WILLY'S STORE (A & J SULLIVANS)
35 Matlock Street CANTERBURY, BOROONDARA CITY
MATLOCK STREET PRECINCT
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The timber shop and residence at 35 Matlock Street, Canterbury, is significant. It was built in 1912 for George Jackson, who ran a confectioner's shop there. It continued to serve as the local neighbourhood store run by the Williamsons between the 1930s and the 1970s, and was known as 'Willy's Store'. It became a central location of 'The Sullivans' television series during the 1970s and 1980s, named A & J Sullivan's store.
It is a gabled weatherboard building with corbelled chimneys, with the roof set behind an elaborate front parapet. The shopfront sits beneath a timber skillion verandah and has an inset entry set between timber-framed shop windows.
Recent alterations and additions, including the upper-level extension, rear pavilion, Art Nouveau leadlight windows, and timber verandah frieze are not significant.
How is it significant?
The shop is of local aesthetic significance and rarity value to the City of Boroondara and of social significance to the metropolitan area and possibly further afield.
Why is it significant?
The shop is one of a small number of Victorian and Edwardian shops that survive in the City of Boroondara. Timber shops were the first to be built in new suburbs and shopping areas in the 19th century, but were gradually replaced by brick buildings, leaving few of this type in the metropolitan area. (Criterion B)
The shop is architecturally distinguished by the unusual and elaborate treatment of the main facade for a timber shop, particularly the grand scrolled stuccoed parapet wall, after the Queen Anne manner, supporting a cornice moulding and revealing the gable-end of the roof behind, as a crowning half-timbered pediment. The Chinese style mullions in the top-lights above and to the left of the shop entrance are also notable. (Criterion E)
The local community and the wider tourist community with connections to 'The Sullivans' television series socially value the 'A & J Sullivan' store. This series developed a strong following both in Australia and abroad during the 1970s and the 1980s through its depiction of Australian suburban family life during World War II. These communities have continued their connection to the property since this time, evidenced through regular community visits and expressions of connection in the public sphere. (Criterion G)
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WILLY'S STORE (A & J SULLIVANS) - Physical Description 1
A grand scrolled stuccoed parapet wall, after the Queen Anne manner, supports a cornice moulding and reveals the gable-end of the roof behind, as a crowning half-timbered pediment to the facade. Two pylons or piers flank the parapet, rising above a string mould which shelters the skillion verandah roof's springing point. Sited behind this grand facade is a prosaic weatherboarded house with a corrugated steel roof and corbelled red brick chimneys.
The timber shopfronts with vertical lining boards to the stallboards and a recessed entry with glazed and panelled door appear original. The Chinese style mullions in the top-lights above and to the left of the doorway are notable. They are filled with a clear floral pressed glass (a pattern popular in the Edwardian period) which also survives in the colour margin glazing of the shop door and in a ten-pane arched window to the left side of the shopfront. The verandah frame and stop-chamfered posts also appear to be an original feature (though some elements have been replaced in kind, including the timber tongue-and-groove flooring). The current owner has been progressively replacing deteriorated elements of the facade with identical.
A series of changes have taken place, with extensions to the body of the building and some embellishment of the shop facade. There is a lean-to along the west (left-hand) elevation whose door and window details suggest it dates (in part, at least) to the 1920s. It includes a simple corbelled kitchen chimney one room back from the front. Under the ownership of the Loyals during the 1980s, a gabled upper-storey extension was added about one room back from the front, set just behind a chimney. The chimney was dismantled and rebuilt during this process - moved from the corner to the centre of the roof ridge. The kitchen was also doubled in size. Furthermore, the Loyals built a free-standing pavilion at the rear of the property (The Age 1995: page unknown).
Following the 2002 sale of the property by the Loyals to the McKennas, alterations have been limited to the installation of Art Nouveau-style leadlight windows to the shopfront and along the west side of the building. An arched timber ladder frieze was also installed to the verandah, which is sympathetic to the period of the shop.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study: Vol. 1 Canterbury
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Local
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