Rose St and Buckley St
1-51 ROSE STREET, and 112-118 & 123-131 BUCKLEY STREET, ESSENDON, MOONEE VALLEY CITY
-
Add to tour
You must log in to do that.
-
Share
-
Shortlist place
You must log in to do that.
- Download report
Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Rose Street and Buckley Street Precinct, Essendon, is significant, comprising 112-118 & 123-131 Buckley Street, 1-51 Rose Street, and the Essendon Railway Station. The precinct comprises the 1909 railway station as well as single and double-storey shops constructed almost all from 1910 to 1926. They are all of masonry construction, some employing red brick and render banding, many rendered with brick accents, and later examples using roughcast render or clinker brick to contrast with red face brick. Almost all of the shops have some form of arched parapet, whether a single semi-circular arch over a shop, or more complex arrangements over multiple shops. Styles in the precinct are primarily Edwardian Free Classical, and interwar Stripped Classical, plus the unusual Arts & Crafts funeral parlour and chapel at 129-131 Buckley Street.
All buildings in the precinct are Contributory, apart from the Significant Essendon Railway Station and the Non-contributory 9-11 Rose Street.
Key attributes that contribute to the significance of the precinct include:
- The consistency of scale (one and two storeys), form (parapets, usually arched), siting (built to the front and side boundaries), original cladding materials (face brick, render, roofs clad in corrugated iron where concealed behind a parapet, or tiled where visible) of Contributory buildings.
- The high degree of intactness of the Contributory buildings above parapet level.
- The retention of original shopfronts with solid stallboards (clad in tiles or bricks), metal-framed display and highlight windows, recessed entries with tiled floors, and timber-framed glazed doors at 114, 116 & 125 Buckley Street and 17, 19, 29 (partial), 35, 37, 47 & 49 Rose Street.
- The absence of vehicle crossovers.
Post-WWII alterations and additions are not significant.
How is it significant?
The Rose Street and Buckley Street Precinct is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley (while the Essendon Railway Station is of State significance).
Why is it significant?
It is historically significant for demonstrating the major impact the reconstruction of the Essendon Railway Station in 1909 had on the area, both spurring its development and inspiring its skyline of picturesque curved parapets. A year later three groups of shops were built on Rose Street, and the retail strip was fully developed by 1926, extending to the south side of Buckley Street. (Criterion A)
It is architecturally significant for its demonstration of the architectural styles popular during the Edwardian and early interwar periods, particularly Edwardian Free Classical and interwar Stripped Classical. (Criterion D)
It is aesthetically significant for its visual cohesion, thanks to its rapid period of development and the dialogue set up between the 1909 Essendon Railway Station and the shops facing it. They mirror its Free Classical undulating parapets with arches between raised piers, creating a picturesque skyline. The precinct is enhanced by the large number of shops that retain their original shopfronts. (Criterion E)
-
-
Rose St and Buckley St - Physical Description 1
The Rose Street & Buckley Street Precinct comprises a long row of shops on the west side of Rose Street, facing the Essendon Railway Station (VHR H1562), as well as shops directly to the south, on the north and south sides of Buckley Street. The majority of the shops are single-storey, with a few groups of double-storey shops scattered among them.
The two sides of Rose Street present a contrast: the row of single and double-storey shops built to boundaries on the west side, and the wide footpaths and station landscaping on the east side. The two are united by their shared development history and architectural expression. The station building is in the Edwardian Free Classical style, whose typical features are exhibited by the station buildings, including cement-render banding paired with red brick, and an undulating parapet motif of segmental (or ox-bow) arches between raised piers or pylons, creating a picturesque skyline above cantilever verandahs. Its construction had an almost immediate impact on the other side of Rose Street, with shops being built from 1910, most of them mirroring the picturesque approach of the station building. While the style of shops in the 1920s changed toward the Free Classical and Arts & Crafts, many still had prominent arched parapets, creating cohesive yet picturesque streetscapes in the precinct.
The treatment and profile of the arched parapets varies from building to building. Among the earliest shops to be built, architect Dossetor's pair of shops at 5-7 Rose Street are unusual in having individually articulated parapets; here defined by octagonal engaged piers that rise far above the unusual parapets with reverse arches and a shallow apron below the cornice. Red brick and (partly unpainted) render is employed to great effect. More typical of the period are the three shops at 15-19 with a symmetrical composition of a round-arched pediment over the centre shop and straighter parapets to either side, with foliage-covered spheres at the top of the end piers. Another tripartite parapet composition is at 39-43 Rose Street with reverse arches, a central semi-circular arch, and truncated brick piers above the skyline; and a pair of shops at 47-49 Rose Street with a graceful ogee curved arched over them both. The later retains its original shopfronts, with brown glazed tiles, inset entries, and metal-framed windows and highlights.
Shops of the 1920s tend to have a single (usually semi-circular) arched pediment over each tenancy, such as the roughcast-rendered parapets of 123-127 Buckley Street, red brick at 33-37 and smooth render at 51 Rose Street. The shops at 35-37 Rose Street have notable details in the raking pediments and highlight windows of the balcony doors. And a few have rectilinear parapets typical of the Stripped Classical style, such as 112-118 Buckley Street and 1-3, 29-31 & 45 Rose Street.
Among the shops in the precinct, the following retain their original shopfront: 114, 116 & 125 Buckley Street and 17, 19, 29 (partial), 35, 37, 47 & 49 Rose Street.
Two unusual buildings in the precinct are at 129-131 Buckley Street, which can be described as Arts & Crafts in style. These tuckpointed red and clinker brick buildings, with tiled roofs, have a more domestic scale and massing, in keeping with their use as a funeral parlour (No. 131) and associated chapel (No. 29). Both buildings are distinguished by the high quality of their detailing, and elements such as the jerkin-head roofs, and leadlight windows. No. 131, a corner building, is highly intact to both elevations, retaining all original windows, including tripartite box windows to the upper floor of the side elevation, glazed doors with a diamond pattern and terrazzo steps to Buckley Street, and a Seraglian leadlight window. The cantilevered verandah with pressed metal soffit also appears to be original. The chapel, No. 129, has a wide segmentally arched opening of fine brickwork, with a leadlight highlight and sidelights.
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:
-
-
-
-
-
ESSENDON RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1562
-
LOWTHER HALL ANGLICAN GRAMMAR SCHOOLVictorian Heritage Register H0146
-
FORMER CURATOR'S COTTAGEVictorian Heritage Register H1078
-
"1890"Yarra City
-
"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
-
"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
-
'Aqua Profonda' sign wall sign, Fitzroy Swimming PoolYarra City H1687
-
'DRIFFVILLE'Boroondara City
-
1) WEATHERBOARD FARM HOUSE AND 2) THE OUTBUILDINGSNillumbik Shire
-
-