Back to search results

Former Telegraph Office, 21 Leslie Street, STAWELL
21 Leslie Street STAWELL, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE

All information on this page is maintained by Northern Grampians Shire. Click below for their website and contact details.

Northern Grampians Shire

SL 135 - Former Telegraph Office, 21 Leslie Street, STAWELL

On this page:

Statement of Significance
Timeline browser

Statement of Significance

The former Telegraph Office, Leslie Street, Stawell, has significance as the first Post Office erected on this site then known as Pleasant Creek. The front gable roof form and and rear roof, together with the window locations, ventilator, window hood and verandah decoration all form part of the design of 1860, which originally had an identical gabled wing on the other side. The hipped end to the rear roof form and possibly the windows reflect the changes made to the building in the early 20th century.

The former Telegraph Office is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of both Victorian and interwar styles. These qualities include the recessed hipped roof form, together with a gable roof that projects towards the street frontage. Other intact qualities include the single storey height, horizontal weatherboard wall construction, galvanised corrugated iron roof cladding, wide eaves, timber framed and double hung tripartite windows with the wider central windows having six paned upper sashes, and the decorative features (timber verandah columns and fretwork, window hood and timber brackets on the front gable end and the gable ventilator).

The former Telegraph Office is historically significant at a LOCAL level. It is associated with infrastructure developments in the Pleasant Creek/Stawell area during the height of the goldrush in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The surviving building was constructed in 1860, with the earlier Post Office relocated from Commercial Street and attached to the building. Although altered in the early 20th century, the surviving section of the building represents Stawell's only Telegraph and Post Office from 1860 until the opening of the new building in Main Street in 1875.

The former Telegraph Office is socially significant at a LOCAL level. Although no longer used as a telegraph or post office, the building is still recognised by sections of the Stawell community for its previous function.

Overall, the former Telegraph Office is of LOCAL significance.

Show less

- Physical Description 1
  
  Former Telegraph Office, 21 Leslie Street, STAWELL - Physical Description 1
  
  The Former Telegraph Office, Leslie Street, Stawell, is situated on a modest allotment with a front setback of approximately 5 metres. The front is bound by an introduced post and rail fence with a picket gate, and is approximately 1200 mm high. There does not appear to be any landscaping of significance visible from the street.
  
  The asymmetrical, single storey, horizontal weatherboard, eclectic Victorian and interwar styled building is characterised by a recessed hipped roof form, together with a gable roof that projects towards the street frontage and a rear skillion addition at the side. These roof forms are clad in galvanised corrugated iron. Wide overhangs are a feature of the eaves. The early tripartite windows on the front facade are timber framed and double hung, with the wider central windows having six paned upper sashes.
  
  Other early features of the design include the timber verandah columns and fretwork, window hood and timber brackets on the front gable end and the gable ventilator.
  
  The current building forms only half the original design, when two gable roof forms providing projecting wings at the sides forming a symmetrical arrangement. Unpainted brick chimneys with multi corbelled tops adorned the roofline. The much reduced extant building forms the left component of the original building, with the traversing (original linking) roof form shortened and reformed into a hip roof. The detailing the building, particularly the verandah, remains true to the original design.
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Heritage Study and Grading
  
  Northern Grampians - Shire of Northern Grampians - Stage 2 Heritage Study
  
  Author: Wendy Jacobs, Vicki Johnson, David Rowe, Phil Taylor
  Year: 2004
  Grading: Local
- Show:
- FORMER LITERARY & SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H0531
- FORMER POLICE SUPERINTENDENT'S RESIDENCE
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H0986
- FORMER PLEASANT CREEK COURT HOUSE
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H0998