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Melbourne Bowling Club
136-144 Union Street, WINDSOR VIC 3181 - Property No 24078

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Stonnington City
Melbourne Bowling Club
Melbourne Bowling Club
Melbourne Bowling Club
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Statement of Significance

Relevant themes from the City of Stonnington Environmental History are indicated by TEH.

What is Significant?
The Melbourne Bowling Club was formed in 1864 on its present site at Union Street, Windsor. It is oldest continually operating lawn bowls club in the Victoria (and possibly Australia). A double-storey brick pavilion was built at the club in 1887, replacing a smaller timber pavilion dating from 1870. The 1887 pavilion originally had a double-storey verandah on its east side facing the greens. The pavilion verandah was later removed and in 1964 an addition was built on the north side of the building. A former residence fronting Union Street was incorporated into the pavilion addition. All of the buildings on the site other than the 1887 pavilion are considered to be of little or no significance.

Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):

- The external form, materiality detailing of the pavilion surviving from the nineteenth century
- The legibility of the 1887 pavilion's double-storey envelope.
- The bowing greens.
- Views to the pavilion from the public realm and the open setting of the pavilion created by the greens.

All other buildings, structures and landscape elements on the site are not considered to be significant.

How is it significant?
The Melbourne Bowling Club is of historical, social and architectural significance to the City of Stonnington and potentially historically significant at a State level.

Why is it significant?
The Melbourne Bowling Club is historically significant as the first lawns bowls club to be successfully formed in Victoria. It is also believed to be the oldest continually operating lawn bowls club in Australia (Criterion A).

The club is socially significant for its long and ongoing use as venue for community sporting and recreational activities (TEH 10.7.1 Sport, Criterion G).

The club's 1887 pavilion is architecturally significant at a local level as a rare surviving example of a purpose-built bowls club building from the nineteenth century (Criterion B). The pavilion's late-Victorian character is still legible, despite the loss of the original verandah, post war additions and some modifications to door and window openings.

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    • Physical Description 1

      Melbourne Bowling Club - Physical Description 1

      The Melbourne Bowling Club occupies a large site in Windsor bordered by Union Street to the north, Bowling Green Street to the east and the railway line to the south. Most of the site is taken up by the club's greens. The 1887 pavilion is located in the centre of the site with its principal facade facing east towards the greens. The pavilion is a double-storey brick building, broadly resembling a large late-nineteenth century villa. It has a hipped corrugated iron roof with bracketed eaves details typical of the period. The original verandah has been removed from the east elevation and a ground floor window as been considerably enlarged. The arched window at the centre of the first floor was possibly originally a door opening onto the verandah. The double-hung sash windows to either side of this opening appear to be original. Early sash windows can also be found on the south and west elevations. The 1964 addition abutting the north side of the pavilion is a simply detailed single-storey building with large windows on the east elevation overlooking the greens. Above the windows there is a sign in steel ribbon lettering reading: 'MELBOURNE BOWLING CLUB OLDEST IN AUSTRALIA FOUNDED 1864.' The neighbouring house at 136 Union Street has been absorbed into the 1964 addition. The house appears to have been given a bungalow-esque makeover in the interwar period and has been stripped of most of its nineteenth century detailing.

      Local Historical Themes

      Melbourne Bowling Club - Local Historical Themes

      The Melbourne Bowling Club illustrates the following theme identified in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, 2006):

      10.7.1 Sport

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Stonnington - Heritage Places in the City of Stonnington - Heritage Citations Project

      Author: Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd
      Year: 2013
      Grading: A1

Public contributions

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