Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage
100 - 102 Main Street BACCHUS MARSH, MOORABOOL SHIRE
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Statement of Significance
A small brick and stone blacksmith's shop built on the road to the Ballarat goldfields, in 1877 on the site where there had been a blacksmith's business since 1850 until 1961. The forge and chimney survive, but no equipment. It is now a "bookbarn".
Adjoining this, is an early brick and stone cottage built in 1850, used as a residence by a succession of blacksmiths until 1961, now a museum. Pre-gold-rush buildings are very rare in Victoria.
The cottage is of state architectural significance as a rare, relatively intact survival ofa pregold rush building, and on the route to the goldfields. The complex is also of significance as a representative embodiment of the way of life on the route to the gold fields at the time of the gold rush at Ballarat; and the blacksmiths as evidence of an industrial process of the 1870s and on a site where it had continued since 1850. It is associated with the development of relevant industry in the community life on this route. The cottage is a pioneering early building in Bacchus Marsh.
The complex is also of state historical significance in demonstrating the effect of a social movement (the gold rush).
The Blacksmith's Shop is also of social significance as known and valued by the community as part of its sense of identity of the place and as the embodiment of a sequence of varied approaches to conservation action, over twenty-five years.
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Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage - Physical Conditions
Blacksmith. Reasonable. A downpipe in the south-west corner (not on the site) is not connected to the roof gutter. Brickwork is eroding. Repairs are in Portland cement, instead of line mortar. Rising damp is occurring in the south-west comer (caused by the unconnected downpipe).
Cottage. Reasonable. There are structural cracks each side of the chimney as it meets the wall. Road and garden level have risen to be too high around the building, allowing damp to penetrate. It has been recently re-rendered.
Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage - Intactness
Blacksmith . Good. There are security grilles fixed to windows in front. There is some remnant roofing and roof plumbing. The old door is now obscured by inappropriate modern doors. It is not known if the original survives behind. The 12-paned window has been barred.
Cottage. Reasonable. Door, fence (except one surviving old post), render (?chimney has old render), roofing and roofplumbing are recent. There are historicist . The porch and fence appear to be an historicist re-creation. The sign is intrusive and inappropriate.
SIGNIFICANT INTACT ELEMENTS
MATERlALS. FORM. FACADE.
WALL DECORATION. DOORS. WI:'lDOWS.
UNPAINT ED FINISH.
Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage - Physical Description 1
Blacksmith's Shop. A small masonry mid-nineteenth century industrial building. Its gable roof faces Main Street fronted with a parapet on the boundary line to the street and to the adjoining property line at left, onto which three windows now directly face. There are three chimneys, one L-shaped! The parapet has deeply recessed panels. Windows and doors are segmental headed and windows have 12-pane double-hung sashes. The street door is of the split, stable type with a fanlight over. The front is rendered with a very sandy mix over rub random rubble honey coloured stone and the base if ashlar. The brickwork on the right hand side has been cement washed. The interior was not inspected. There are timber gableroofed buildings at the rear.
The large split stable door indicates the nature ofthe farrier work undertaken in the shop, through the form of the doors, the eroded thre shold and brand marks tested on the timberwork. The building contains no equipment but the forge and chimney are intact in one comer. There are remnants of painted signage on the east wall, two apparently relating to forges and the third for a conventional fireplace. Behind the smithy is an open sided shed with lean to verandah, and gable roof cart shed or stable.
Cottage A hip-roofed double- fronted symmetrical masonry cottage. It physically abuts the blacksmith but does not share a wall with it. It is rendered random rubble construction in a honey-coloured stone. There is an internal chimney with old render and a timber gable roofed entrance porch. Quoins are formed in render at comers and windows have architraves and 12-pane double-hung sashes. There is a timber extension at the rear and a picket fence.
The cottage is described in 1852 as constructed ofstone, however, the rear timber section which abuts the stone section has remaining posts suggesting that the stone wall was built. The structure of the rear timber rooms and verandah isinteresting in several aspects: the morticed heads to the doors (suggesting construction prior to the establishment of the blacksmith's shop where nails are common), the lack of a ceiling (although in 1975 the calico lining was still in place), partial lining to interior walls, and beaded profile weatherboards.
Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage - Usage/Former Usage
USE: Book bam &. Museum
PREVIOUS USE: Blacksmith& cottage
Blacksmith' s Shop and Cottage - Historical Australian Themes
Township /Transport.Conservation.
Heritage Study and Grading
Moorabool - Bacchus Marsh Heritage Study 1995
Author: Richard Peterson and Daniel Catrice
Year: 1995
Grading:
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0503
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BACCHUS MARSH EXPRESS OFFICE AND PRINTING WORKSVictorian Heritage Register H0504
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FORMER CHRISTOPHER CRISP RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0505
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