semi-detached pair of bichromatic brick cottages at Nos 4-6 Frederick Street. Elm Place is enhanced by the substantial terrace group, Hopetoun Terrace at its intersection with McIlwrick Street. This row of six, two-storey bichromatic brick residences retains cast iron verandahs with tessellated tile aprons and palisade fences. Some buildings retain cast iron friezes and balustrade elements incorporating a crown motif. The group forms an important landmark within the local area and is one of a handful of such buildings to survive within the Municipality. Otherwise, Elm Place is comprised of polite villas dating from the mid-1880s. McIlwrick Street is more mixed and less intact but retains a, reasonably ad hoc, late nineteenth/early twentieth century character. A number of buildings of individual significance such as the polychrome brick villas at 35 and 37 McIlwrick Street contribute to the character and significance of the area. Houses in Hornby Street and Dandenong Road abut the institutional sites. These dwellings generally date from Edwardian and interwar periods although an important, and very early, group survives at 15-19 Hornby Street as does a group of substantial Victorian dwellings to the west of the College. Victorian dwellings at 169 and 171 Dandenong Road, are of individual note.
The southern sections of Hornby Street and Dandenong Road are dominated by Institutional buildings of high individual significance, most notably, the Presentation College and Prahran/Windsor Primary School. The Prahran Conservation Study, described the Primary School as follows,
The Windsor Primary School building is a tight grouping of one and two storied, steep gabled roofed sections with a polygonal protruding bay which accommodates the office. Cream brick corbelling features under the eaves and contrasts with the red brick building. This largely intact primary school building has an unusually prominent tower and central block and, together with Camp Hill Primary School (Bendigo), is one of the only two schools to employ such eaves corbelling. It is an interesting and intact Gothic composition by the school architect H.R. Bastow.
The original building at the Windsor Primary School is substantially intact although some of the original pointed arch windows have been replaced at ground level and roof vents and tower finial removed. Later additions to the south of the building are differentiated by the brickwork used.
The Study, described the Presentation College, on the opposite side of Hornby Street, as follows:
The main convent building ... was opened in 1884 ...This building was constructed in freestone with a steep slate roof in a gothic style with gable ends and pointed arched windows, arcading and entrances.
The Study made no reference to important buildings along Hornby Street. These include massive red brick elements and early rendered buildings which (in conjunction with the Prahran/Windsor Primary school) define this section of Hornby Street as an early educational precinct. The massive fence to both street frontages of the Presentation College contributes to the significance of the institution and the character of the local area.
[1] Nigel Lewis and Associates, Prahran Conservation Study, p.13/1.
Hornby St/Somerset Place, McIlwick St - Local Historical Themes
8.5.1 'Struggletown' - working-class housing in the nineteenth and early twentieth century
9.2 Developing a system of state education
Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - Prahran Conservation Study Identification of Buildings & Areas of Major Significance
Author: Nigel Lewis & Associates
Year: 1983
Grading: VariousStonnington - Conservation Review City of Prahran Volume 3: Urban Conservation Areas
Author: Context Pty Ltd
Year: 1993
Grading: Various
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PRIMARY SCHOOL NO. 1467Victorian Heritage Register H1032
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PRAHRAN TOWN HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0203
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FORMER POLICE STATION AND COURT HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0542
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"1890"Yarra City
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"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
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"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
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'Boonderoo', House and OutbuildingsGreater Bendigo City
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'Riverslea' houseGreater Bendigo City
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1 Adam StreetYarra City
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