PIONEER STORE
187 BUCKLEY STREET, ESSENDON, MOONEE VALLEY CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The 'Pioneer Store' at 187 Buckley Street, Essendon, is significant. The two shops with residences above were built in 1890-91 for grocer Alexander Semple to serve the new residents of the Locke's Paddock estate, established in 1885. It remained the only shop on Buckley Street west of the railway line until at least 1910.
The building comprises a pair of rendered two-storey shop-residences with extensive cast-cement ornament to the openings and the parapet, as well as Corinthian pilasters dividing the two shops. The corner shop had its entry at the splayed corner, above which is a curved pediment to the parapet, displaying the words 'Pioneer Store AD 1890'. There is a residential window and door at the south end of the Clarinda Road elevation.
The modern flats to the rear, at 1A Clarinda Road, are not significant.
How is it significant?
The 'Pioneer Store' is of local historical and architectural/aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley.
What is significant?
It is historically significant as the first commercial building on Buckley Street to the west of the railway line, as such it is a tangible reminder of the speculative land boom that took place in the City of Essendon in the 1880s. While many areas, such as Locke's Paddock, were subdivided at the time, many areas of Essendon only began to develop before the 1890s depression brought it to a halt. The optimism of the pre-depression years is visible in the grand design of the 'Pioneer Store', which is fit for a major commercial boulevard, but ended up the only commercial building in the area for another 20 years. The 'Pioneer Store' also demonstrates a bygone aspect of pre-WWII life: Prior to widespread car ownership and home refrigeration, neighbourhood corner stores were an important amenity in residential areas, where day-to-day needs could be purchased. (Criterion A)
It is architecturally/aesthetically significant for its extensive classical cast-cement ornament to the two street elevations. Notable details include arched windows in pedimented aedicules with vermiculation in the spandrels and a blind balustrade below, the arched windows with keystone and hood mould with decorative bosses to ground-floor and first-floor windows, and the rinceaux frieze to the parapet. (Criterion E)
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PIONEER STORE - Physical Description 1
The building at 187 Buckley Street is a pair of rendered two-storey shop-residences with modern flats at the rear (south), occupying the corner site on the south-east corner of Buckley Street and Clarinda Road. The shops are built to the street boundaries.
The building is distinctive for its grand classical cast-cement ornament to the first floor. The principle elevation addressing Buckley Street is divided into two bays by pilasters with Corinthian capitals flanking arched windows in pedimented aedicules with vermiculation in the spandrels and a blind balustrade below. There is a curved pediment, displaying 'Pioneer Store AD 1890' to the splayed corner above a naïve composition of floating triangular pediment above blind arch with moulded keystone and hood mould. This window form is repeated on the Clarinda Road elevation. There is another triangular pediment above the corner entrance. The parapet to the Buckley Street elevation has a rinceaux relief set within its panels and returns to a single bay along Clarinda Road. This facade is asymmetrical with a single arched window in a pedimented aedicule with a vermiculated spandrel, flanked by round arched windows.
The ground floor has been altered and retains only the original residential window (a double-hung sash with sidelights) and doorway at the south end of the Clarinda Road elevation. Label moulds with ornate bosses survive to some openings, however, all doors and windows are new to the ground floor. A sympathetic convex corrugated iron verandah extends the full width of both street elevations and dates to the 1980s. The original verandah would have rested on posts.
Heritage Study and Grading
Moonee Valley - Moonee Valley Heritage Study
Author: Context Pty Ltd, 2015
Year: 2015
Grading: LocalMoonee Valley - City of Moonee Valley Stage 1 Heritage Gap Study
Author: Context PL
Year: 2013
Grading:
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