WEST RICHMOND RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX
HIGHETT STREET, and JIKA PLACE, and MUIR STREET, and EGAN STREET RICHMOND, YARRA CITY
West Richmond Precinct
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Statement of Significance
The West Richmond Station complex, constructed in 1901, is significant. The following buildings and other elements contribute to the significance of the place:
- The Up and Down station buildings and platforms
- The brick tunnel portal and tunnel at the Up end
- The brick and bluestone bridge abutments at the Down end
- The remnants of an early landscaping scheme surrounding the station including mature trees (Canary Island Palm and Pepper Trees) and asphalt paths with brick drains.
How it is significant?
The West Richmond Station complex is of local historic, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Yarra.
Why it is significant?
West Richmond Station complex is historically significant as tangible evidence of the final phase of development of the inner-suburban railway system in the twentieth century. (Criterion A)
West Richmond Station complex is architecturally significant as a typical railway station complex of the early twentieth century with both Up and Down station buildings, which are complemented by brick tunnel portal and bluestone and brick bridge balustrade at the Up end, the rail-over-road bridge at the Down end, which retains its original brick and bluestone abutments. The remnant mature trees are typical of the plantings used at railway stations throughout Victoria in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This siting and arrangement of the station complex between a tunnel and a railway bridge is unique within the metropolitan area. (Criteria B & D)
West Richmond Station complex is aesthetically significant for its landmark qualities within the HO338 West Richmond heritage precinct. The Up side station building terminates the vista looking west along Highett Street and the historic setting of the station building is enhanced by mature trees and associated infrastructure including the adjacent tunnel portal and bridge over Egan Street. (Criterion E)
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WEST RICHMOND RAILWAY STATION COMPLEX - Physical Description 1
There are two station buildings at the West Richmond Station, on the Up and Down sides of the track. While very similar in their form and details, the station building on the Up side (that is, the City direction) is several bays longer. Both have a low-key early Edwardian style.
Both buildings have red brick walls with cement-render dressings. Each has a main section with higher walls and a slate hipped roof, which contains a passage to the platform. The hipped roof sections have red-brick chimneys with moulded render caps (three on up side, two on down side). A wing at the south end of the hipped roof section is lower, with a gabled roof concealed behind a very simple parapet. All openings - window, doors and the passage - have segmentally arched heads, finished in render. Window sills, quoins around doorways and the passage, and the plinth are of cut bluestone. There is a continuous band of flat render just below the window lintel level that continues around all sides of the station buildings.
Both buildings retain original details such as simple pressed-metal ceilings in the entry passages and waiting rooms, double-hung sash windows, and a variety of original doors. They range from flush panel doors on the east side of the 'Up' building, to ledged doors on the platform side. The smaller, southern wings have rows of four, small and highset windows on either elevation, no doors. A number of openings have been bricked in, including the ticket window on the Down side. For the most part, the infill is recessed, leaving the original opening legible.
Both platforms are sheltered beneath a canopy, stretching the length of the buildings. The canopies are supported on C-shaped steel beams made by 'A Challingsworth, East Richmond'. The edges of the canopies are finished in scalloped ripple iron.
The early twentieth century infrastructure and other features associated with the station are:
-The brick tunnel portal at the Up end, and the associated stepped bridge abutments to Freeman Street, which are constructed of brick with bluestone coping.
-The bridge abutments at the Down end where the railway passes over Egan Street. These are constructed of brick with bluestone coping and are typical of bridge abutments constructed along the railway where it crosses over streets and roads as it passes through Richmond and Collingwood. The bridge superstructure has been replaced.
-Mature trees including a Canary Island Palm (Phoenix canariensis) to the north-east of the Up side station building, and several Peppers (Schinus molle) within the embankments of either side, and early asphalt paths with brick drains that lead to the station from Egan Street. There are also several Elm suckers, and what may be one original Elm tree on the west side embankment. The trees and pathway are likely to be remnants of an early landscaping scheme.Heritage Study and Grading
Yarra - Heritage Gaps Study: Review of remaining 17 heritage precincts from the 2009 Gaps report
Author: Context Pty Ltd
Year: 2013
Grading:Yarra - Richmond Conservation Study
Author: John & Thurley O'Connor, Ros Coleman & Heather Wright
Year: 1985
Grading: C2Yarra - City of Yarra Heritage Review
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates
Year: 1998
Grading:Yarra - City of Yarra Review of Heritage Overlay Areas
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading: Local
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