CHARLES STREET PRECINCT
CHARLES STREET AND 227-233 NICHOLSON STREET AND 160 PARK STREET AND 50-96 & 57-103 STAFFORD STREET ABBOTSFORD, YARRA CITY
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Statement of Significance
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CHARLES STREET PRECINCT - Physical Description 1
brick and timber workers' cottages, residential heritage streetscapes, bluestone side and rear lanes, early civic buildings
CHARLES STREET PRECINCT - Physical Description 2
core of early civic buildings; substantially intact timber and masonry late 19th and early 20th century workers' housing; industrial buildings in Gipps, Yarra and Studley Streets; early street, lane and allotment layouts; original bluestone infrastructure, kerbs and guttering; mature street trees; open drain between Nicholson and Charles Streets
CHARLES STREET PRECINCT - Physical Description 3
The Charles Street Precinct is a predominantly residential precinct which lies to the east and north of the civic hub created by St Phillip's Church (demolished), the Collingwood Town Hall, Post Office, Court House, RSL Hall, the former Church of Christ Tabernacle (now the Collingwood Library), the Senior Citizens' Centre, Maternal and Child Health Centre and Gahan Reserve. The residential component is comprised of Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes of central Abbotsford. In contrast to this generally modest worker's housing is the group of institutional buildings in Hoddle and Stanton streets, the centrepiece of which is the Town Hall, which dominates the Collingwood Flat and which is visible from much of the north-east of the municipality.
The most intact Victorian and Edwardian streetscapes in Abbotsford occur in the block bounded by Vere, Nicholson, Gipps and Park Streets. This area, which has been hardly eroded by recent development, forms the residential core of the Precinct.
The housing comprises largely 19th and early 20th single-storey timber and brick cottages dating from the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Studley, Nicholson, Hunter and Park streets contain predominantly Victorian cottages, with a minority of Edwardian residences, both attached and detached, but predominantly single-storey. Buildings of note in Park Street include the Victorian single-fronted detached timber cottages at Nos. 106-116; the single-storey single-fronted brick terraces at Nos. 124-126, which have an unusual curved parapet; and Culnare Terrace, a brown and cream bichrome brick double-storey terrace with former corner shop, dating from 1887. An early house on Nicholson Street is No. 233, which is visible on the 1858 Hodkinson map of East Collingwood. Its current footprint is shown on the 1901 MMBW plan as 'Cypress Villa'. It has a small gabled section to the rear and a larger front section with a low skillion roof. This front section has been altered, but corresponds to the footprint on the 1901 plan.
Yarra, Vere, Gipps and Abbotsford streets are predominantly 19th century in origin. In Abbotsford Street, No. 12, on the north-west corner of Hunter Street, is a rendered brick corner shop building with a bluestone plinth and balustraded parapet. Ellesmere House, at 128A Vere Street, is a double-storey double-fronted tuckpointed red brick terrace with unpainted rendered side walls, notable for its shallow arched original side coach entrance. No. 37 Yarra Street, a single-storey red brick former boot factory, is typical of the industrial buildings of the precinct. Of note in Gipps Street is the very modest unparapeted single-storey brick terrace at Nos. 169-181, several dwellings of which retain their outside lavatories and night soil hatches. Of note in St Phillips Street is No. 28, a single-storey double-fronted asymmetrical late Victorian polychromatic brick house with timber verandah posts and cast iron lacework frieze. The asymmetrical Victorian cottage at 4 Abbotsford Street has unusual verandah frieze detailing and retains its original slate roof.
Stafford Street, at the northern edge of the Precinct, was about half developed during the 19th century with brick and timber cottages and terraces, with another third of the houses are gable-fronted Edwardians, and a few from the early inter-war years. Of interest is an early terrace at Nos. 57-61 with a continuous roof, indicating it was built before party walls were required. The duplex houses at Nos. 94-96 have particularly ornate cornices and cast-iron verandah friezes featuring a crown motif.
Charles Street is perhaps the most architecturally distinguished in the Precinct, containing a number of notable terraces. Easton Terrace (Nos. 138-158) is a double-storey polychromatic brick terrace, whilst Royal Terrace (Nos. 139-143) is a row of three double-storey polychromatic terraced houses, all of which retain their face brick facades and bluestone and iron palisade front fences. Two retain their unpainted render finish to their balustraded parapets. Linda Terrace (Nos. 145-153) is a single-storey row of relatively tall, slightly elevated single fronted polychromatic brick houses.
Typical of the Precinct with regard to architectural style and intactness is 128 Charles Street, a very modest single-storey double-fronted timber cottage with a transverse gabled roof, and altered verandah. No. 129 is a late Victorian single-storey single-fronted timber cottage with a timber verandah frieze and wrought iron front fence, whilst No. 124, a double-fronted Victorian timber cottage, has an unusual inter-war wrought iron fence.
Raphael Street contains a number of interesting buildings, including No. 17, an unusual two-storey bluestone and brick house, and Milric Cottage, the bluestone and cream brick cottage at No. 35, and a number of single storey brick terraces.
Traditional street planting in the Precinct includes Platanus in Gipps, Nicholson, Stanton and Hoddle streets. Studley, Yarra, Vere and Charles streets contain small natives, including Eucalyptus and Melaleuca, whilst Abbotsford Street contains a mix of the two.
Within the Precinct are three public open spaces. Gahan Reserve, bounded by Vere, Park and Stanton streets and the railway line, contains six tall Phoenix canariensis and a number of Platanus, and has geometrically laid out paths. Within the Reserve is the Maternal and Child Health Centre. Across the railway line to the west, on Vere Street, is a small reserve containing natives and Schinus molle. On the east side of Nicholson Street is Browns Reserve.
Traditional street elements retained include bluestone pitched lanes, kerbs and gutters and asphalt footpaths in Charles and Gipps streets, and asphalt footpaths in Studley, Abbotsford, Hunter, Stafford, Yarra, Vere, Nicholson and Park streets, which all have concrete kerbs and gutters. An unusual narrow open drain of bluestone pitchers, thought to be unique within the municipality, connects Nicholson and Charles streets, running between houses.
Heritage Study and Grading
Yarra - City of Yarra Review of Heritage Overlay Areas
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading:Yarra - City of Yarra Heritage Review
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates
Year: 1998
Grading:Yarra - City of Collingwood Conservation Study
Author: Andrew Ward & Associates
Year: 1995
Grading:Yarra - City of Collingwood Conservation Study
Author: Andrew Ward & Associates
Year: 1989
Grading:Yarra - Heritage Review of Predefined Areas in Abbotsford & Collingwood
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2015
Grading:
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FORMER CONVENT OF THE GOOD SHEPHERDVictorian Heritage Register H0951
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COLLINGWOOD TOWN HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0140
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0142
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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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