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Bundoora Park Homestead
7-27 Snake Gully Drive,, BUNDOORA VIC 3083 - Property No B2418

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

The Bundoora Park Homestead (the former Bundoora Repatriation Day Centre) is architecturally and historically significant at State Level.
The building is a 14-room mansion built in 1899/1900 for John M V Smith, a prominent identity in the racing industry. It is a competition-winning two-storey, asymmetrical red brick Queen Anne building designed by Sydney H Wilson; the erection was supervised in conjunction with Percy Oakden (one of the competition assessors), and built by J B Sewell & Co. The interior of the building contains outstanding examples of stained glass, architectural pyrography work and other fine craftsmanship in the stairway and many fireplace surrounds. It is notable for its great centre stair hall with openings to the first floor and view of the great elliptical glass ceiling and for its intricate and innovative use of fibrous plaster in a generally Jacobean manner by S Millsom.
The Bundoora Park Homestead is also important as the building contains several pieces of stained glass which can be attributed to Auguste Fischer who was a leader in Arts and Crafts circles and an important glass artist of the period.
The Bundoora Park Homestead and its later use as a psychiatric repatriation facility, has important social associations as its acquisition indicated the urgent need for accommodation for and services for the care of returned service personnel. The building's then isolation suited the prevailing official and public attitudes to the mentally ill. At the same time the setting provided a restful environment for rehabilitation and the opportunity for self-sufficiency in food production for the institution.
The Bundoora Park Homestead was the principal building of the State's first repatriation psychiatric facility.
Classified: 03/02/1997

See alsoB6647, B6660, B6789, B6794, B6938, B6939, B7042, B7024, B6937

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