Ladsons's Store

Beechworth Road,, TARRAWINGEE VIC 3746 - Property No B698

Ladson's Store, or "Carinya", as it was renamed by its second owner, Hopton Nolan, in the 1880's, is a complex of buildings comprising residence, store and public hall. The complex was constructed by builders Thomas Sheils and Jack Oliver between 1862 and 1867 in the vernacular Georgian style for Thomas Taylor Ladson, a store keeper who had emigrated from London. Ladson arrived in Tarrawingee in c.1860 with Hopton Nolan, for whom the nearby Plough Inn was built in 1864. The two buildings were constructed to take advantage of the traffic to the Beechworth goldfields and in expectation of the railway line to Beechworth passing through Tarrawingee. However, the railway by-passed Tarrawingee (completed 1875-76) and as the road traffic diminished, the general store failed and Ladson sold the building to Hopton Nolan, whose family lived in it and operated a post office from the premises. The building remains in the Nolan family.
The shop and residence is a two storey face red brick building with rendered quoins and chimneys, a corrugated iron hip and valley roof and a returning verandah and balcony. The balustrade of the balcony features decorative ironwork with a swag-bellied profile, a detail unusual in Victoria. The building has multi-paned sash windows at the rear, and single paned sashes and French doors at the front. A timber picket fence runs along the front of the residence, adjoining a post and rail fence down the side of the building separating it from the road. The interior of the residence retains its original simple treatments, including boarded ceilings, timber cornices and minimal plaster decoration. The walls of the main passages are ruled in an ashlar pattern. The ground floor passage is laid with encaustic tiles and the doors are wood grained. Plaster walls have been repainted but all other finishes are intact. The general store is incorporated into the ground floor of the main residence, and has two large shopfront windows with shutters on either side of a panelled door with highlight above. The store retains its fine polished cedar counters and shelving.
The adjacent public hall is a single storey red brick gable roofed building, with timber post supported skillion-roofed verandah across the front. The facade of the public hall incorporates a central timber door, flanked by shuttered windows, and an arch topped vent in the gable end.
At the rear of the complex is a detached brick kitchen, and stables, of which the upper floor has been removed.
The verandah was restored and the timber picket fence was replaced in 1986. The complex generally retains a high degree of integrity.
How is it significant? Ladson's Store is architecturally and historically significant at a State level.
Why is it significant? Ladson's Store is architecturally significant at a State level as a remarkably intact late example of the vernacular Georgian style, and for the incorporation of swag-bellied decorative ironwork in the balcony balustrade, an unusual detail in Victoria. The complex is an important architectural landmark on the Beechworth Road, and complements the historic Plough Inn opposite (also registered).
The complex is historically significant in illustrating the impact of the Beechworth goldfields and associated traffic on the development of the township of Tarrawingee. Distinguished visitors entertained on the premises by Hopton Nolan include novelist Anthony Trollope and journalist Julian Thomas ('The Vagabond') and a number of leading commercial travellers of the day.
Classified: 20/08/1959