House- 'Symington House', 29 Queens Avenue, ST ARNAUD
29 Queens Avenue ST ARNAUD, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
The house at 29 Queens Avenue makes a significant contribution to the predominantly single storey, Victorian styled residential and tree-lined streetscape. The eclectic Victorian Picturesque and Federation style of the house suggests that it was constructed in different stages in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Several later alterations, including the side verandah infill, have been carried out over time. The house has been known as 'Symington House', and at one time was used a boarding house for girls employed at the local corset factory.
Although altered, the house at 29 Queens Avenue is historically and architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It is associated with the residential developments in St. Arnaud from the late 19th century, and with the local corset factory through its use as a boarding house for girls employed there. The house demonstrates some early design qualities of both the Victorian Picturesque and Federation styles. These qualities include the symmetrical composition, single storey height, recessed gable roof form that traverses the site, the hipped and gable roof forms that project towards the street frontage, and the central bullnosed verandah porch. Other early qualities include the brick wall construction, two elongated brick chimneys with projecting corbelled tops, narrow eaves, turned timber finial on the gable, semi-octagonal projecting bay of flat arched timber framed double hung windows, projecting curved window bay forming a bank of timber framed casement windows with coloured glass highlights, and the distinctive Art Nouveau arch with sinuous, curving fretwork in the central porch.
Overall, the house at 29 Queens Avenue is of LOCAL significance.
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House- 'Symington House', 29 Queens Avenue, ST ARNAUD - Physical Description 1
The site at 29 Queens Avenue has visual connections with other significant, predominantly Victorian styled, single storey houses in the residential and tree-lined streetscape of Queens Avenue. It is also visually connected to the significant urban foci of the Christ Anglican Church and Christ Anglican Church hall (a former denominational school) in Queens Avenue. The house is generally in accord with the landscaping, form, and setbacks of the significant houses visually connected to it. The eclectic Victorian Picturesque and Federation style of the house suggests that it was constructed in different stages in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The front yard of the site has a recent garden including a central circular garden bed, perimeter garden beds and large expanse of grassed area. The house has a sizeable front setback of approximately 10 metres, and wide side setbacks, due to the substantial scale of the allotment.
The asymmetrical, single storey, painted brick (originally unpainted?), eclectic Victorian Picturesque and Federation styled house is characterised by a recessed gable roof form that traverses the site, together with a hipped roof and gable roof form that project towards the street frontage, a central bullnosed verandah porch and later bullnosed verandah infill at the sides. These roof forms are clad in recent corrugated grey Colorbond. Two early, elongated, painted brick chimneys with projecting corbelled tops adorn the roofline. Narrow overhangs are a feature of the eaves.
The eclectic character of the house is discerned in the differences in the projecting roof forms and details. The projecting gable roof is of the Victorian style and has a semi-octagonal projecting bay of flat arched timber framed double hung windows. The projecting hipped roof appears to be of the Federation period and has a projecting curved window bay forming a bank of timber framed casement windows with coloured glass highlights. The central recessed porch with bullnosed verandah roof appears to have been introduced during the Federation period, as it is decorated with a distinctive Art Nouveau arch with sinuous, curving fretwork, typical for the turn of the 20th century. The central timber framed doorway with sidelights behind the porch appears to have been altered or introduced. The side bullnosed verandahs with timber and glazed infill have also been introduced. A decorative feature of the design is the turned timber finial on the gable.
Heritage Study and Grading
Northern Grampians - Shire of Northern Grampians - Stage 2 Heritage Study
Author: Wendy Jacobs, Vicki Johnson, David Rowe, Phil Taylor
Year: 2004
Grading: Local
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CROWN LAND OFFICEVictorian Heritage Register H1530
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ST ARNAUD RAILWAY STATIONVictorian Heritage Register H1594
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LORD NELSON TAILINGS DUMPVictorian Heritage Inventory
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