HIGH STREET (PRESTON) PRECINCT
274-88 and 317-41 HIGH STREET, PRESTON, DAREBIN CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The High Street (Preston) precinct, comprising the inter-war commercial buildings at 274-88 and 317-41 High Street is a product of the post First World War development boom in Preston. The first shops were constructed here in the mid-1920s and the precinct was fully developed by the early 1930s. The following elements contribute to the significance of the precinct:
- The relatively intact upper facades of the buildings constructed in the period from c.1925 to c.1945, including features visible from High Street.
- The front facade and Bruce Street facade of the building at 317 High Street, and recessed shopfront and terrazzo entrance floor at 333 High Street.
Non-original alterations and additions to the buildings are not significant.
How is it significant?
The High Street (Preston) precinct is of local historic significance to Darebin City.
Why is it significant?
Historically, the High Street (Preston) precinct is the most intact group of inter-war shops within the Preston High Street shopping centre and provides evidence of the commercial development associated with the post First World War boom when the population of Preston trebled within a decade. It illustrates the significant development that led to Preston being proclaimed a city by 1927 and consolidated the status of High Street in the area surrounding the town hall as the commercial and civic heart of Preston. (AHC criteria A.4, D.2)
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HIGH STREET (PRESTON) PRECINCT - Physical Description 1
This is an interwar commercial precinct, which is situated in the High Street, Preston shopping centre immediately north of the David/Bruce streets intersection. It comprises single and double-storey early twentieth century brick attached commercial buildings. On the east side of High Street, between Dalgety Street and David Street, is a group of eight two-storey 1920s shops (see Figure 1). Their original ground floor shopfronts have been removed and replaced with metal frame glazed shopfronts. The facade of the upper level of this group of shops is more intact, with original mouldings, such as the pediment surrounding the windows and to the piers separating each shop, however the original windows have been removed and replaced with new fenestration. The exception to this is the shop on the corner of David and High streets, which retains on its upper levels, on both elevations, its original timber frame double-hung sash windows with leadlight upper sashes. The upper facade detailing, and in particular the intact upper level windows and its splayed corner to the corner shop, and the two central shops in this group with their elevated parapets, are the notable elements in this otherwise relatively utilitarian complex.
On the west side of High Street, immediately north of Bruce Street, is a group of single and double-storey shops, built during the early twentieth century (see Figure 2). Stylistically, it is an eclectic mix of buildings that range from Edwardian commercial/retail buildings to Moderne shops. The original shopfronts have been removed and replaced in recent decades with metal frame glazed shopfronts, but the upper levels and parapets of the shops in this group are relatively intact. The shop at No. 333 has an early recessed shopfront with a terrazzo floor inset with the name 'Ladyland'.
Heritage Study and Grading
Darebin - Darebin Heritage Study
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2011
Grading: Local
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