Grant Dorman, former Lion Rubber Works
544 Burwood Road HAWTHORN, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The Lion Rubber Works factory and commercial shop front at 544 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, with Greek Revival elements, original early twentieth century shop front, and distinguishing motifs of Lion Rubber Works and the automotive service industry, is significant. Lion Rubber Works took over the site from the Auburn Carriage Works in 1918, representing the early adoption of the motorcar in the area and the development of a distinctive pattern of light industry with ornate shopfronts along Burwood Road in the early twentieth century. The shop and factory-workshop was remodelled in 1929 by Melbourne architects Morsby & Coates. Lion Rubber Works operated there through to the 1950s.
The laneway elevation features that distinguish the site as a factory, in particular the saw-tooth roof form, are also significant. The cantilevered canopy is as an early example of the awning style, but its soffit and fascia have been replaced.
How is it significant?
544 Burwood Road is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
544 Burwood Road is significant as a reminder of the early adoption of the motorcar in the municipality, for its distinguishable association with the former Lion Rubber Works, an early automotive service industry in Hawthorn that took the place of the former Auburn Carriage Works on the same site. (Criterion A)
544 Burwood Road is of architectural significance as an intact example of a purpose-built factory workshop complex with ornate commercial shop front. The intact early twentieth century shop front includes metal framed windows, timber stalls and ingo. Distinctive details demonstrate the historical association with Lion Rubber Works and the automotive service industry, including signage in the doorway, initials in the doorway glass, relief signage on the laneway elevation, and cast roundels or 'wheels' on the piers and parapet (Criterion D)
544 Burwood Road is of aesthetic significance for its characteristics of the Greek Revival style, and its intact early twentieth century shop front, with distinguishing signage and detailing. Greek Revival elements include its parapet with decorative cartouche, crowned with an acroterion, and Greek Revival style doors and door highlights, and the use of disc or rosette-style decoration around its piers and parapet. The design is accomplished, by architects Morsby & Coates, who were recognised at the time for their remodelling of commercial premises in the Greek Revival style. (Criterion E)
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Grant Dorman, former Lion Rubber Works - Physical Description 1
The property consists of a single-storey shop front on Burwood Road attached to a small saw-tooth roofed factory. The shop facade includes a Greek Revival style parapet with large sign panel framed by a cartouche, with gently sloping roof form crowned at the apex by an acroterion reminiscent of a Greek temple. Cast cement roundels extend across the parapet and down the piers on either side. 'Lion Rubber Works' is emblazoned in cast cement relief lettering framed within an Art Deco style border on the west side of the facade. 'Lion Rubber Works' appears in black lettering on the white entry floor within the ingo. The original company name is also discernible behind the current paint and lettering within the cartouche on the parapet. The original shopfronts are preserved, including ingo, metal framed windows, timber stalls, and original timber and glass doors with 'LRW' engraved in stylised lettering on central diamond glass panes. Across the top of the doorway, cross motifs in the window highlights are also typical of the Greek Revival style. The round plaster discs evoke the Greek Revival style in terms of their placement on the piers and parapet where more traditional rosettes might otherwise be placed, typically around the frame of a Greek Revival doorway drawing on the rosette details of the architraves of the north door of the Erechtheum, Athens (Glazier 1983:12). Roundels were also sometimes used as part of Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements, popular in the early twentieth century. In this case, the roundels appear to have been adapted to resemble an automobile hubcap or wheel. While the early cantilevered canopy is an original feature of the design, the soffit and fascia have been replaced with newer materials.
The shop and factory sections are both in brick and each have a dedicated entry onto the side laneway. The red-brick factory is identifiable by its saw-tooth roof profile consisting of three teeth articulated at the roofline by cement render. The factory door is a double timber door with a concrete lintel. The shop on the laneway frontage is painted cement render. Its side door is a single timber door flanked by two square windows with wire glass square latticed frame. The laneway parapet of the shop has been raised at the end to meet the higher decorative parapet of the shop front.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 3: Hawthorn
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Significant
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