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Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct
Railway Crescent (part) WILLIAMSTOWN, Hobsons Bay City

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Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct WILLIAMSTOWN, Hobsons Bay Heritage Study 2006
Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct WILLIAMSTOWN, Hobsons Bay Heritage Study 2006
Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct WILLIAMSTOWN, Hobsons Bay Heritage Study 2006
Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct WILLIAMSTOWN, Hobsons Bay Heritage Study 2006
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Statement of Significance

What is Significant?

The Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct comprising all land within HO28 and properties in Railway Crescent, Williamstown.

How is it Significant?

The Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct, which comprises all land within HO28 and generally includes all properties with a frontage to Railway Crescent, Williamstown.

Why is it Significant?

Historically, Railway Crescent is significant for its ability to demonstrate the development of Williamstown during the late nineteenth century and how self-contained communities developed around railway stations. (AHC criteria A4 and G1)

Aesthetically, Railway Crescent is significant as a highly intact late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential and commercial precinct, which comprises cohesive groups of relatively intact and similarly styled weatherboard houses that share common siting, scale, form and detailing, as well as an intact group of Edwardian and Interwar shops that provide an appropriate and related setting for the Williamstown Beach Station. (AHC criterion E1)

On this basis, the following properties contribute to the significance of this precinct:

- Railway Crescent (odd and even) 17-48, 51-57, 60-68, 77, 79-81, 83-85, 88, 89 97, 98, 100 and 101.

Please note that some heritage places within this precinct may also have an individual citation in this Study.

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    • Physical Description 1

      Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct - Physical Description 1

      This precinct generally comprises all properties along the southern side of Railway Crescent with a frontage to that street between Cole and Victoria Streets.

      A unified precinct of late nineteenth and early twentieth century small, weatherboard single and double fronted, hip roofed houses, with small front gardens generally without large trees. Key elements include:

      - the predominant single storey scale

      - generally weatherboard and stucco, with some face brick wall cladding,

      - pitched roof forms

      - detached siting

      - verandahed forms

      - punched fenestration occupying less than 50% of the wall surface and

      - the remnant mature exotic street tree planting.

      The predominant housing style is Victorian, but there are some Edwardian and Interwar dwellings that are related in terms of their form, siting, materials and detailing particularly at the western end. The house at No. 88 is notable as a unique Swiss Chalet style design (Refer to individual citation), while No. 101 is a fine example of a Queen Anne villa with distinctive corner turret. The distinctive setting for these houses, facing the railway reserve, with narrow street width and cul-de-sac formations between road bridges, which is further enhanced by the remnant bluestone kerb and channel.

      At the centre of the precinct was a small shopping centre centred around the Federation-era Williamstown Beach Station. The shops formed a distinctive sub-precinct however they have experienced gradual change with a greater residential emphasis however some retain their distinctive Edwardian and Interwar detailing such as the distinctive rendered parapets and some have original shopfronts. There is also a late Victorian timber shop at the corner of Garden Street.

      The only major intrusive elements in this precinct, apart from inappropriate decorative details on and fencing of individual dwellings, are a brick veneer villa and a modern timber house on the corner of Garden Street.

      Some cladding of houses and replacement of timber windows joinery by aluminum windows has occurred without major detriment to the overall urban quality of this residential precinct which is best viewed from the northern side of the railway.

      The southern side of Railway Crescent has bluestone kerb and guttering while the northern side between Giffard Street and the Railway underpass has a gravel verge between the sealed roadway and the railway reserve. Mixed species of shrubby trees have been planted along the northern side of railway reserve to screen the large diameter pipeline running along the railway reserve. There are no street trees along the southern side of Railway Crescent but some landscaping associated with the railway station.

      Integrity

      Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct - Integrity

      Integrity

      Moderate

      Usage/Former Usage

      Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct - Usage/Former Usage

      Context

      Railway Crescent is part of the Williamstown Beach Heritage Precinct

      Historical Australian Themes

      Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct - Historical Australian Themes

      Principal Australian Historical Theme(s)

      Making Suburbs

      Physical Description 2

      Railway Crescent Heritage Precinct - Physical Description 2

      Associations

      Various - Refer to individual citations as appropriate

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Hobsons Bay - Hobsons Bay Heritage Study

      Author: Hobsons Bay City Council
      Year: 2006
      Grading:

Public contributions

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
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