49 Vere
49 Vere,COLLINGWOOD, City of Yarra
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The former Collingwood State School in Vere Street, Collingwood, was constructed in 1915. It is a substantially externally intact, large two-storey red face brick school building, with hipped roof forms and symmetrical elevations on a broadly 'U' shaped plan. It is located within a large complex of later buildings, but substantially retains its original footprint and roof shape. The 'U' shaped plan has symmetrical mirror-image north and south elevations, with entries in each projecting hipped wing on the east side. The projecting west facing wings have gable ends. The roof is clad in terracotta Marseilles-pattern tiles with scalloped terracotta ridge capping in an unusual M-pattern; the roof is also punctuated by eight original chimneys. Other details include two deep stringcourses that encircle the building; cement-rendered copings to the west gables; and square-headed timber-framed windows in groups up to four. The later buildings and additions to the school complex are not of heritage significance, and are not recommended for inclusion in the Heritage Overlay (as per the indicative extent of Heritage Overlay, above).
How is it significant?
The former Collingwood State School in Vere Street, Collingwood, is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.
Why is it significant?
The former Collingwood State School, which dates from 1915, is of local historical significance. The school was constructed to address overcrowding and other concerns associated with an earlier public school in Vere Street, on land donated by Collingwood Council. The larger site provided enhanced accommodation and teaching facilities, as well as the fully equipped and supervised Cornfoot Children's Playground, believed to have been the only fully supervised children's playground in Victoria at the time. The facilities were part of a new program to provide enhanced surroundings for students, including those in impoverished inner suburban areas. The 1915 school building is also significant for its long association with education in Collingwood, including following the primary school use, the Collingwood Education Centre, and more recently Collingwood College. The former Collingwood State School is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance. It is a substantially externally intact example of a large school building from the later Federation period. While enveloped by later buildings on the campus, it retains its original footprint and is clearly discernible as an historic building and the earliest building on the site. Architecturally, the building falls between a series of notable earlier Federation schools, and several interwar schools constructed in (then) outer suburban or semi-rural areas of Melbourne. Within this context, Collingwood State School is a large school; it also displays a relative austerity in terms of detail and decoration, which may be attributed to the economic strictures of the World War One period.
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49 Vere - Physical Description 1
part Collingwood Secondary College, social significance (noting Collingwood Education centre [1970s] was prototype for other schools in State)
49 Vere - Integrity
The 1915 building within the Collingwood College site is a substantially externally intact, large two-storey red face brick school building, with hipped roof forms and symmetrical elevations on a broadly 'U' shaped plan. It is located within a large complex of later buildings, but substantially retains its original footprint and roof shape. Within the site, it is located on the west side of a pathway that follows the original alignment of Cromwell Street. The latter street has also been converted into an open student space, between the 1915 building and later school buildings, constructed in the 1970s. The former street has been blocked off at the south and north ends.
The 1915 building's 'U' shaped plan has symmetrical mirror-image north and south elevations, with entries in each projecting hipped wing on the east side (where the entrances originally addressed Cromwell Street). The projecting west facing wings, which form the 'U' shape, have gable ends. The roof is clad in terracotta Marseilles-pattern tiles with scalloped terracotta ridge capping in an unusual M-pattern. Each roof hip has a vertical, ball-topped terracotta finial. The roof is also punctuated by eight original chimneys that have stacks in exposed face brick with battered necking clad in grey roughcast stucco. The eaves are overhanging.
Two deep stringcourses encircle the building, including one which caps the base of the building, forming a continuous sill underneath the ground floor windows; and another running beneath the first floor windows. The west facing gable copings are cement-rendered. The windows are all square-headed, with large cement-dressed concrete lintels. Main windows are triple-sliding sash units in timber frames, linked in groups up to four, with each sash having six panes. Smaller windows (for toilets, etc.) are paired two-light units with louvered upper lights. Most windows have long cement-rendered string course sills, cut into by each lower window frame.
As noted above, the building is surrounded by later additions, which are not of heritage significance. South of the building on the corner of McCutcheon Way and Cromwell Street, but believed to be within the school property, is a small house known as the 'Dolls House'. This is included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR HO954), was constructed in the 1880s and is believed to be the smallest extant house in Victoria.[i]
[i] Victorian Heritage Database 'Dolls House' VHR No, HO954, http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au.
49 Vere - Intactness
Good
Heritage Study and Grading
Yarra - Heritage Gap Study
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading: LocalYarra - City of Yarra Heritage Gaps Study 2012 (Heritage Gaps Amendment two)
Author: Lovell Chen
Year: 2012
Grading: Local
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COLLINGWOOD TOWN HALLVictorian Heritage Register H0140
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0142
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0143
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