Mimi's Restaurant
56 Thompson Street HAMILTON, Southern Grampians Shire
Gray St Commercial Precinct Hamilton
Statement of Significance
SIGNIFICANCE: One of the few townhouses built in Hamilton and important as an element in the streetscape.
STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Mimi's Restaurant
56 Thompson Street
This townhouse is of local significance for its architecture and its historical associations. It was built on land first sold by the Crown at auction in 1852 to a J Hutchison. (i) This was probably John Hutcheson (c1819-70) who, with his brother George, was an early miller in Hamilton. (ii) The house, built in the 1870s or earlier, may have been the Hutchesons' home although they held other, rural property. The townhouse is modest in scale and in the Conservative Classical style. It can be compared with Roxburgh House, 64 Thompson Street which was the home of a doctor. It is unusual for being built up to the property boundary with a front door that opens onto the footpath and an eaves line which overhangs it. The building was extended early in its history at the side in rockface bluestone. By the early twentieth century it had been converted into the offices of Messrs B Lee Archer & Co by which time it had been extended at the rear. (iii) Now it operates as a restaurant. Like several of its neighbours it represents the expansion of the Gray Street commercial area into surrounding streets.
The building is substantially intact and is in good condition. It is an important element within the streetscape, especially with its neighbour at 58-60 Thompson Street and in contrast to Roxburgh House.
FOOTNOTES
i Township of Hamilton Parish Plan. No other spelling mistakes have been found in the Parish Plan but the authors are confident that this is John Hutcheson. Alternatively the difference in spelling may be Garden's.
ii Garden, D, Hamilton, p 48-49.
iii HSA DP No 261, dated 1938.
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MECHANICS INSTITUTE
Victorian Heritage Register H2171 -
HAMILTON BOTANIC GARDENS
Victorian Heritage Register H2185
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HAMILTON GAS HOLDER
Victorian Heritage Register H1086
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