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FORMER SOUTH YARRA RAILWAY STATION

Location 163-165 TOORAK ROAD SOUTH YARRA, STONNINGTON CITY File Number 13/007629 Level Registered

[1/2] 1 former south yarra railway [2/2] h01068 plan h1068

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Former South Yarra Railway Station was constructed c.1862, on the Princes Bridge to Windsor line, which was operated by the Melbourne and Suburban Railway company. The original station consisted of an entry vestibule facing Toorak Road and a long building stretching northward at platform level containing a mixture of office, ticket and waiting room accommodation. Passengers entered via the Toorak Road facade and descended stairs to the ticket and waiting areas. The original structure was built in brown Hawthorn bricks highlighted with red brick string courses and rubbed voussoirs, set on bluestone footings. The station complex underwent substantial works in 1883, 1915-16, and again in 1918 when the original building was superseded by a new building above the railway lines facing Toorak Road. The exterior of the building is relatively intact, as altered in 1918, but the interior has been drastically altered from the original.

How is it significant?
The Former South Yarra Railway Station is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Former South Yarra Railway Station is of historical significance as evidence of the early growth of the suburban railway system in Melbourne. Melbourne's railway network was established by private companies, and this station is one of only two private company-built stations surviving from the early 1850s and 1860s. As such it is an important reminder of the origins of the suburban train system. The station is also a tangible reminder of the boost to suburban development that the railways' expansion provided, as evidenced by the substantial commercial development around South Yarra Station and along Toorak Road (aided, also, by the spreading tram network). The alterations to the station, while effecting the intactness of the original structure, demonstrate the growth of the train system, as new structures were built and old ones altered to accommodate new lines and increasing patronage.

The Former South Yarra Railway Station is of architectural significance as a very rare example of a station built by one of Melbourne's private railway companies. It is one of only two private company-built station buildings surviving from the 1850s and early 1860s. Its construction represents a deviation from the low-cost timber structure which was typical of the stations built by the early private companies and from the standard layouts associated with stations built by the Victorian Railways Department. The siting for the building on two levels is unusual, resulting from the difference in elevation between the road and the railway line.