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Former Stawell Grammar School, Master's House 'Roseleigh', 54-56 Smith Street, STAWELL

Other Names

Stawell Grammar School master's residence , 'Roseleigh'

Location

54-56 Smith Street STAWELL, NORTHERN GRAMPIANS SHIRE

Level

Recommended for Heritage Overlay

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SL 377 - House, Former

Statement of Significance

The house at 54-56 Smith Street, Stawell (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School), has significance for its associations with the Stawell Grammar School established in 1869 and which closed in c.1912. Designed by Robert Alexander Love, architect, the building was constructed as the private residence of the owner and headmaster, R.S. Bradley in 1870-71, with the two storey wing added in 1874. The house also represents a reasonably intact example of the Victorian style, and is in fair condition with signs of rising damp, wall cracks and verandah deterioration.

The house (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School) at 54-56 Smith Street is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level. It demonstrates original design qualities of a Victorian style. These qualities include the single storey hipped roof form that traverses the site, brick wall construction (but not the overpainting), narrow eaves and decorative timber brackets, brick chimneys with projecting coursings, central arched doorway with four panelled timber door and sidelights and fanlight (which reads "Roseleigh") and the flanking shallow-arched timber framed double hung window. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the projecting hipped concave verandah, stop chamfered verandah posts with projecting timber mouldings, timber valance frame, two storey gabled and hipped roof form, galvanised corrugated steel roof cladding, decorative timber gable bargeboards and turned timber finial, and the general picturesque and asymmetrical composition. The remnant 19th century landscaping and visual connections of the former Grammar School room also contribute to the significance of the place.

The house (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School) at 54-56 Smith Street is historically significant at a LOCAL level. It is associated with the development of the Stawell Grammar School after its construction in 1870-71, and particularly with R.S. Bradley, original owner and headmaster of the Grammar School from 1869. The house served as both private residence and dormitory for the school boarders during the second half of the 19th century. It also has associations with Richard B. Chater, headmaster from 1879, and with the architect, Robert Alexander Love.

The house (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School) at 54-56 Smith Street is scientifically significant at a LOCAL level. The cavity brick wall construction (with metal ties) represents an early example of this form of building employed by the architect R.A. Love in the late 1860s and 1870s.

The house (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School) at 54-56 Smith Street is socially significant at a LOCAL level. Although no longer the residence and dormitory of the school, it is still recognised by members of the Stawell community for its past purpose as an important educational institution.

Overall, the house (formerly part of the Stawell Grammar School) at 54-56 Smith Street is of LOCAL significance.

Group