Red Cross Centre
56 Gray Street HAMILTON, SOUTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE
Gray St Commercial Precinct Hamilton
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Statement of Significance
SIGNIFICANCE: This building is of interest for its rare cantilevered balcony and the contribution that it makes to the streetscape. It was also the office of the architect, Frank hammond, one of Hamilton's most important citizens.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Shops
54 Gray Street
This shop has local significance for its architectural interest which lies in its late Victorian Classical style and its rare surviving overhanging balcony. It also has historical associations with a number of well known Hamilton townsmen, including solicitors, a local architect and auctioneer. In the 1890s the buildings were associated with Louis Horwitz (1858-1919), who. after a brilliant beginning as Hamilton's youngest Mayor (at age 24), in the 1890s became the centre of a local financial scandal. ([i]) A wine shop on the site was owned at first by Horwitz and at the turn of the century by Myer Silberberg of Melbourne. ([ii]) By about 1907 the property was owned by another wealthy Hamilton solicitor, John B Westacott (1868-1944), who also became Mayor of Hamilton. ([iii]) Westacott extended the buildings c1908, letting offices to George Holgate (auctioneer), Horace Destree (accountant), and Frank Hammond (architect), who designed many of Hamilton's most prestigious buildings about the turn of the century. ([iv])
The ground floor shop window and door have been altered unsympathetically but otherwise the building survives well and is in good condition. It makes an inmortant contribution to the streetscape.
[i] Garden, Don, Hamilton, pp 122, 173, and 185.
[ii] Hamilton Rate Book 1894, No. 249 (Thomas Tucker, owner/occupier); 1900, No. 248 (Horwitz owner, wine shop, NAV 45 pounds); 1905, No. 275 (M Silberberg, owner, wine shop, NAV 56 pounds).
[iii] Ibid., 1907, No. 284 (J B Westacott, owner, shop and dwelling, NAV 55 pounds); Garden, Don, Hamilton, p 173.
[iv] Hamilton Rate Book 1908, No. 292-295 (J B Westacott, offices, NAV 75 pounds).
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Red Cross Centre - Physical Description 1
MATERIALS:
Roof: corrugated iron
Walls: rendered brick
Dressings: cement render
Plinth: tiled brick
Windows: aluminium
Paving:
Other: tiled walls
NOTABLE FEATURES:Mannerist pediment and parapet.Red Cross Centre - Historical Australian Themes
ASSOCIATED HISTORICAL THEMES
Evolution of the Town: 1890s, 1900
Professions: solicitors
Government institutions: municipal
Red Cross Centre - Integrity
Integrity: F
Red Cross Centre - Physical Conditions
Conditions: F
Heritage Study and Grading
Southern Grampians - City of Hamilton Conservation Study
Author: Timothy Hubbard with Carlotta Kellaway & Michael Looker (plus Francis Punch)
Year: 1991
Grading: C
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