Kew East Primary School No 3161

Kew East Primary School No. 3161 at 35 Kitchener Street, Kew East, is significant. The school was officially opened in 1923. The following elements are significant: the 1923 Main Building (Senior School), the 1929 Infants School (Junior School); and the nine mature Monterey Cypress trees planted along the Windella Avenue and Beresford Street boundaries.

How is it significant?

Kew East Primary School No. 3161 is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

Kew East Primary School No. 3136 is historically significant for the evidence it provides of an early phase in the development of Kew East which gathered momentum from the 1920s, as housing developed rapidly and the population increased in response to the extension of the High Street tram to Harp Road then Burke Road then improved tram connections between the area and the city. The first building on the site was the 1923 Main Building (Senior School), with the Infants School added in 1929 illustrating the enlarged school population. (Criterion A)

Architecturally, the Kew East Primary School No. 3161 is a fine example of the interwar school buildings exemplified in the work of the Victorian Public Works department under Chief Architect E. Evan Smith at either end of Smith's role as Chief Architect (1922-29); the Main Building was designed in 1922 (opened 1923) and the Infant School building in 1928 (opened 1929). Smith's leadership of the Department from 1922-29 corresponded with the construction of a number of fine schools that expressed contemporary ideas of civic beauty through the use of classical styles, an emphasis on axiality and, at times, Palladian plans. These include several examples of State significance including University High School Parkville, Bendigo Senior Secondary College, and Kyneton Secondary College. Kew East Primary School is one of several interwar schools within Boroondara including Camberwell South, Ashburton, Chatham and Hartwell Primary Schools, that were designed and built under Smith's leadership. (Criterion D)

Kew East Primary School is aesthetically significant for its use of restrained classical elements on the dignified 1923 Main Building (Senior School), and for the prominent Spanish Mission style portico to the U-shaped Infants School building. The 1923 building is distinguished through its use of face red brick with concrete sills and lintels around the regularly spaced multi-paned sash windows and terracotta tile hip roof. It is distinguished from other school buildings designed by Smith in the early 1920s, for the asymmetry of the design, utilised to compensate for the gently sloping site. The 1929 Infant School is distinguished by its use of red face brick and terracotta tile and the distinctive and elegant front porch, which comprises a simple white block with elegant pillars that flow smoothly into its three arches. The relatively low-pitched gable roof above the assembly hall of the Infants School provided for the inclusion of clerestory windows into a standard school design, allowing additional light into the building and its assembly hall, and are representative of innovations of infant school design from the mid-1920s. Whilst some external changes have taken place to the school as a whole, the 1923 and 1929 buildings contribute strongly to the school's interwar character. The integrity of the Kew East Primary School is enhanced by the early boundary plantings of Monterey Cypress trees, now large, landmark trees in the streetscape and which contribute to the aesthetic qualities of the school grounds. (Criterion E)

Group

Education

Category

School - State (public)