CANTERBURY GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL
16 Mangarra Road CANTERBURY, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
Canterbury Girls' Secondary College, 16 Mangarra Road, Canterbury, built in 1927 as the East Camberwell Domestic School of Arts to a design by Edwin Evan Smith of the Public Works Department in the grounds of the former 'Gwinda' estate, is significant.
How is it significant?
Canterbury Girls' Secondary College is of local historic, aesthetic, architectural and social significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
Constructed in 1927 as the East Camberwell Domestic Arts School, the school was established against the wishes of the local community who heavily advocated for the construction of an elementary school on the site, the choice to establish a domestic arts school made personally by the first Director of Education of the Education Department, Frank Tate. Tate revolutionised the Victorian education department during the first half of the twentieth century. (Criterion A)
Established in the grounds of the former 'Gwinda'estate, dating from 1859 and one of the City of Boroondara's oldest, Canterbury Girls' Secondary College retains two large Moreton Bay Fig trees from this original garden in its grounds. (Criteria A & E)
The original school building, constructed in 1927, is representative of, and displays the principal characteristics to, the type of educational buildings being produced by the PWD during the tenure of chief architect E Evan Smith. It is significant as a relatively complete example of educational building executed in the Georgian Revival style by the PWD. It is representative of the work of architect E Evan Smith and displays common details incorporated within multiple buildings of his oeuvre of educational project completed during his seven-year tenure as chief architect of the PWD, including hipped Marseille tiled roofs, vented cupolas, cement spandrel panels with bas-relief details, and cast cement Classical porticos. However, an uncommon feature of Canterbury Girls' Secondary College is a double storey verandah at the rear of the building which currently represents a detail not identified in other projects completed by the PWD under Smith. (Criterion D & H)
Because of its ongoing use as an educational institution, initially constructed in 1927 as the East Camberwell Domestic Arts School, its subsequent redevelopment and imagination as East Camberwell Girls' School (1940s), Canterbury Girls' High School (1961) and finally as Canterbury Girls' Secondary College (1989), it maintains an ongoing association with the alumnae educated at the school in its various forms. (Criterion G)
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CANTERBURY GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL - Physical Description 1
Canterbury Girls' Secondary College is bordered by Irilbarra, Mallacca and Mangarra roads to the north, south and west respectively (refer Figure 139).
Canterbury Girls' Secondary College comprises multiple educational buildings, the most notable of which is the Georgian Revival school building (1927) located at the intersection of Irilbarra and Mangarra roads. The remainder of the school buildings appear to be of more recent construction, one of which (the Gliddon building) has been constructed around the south-east extent of a large Moreton Bay Fig. This tree, along with another at an entrance to the school off Malacca Road, are of significant size and as such are indicative of being of some age when compared with other plantings in the school grounds.
The main school building (1927) is a two-storey expressed brick building with an unglazed terracotta Marseille tile hipped roof. Possessing a U-shaped plan, the building is positioned parallel to Irilbarra Road, to the north, with two projecting wings extending south toward Malacca Road. The principal elevation of the building addresses Irilbarra Road while the west wing, being slightly longer in length than the east wing, addresses the frontage of the building to Mangarra Road. At the rear of the building, the respective wings form a central courtyard.
From Irilbarra Road, the building presents as a symmetrical breakfront facade constructed from unpainted expressed brick, the whole topped by an overpainted cement entablature above which is the hipped Marseille tile roof topped by a vented cupola. At either end of the central block of the building, the flanking projecting wings are slightly setback, resulting in further emphasis on this central arrangement. The building possesses a regular fenestration pattern across the extent of the facade with a vertical emphasis achieved by aligned window openings at ground and first floor level, separated by painted concrete spandrels with bas-relief details. At ground floor level, these windows are square set openings, topped by a continuous string course of solider course brickwork, above which are arched window openings with cast cement heads with keystones. This arrangement is offset by the placement of flanking cast-concrete Classical revival porticos, with balustrade parapets, at either end of the elevation which demarcate the entrances to the building. At first floor level, the porticos inform Palladian style tripartite window arrangements of a central arched opening flanked by sidelights. The windows across the entirety of the facade are steel framed with large panes at the centre and a smaller sidelight pane detail to the perimeter. The entrances to the buildings retain semi-glazed multi-pane timber dual doors with overhead fanlights (refer Figure 142). Despite later additions to this elevation, including air conditioning units and sun shading devices, the building retains a high degree of integrity.
From Mangarra Road, the west wing of the building extends parallel with the street. While possessing identical details to that of the main facade, the overall composition of this elevation lacks the same finesse evident in that to Irilbarra Road. Later additions to this elevation accord with those evident on the main facade and include modern sun shading devices, later downpipes and waste pipes from WCs. Elsewhere on the site, late 20th century buildings obscure views of the east and south elevation of the 1927 building and as such the integrity of the rear verandahs could not be ascertained.
At the centre of the site, a large Moreton Bay Fig (c.1863) that was indicated as being extant in 1945 (refer Figure 137) is legible in an aerial of the school; views of this tree are obscured from the street by the late 20th century buildings on the school campus. A second Moreton Bay Fig of comparable size is also evident at the school entrance, off Gwenda Avenue, and is an indication of it being contemporary with that at the centre of the school campus (refer Figure 139).
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study: Vol. 1 Canterbury
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Local
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PARLINGTONVictorian Heritage Register H0731
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FROGNALLVictorian Heritage Register H0707
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BROUGHTON HALLVictorian Heritage Register H1176
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"1890"Yarra City
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"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
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"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
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'YARROLA'Boroondara City
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1 Bradford AvenueBoroondara City
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