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FORMER MACARONI FACTORY
64 MAIN ROAD HEPBURN SPRINGS, HEPBURN SHIRE
FORMER MACARONI FACTORY
64 MAIN ROAD HEPBURN SPRINGS, HEPBURN SHIRE
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Victorian Heritage Register
FORMER MACARONI FACTORY SOHE 2008
On this page:
Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The former Macaroni Factory was commenced in 1859 by brothers Giacomo and Pietro Lucini. The Lucinis were fabric merchants from Intra on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. As supporters of Giussepe Mazzini, the Democratic Republican leader during the 1848 revolution in the Italian states, the brothers were forced to migrate as political refugees to Melbourne in the 1850s.
As well as operating as macaroni makers for a short time in Melbourne in the early 1850s, Pietro established a bakery in Spring Creek (Hepburn Springs), supplying macaroni, salami and sausages to the large Italian and Swiss population in the Hepburn-Yandoit area. Many of the Italian migrants working on the goldfields in the area were also Mazzini supporters. The Lucini family supported Italian gold prospectors by loans of money and 'grub-staking', whereby the Lucinis supplied weekly rations of bread, macaroni, salami, olive oil, tea and tobacco in exchange for a one-third share of any gold found. The Lucinis also had substantial interests in gold mines in the 1860s and bought and sold gold.
The former Macaroni Factory building was finished in 1862-64 by the addition of the flanking single storey pavilions. As well as functioning as a macaroni factory the building was the Lucini family home, and additionally between 1864 and 1870 it was licensed as the Roma Hotel. In 1880 the Lucini's won a prize for their macaroni at the Melbourne Exhibition. A hand painted sign 'Hepburn Democratic Club' on the front of the building suggests that the building operated as a focus for the local community until the late nineteenth century. The macaroni business continued until the 1930s, when the machinery was sold and the building became holiday apartments.
The building is constructed of stone and brick. The original slate roof was replaced by corrugated galvanised iron in c1930. Shingles to the pavilion roofs survive beneath later corrugated iron.
Internally the building has a comprehensive hand painted mural scheme. Executed by Giacomo Lucini in 1862-64 in a naive style, the murals cover many of the walls and ceilings. Technically the paintings imitate the surface finish of a fresco, where paint is applied to fresh plaster. The themes are secular and political, depicting different aspects of the Lucinis' lives. The largest mural is on the ceiling of the southern pavilion, depicting the flags of Italy, Switzerland, France and Britain (Australia), and six vignettes of home and family life. Stencils were used to create a repeating floral motif to the walls.
How is it significant?
The former Macaroni Factory is of historic, aesthetic and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The former Macaroni Factory is aesthetically significant for its interior decorative scheme. It is one of the largest and most intact domestic, secular murals in Australia. The comprehensive treatment of walls and ceilings in the naïve style is both an early and rare example in Victoria. The murals in Mintaro near Romsey and Labassa at Caulfield tell stories of the stages of the owner's lives. At Villa Alba the decoration is partly inspired by Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Rob Roy' and illustrates both old and new world nationalism. In contrast, the iconography at the former Macaroni Factory evokes both a sentimentality of a migrant family for the Old World, plus an expression of the political cause they supported in their homeland and continued to promote in Australia. Such an overt political theme expressed in a decorative scheme is very uncommon in a domestic building in Australia.
The former Macaroni Factory is historically significant as evidence of non-British European migration to the goldfields of Victoria. The Lucini family were one of those merchant families who thrived as suppliers to gold prospectors, and they were in a strong position to be commercially successful through cultural links with the Italian and Swiss miners of the 1850s, 60s and 70s.
The former Macaroni Factory is architecturally significant as an example of north Italian style building. There are a number of such houses, farms, huts and stone walls in the Daylesford-Hepburn-Yandoit area, and the former Macaroni is a substantial and early example. The exterior form and plan is noticeably Palladian in style, evidenced by a main block flanked by lower pavilions. This form is unusual for this period in Victoria.
The former Macaroni Factory was commenced in 1859 by brothers Giacomo and Pietro Lucini. The Lucinis were fabric merchants from Intra on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. As supporters of Giussepe Mazzini, the Democratic Republican leader during the 1848 revolution in the Italian states, the brothers were forced to migrate as political refugees to Melbourne in the 1850s.
As well as operating as macaroni makers for a short time in Melbourne in the early 1850s, Pietro established a bakery in Spring Creek (Hepburn Springs), supplying macaroni, salami and sausages to the large Italian and Swiss population in the Hepburn-Yandoit area. Many of the Italian migrants working on the goldfields in the area were also Mazzini supporters. The Lucini family supported Italian gold prospectors by loans of money and 'grub-staking', whereby the Lucinis supplied weekly rations of bread, macaroni, salami, olive oil, tea and tobacco in exchange for a one-third share of any gold found. The Lucinis also had substantial interests in gold mines in the 1860s and bought and sold gold.
The former Macaroni Factory building was finished in 1862-64 by the addition of the flanking single storey pavilions. As well as functioning as a macaroni factory the building was the Lucini family home, and additionally between 1864 and 1870 it was licensed as the Roma Hotel. In 1880 the Lucini's won a prize for their macaroni at the Melbourne Exhibition. A hand painted sign 'Hepburn Democratic Club' on the front of the building suggests that the building operated as a focus for the local community until the late nineteenth century. The macaroni business continued until the 1930s, when the machinery was sold and the building became holiday apartments.
The building is constructed of stone and brick. The original slate roof was replaced by corrugated galvanised iron in c1930. Shingles to the pavilion roofs survive beneath later corrugated iron.
Internally the building has a comprehensive hand painted mural scheme. Executed by Giacomo Lucini in 1862-64 in a naive style, the murals cover many of the walls and ceilings. Technically the paintings imitate the surface finish of a fresco, where paint is applied to fresh plaster. The themes are secular and political, depicting different aspects of the Lucinis' lives. The largest mural is on the ceiling of the southern pavilion, depicting the flags of Italy, Switzerland, France and Britain (Australia), and six vignettes of home and family life. Stencils were used to create a repeating floral motif to the walls.
How is it significant?
The former Macaroni Factory is of historic, aesthetic and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
The former Macaroni Factory is aesthetically significant for its interior decorative scheme. It is one of the largest and most intact domestic, secular murals in Australia. The comprehensive treatment of walls and ceilings in the naïve style is both an early and rare example in Victoria. The murals in Mintaro near Romsey and Labassa at Caulfield tell stories of the stages of the owner's lives. At Villa Alba the decoration is partly inspired by Sir Walter Scott's novel 'Rob Roy' and illustrates both old and new world nationalism. In contrast, the iconography at the former Macaroni Factory evokes both a sentimentality of a migrant family for the Old World, plus an expression of the political cause they supported in their homeland and continued to promote in Australia. Such an overt political theme expressed in a decorative scheme is very uncommon in a domestic building in Australia.
The former Macaroni Factory is historically significant as evidence of non-British European migration to the goldfields of Victoria. The Lucini family were one of those merchant families who thrived as suppliers to gold prospectors, and they were in a strong position to be commercially successful through cultural links with the Italian and Swiss miners of the 1850s, 60s and 70s.
The former Macaroni Factory is architecturally significant as an example of north Italian style building. There are a number of such houses, farms, huts and stone walls in the Daylesford-Hepburn-Yandoit area, and the former Macaroni is a substantial and early example. The exterior form and plan is noticeably Palladian in style, evidenced by a main block flanked by lower pavilions. This form is unusual for this period in Victoria.
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