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Former School of Mines (Stawell Technical School), Skene Street, STAWELL

Other Name

School of Mines

Location

Skene Street STAWELL, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE

Level

Stage 2 study complete

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SL 333 - Jacaranda Restaurant

Statement of Significance

The former School of Mines Building in Skene Street, Stawell makes a significant architectural and visual contribution to the predominantly late 19th and early 20th century residential area. The front portion of this building also has significance as an externally intact example of the Late Victorian Free Classical style. Built in 1890 as an addition to the Market Buildings (which had been constructed in 1878-79), the structure accommodated the Stawell School of Mines which had evolved out of the Stawell School of Arts and Stawell School of Arts and Design in the mid-late 1880s. The School of Mines occupied the building until junior technical courses were established in 1916, the school began to be known as the Technical School. By 1989, the front portion of the building was converted into a teaching restaurant known as the "Jacaranda Restaurant", as part of the Stawell campus of the Wimmera Community College of Tafe. Front portion appears to be in good condition when viewed from the street.

The front portion of the former School of Mines Building in Skene Street is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of a Late Victorian Free Classical style. These qualities include the front three bayed facade, with its central arched entrance and flanking wider bays having paired arched timber framed double hung windows. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the single storey height, face brick wall construction, rendered, tapered Ionic pilasters which support the large plain rendered entablature decorated with the band of modillions, solid, rendered parapet punctuated in the centre by a rendered pediment surmounted by a decorative urn and flanking scrolls, rendered parapet scrolls, deep entrance archway of rendered voussoirs and projecting label mould and central keystone, elaborate columns in-antis supporting the entrance archway, and the rendered window voussoirs, label moulds and keystones. The hipped roof form clad in galvanised corrugated steel behind the main facade, together with the front face brick side walls and parapets, also contribute to the significance of the place.

The front portion of the former School of Mines building in Skene Street is historically significant at a LOCAL level. It is associated with the development of the School of Mines from 1890, becoming the Stawell Technical School from 1916 and from 1989 a Stawell campus of the Wimmera Community College of Tafe as the "Jacaranda" teaching restaurant. The site also has associations with the establishment of the Stawell Market Buildings from 1878-79.

The front portion of the former School of Mines building in Skene Street is socially significant at a LOCAL level. It is recognised and valued by the Stawell community as a long-standing educational facility in the town.

Overall, the front portion of the former School of Mines building in Skene Street is of LOCAL significance.

Group