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BANYULE
60 Buckingham Drive and Richard H Browne, 12/9/1838, Part of Crown Portion 6 HEIDELBERG, Banyule City

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Banyule City
Banyule
Banyule
Banyule
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Statement of Significance

SIGNIFICANCE: Banyule is a substantial and unique pre gold rush residence designed by architect John Gill and as a focus of an area of early elitist land development on the outskirts of Melbourne. While added to and altered, Banyule and its surrounds still retain the appearance and setting of the rural residence of a prominent landowner and member of the colonial gentry of the 1840s. The architecture of the building is a rare example of the use of the Elizabethan style executed in rendered brick work and has no direct comparison in Victoria. It is the only known example of such a design completed by John Gill.The setting of the homestead adds greatly to its significance in providing the only example of a pre-gold rush building in the Melbourne suburban area that has retained a substantial part of its original rural vistas and views.

[Extract: Allom Lovell and Associates. Banyule Conservation Report. 1989]
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    • Usage/Former Usage

      BANYULE - Usage/Former Usage

      Original Use: Residence

      Current Use: Residence

      Physical Description 1

      BANYULE - Physical Description 1

      BUILDING: Banyule in its present form comprises structures from three main phases of construction in 1846, 1908 and the current works in 1996-97. The original small timber house of c.1840 has been demolished. The 1846 house comprises the main two storey rendered brick residence and a detached kitchen block to the north-east. The main building was designed in the Elizabethan style with decorative parapeted gables on the front and side elevations, slender octagonal piers at the corners surmounted by tall pinnacles and mullioned windows. The 1908 extensions, comprising a two storey east wing and a single storey north wing linking original detached kitchen to the house, are broadly similar in style to the original house.

      The current works include construction of a substantial extension to the north, comprising a two storey wing and a single storey garage, refurbishment and some internal alterations to the earlier sections, construction of a swimming pool to the rear and landscaping works. The works to the earlier sections of the house include construction of studwork partitioning mainly on the first floor. Some new openings have been formed in the existing brick internal walls. Stripping of plaster has revealed a number of earlier bricked up openings.

      [Extract: Allom Lovell and Associates. Banyule Conservation Report. 1989] LANDSCAPE: Of the original, extensive estate, little remains of the original garden, in which von Mueller was reputedly involved. A Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) and Blue Atlantic Cedar (Cedrus atlantica var. glauca), which is registered by the National Trust, dominate the front of the house, with a Yew (Taxus baccata), which is large for the area, growing in close proximity. An Algerian Oak (Quercus canariensis) is located to the west of the house. The balance of the garden is far more contemporary than these older specimens, and of low significance to the site.These trees are of importance as remnants of an important local estate and garden, which is associated with the early history of the Heidelberg area.

      Physical Conditions

      BANYULE - Physical Conditions

      Good

      Intactness

      BANYULE - Intactness

      Good 13/07/2005

      Historical Australian Themes

      BANYULE - Historical Australian Themes

      Within a few years of the first land sales, several of the original Crown Portions in Keelbundora were subdivided into rural allotments, some as small as 50 acres (20.23 hectares), and sold to some of the colony's more prominent and wealthy residents. Many of the first landowners in the area, including Joseph Hawdon at Banyule, were townsmen, at least some of whom intended to work their estates on a tenant system as in England.

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Heritage Study and Grading

      Banyule - Heidelberg Conservation Study

      Author: Graeme Butler and Associates
      Year: 1985
      Grading:

      Banyule - Banyule Heritage Review

      Author: Context P/L
      Year: 2009
      Grading:

Public contributions

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