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FORMER ADVERTISER BUILDING

Location 205 NELSON PLACE WILLIAMSTOWN, HOBSONS BAY CITY File Number 604330 Level Registered

[1/3] FORMER ADVERTISER BUILDING [2/3] 1 former advertiser building [3/3] h00865 plan h0865

Statement of Significance

SOURCE: REPORT TO MINISTER

THE FORMER ADVERTISER BUILDING, BUILT BETWEEN 1885 AND 1888 FOR THE
PROPRIETORS OF THE WILLIAMSTOWN ADVERTISER, HAS STRONG HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS
WITH ALFRED T CLARK, PROMINENT VICTORIAN POLITICIAN, BUSINESSMAN AND FOUNDER
OF THE INFLUENTIAL COLONIAL NEWSPAPER. CLARK PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE
PROMOTION OF HARBOUR AND NAVIGATION IMPROVEMENTS IN VICTORIA. AS MEMBER FOR
WILLIAMSTOWN, HE PURSUED A RADICAL PROTECTIONIST POLICY AND SOUGHT TO
ENCOURAGE VIGOROUS AND INDEPENDENT EXPRESSION TO LOCAL ISSUES THROUGH HIS
NEWSPAPER.

THE ELABORATELY APPOINTED PRINTERY AND OFFICES IN THE CLASSICAL REVIVAL STYLE
GIVE EXPRESSION TO CLARK'S SUCCESSFUL LAND SPECULATIONS AND COMMERCIAL
ACTIVITIES DURING THE 1880'S.

THE BUILDING IS SUBSTANTIALLY INTACT AND DEMONSTRATES A SKILFUL DESIGN AND
RICHLY DECORATED FACADE FEATURING A FRIEZE DEPICTING WILLIAM CAXTON, THE
ORIGINATOR OF PRINT. IT WAS USED CONTINOUSLY AS A PRINTERY FOR THE
WILLIAMSTOWN ADVERTISER UNTIL THE NEWSPAPER WAS PURCHASED BY THE AGE IN C.1970

THE BUILDING CONTRIBUTES TO AN IMPORTANT NINETEENTH CENTURY COMMERCIAL
STREETSCAPE.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ADDITIONAL INFORMATION XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

SOURCE: REGISTER OF THE NATIONAL ESTATE CITATION

FORMER 'ADVERTISER' BUILDING, 205
NELSON PLACE, WILLIAMSTOWN, WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1874 FOR A T CLARK M P AS BOTH
A PRINTERY FOR THE 'WILLIAMSTOWN ADVERTISER' AND A SHIPPING EXCHANGE.
SYMMETRICAL IN ELEVATION, THE TWO STORIED BRICK STRUCTURE HAS RUSTICATED
PIERS TO BOTH STOREYS. PAIRED ROUND-HEADED WINDOWS ARE LOCATED ABOUT THE
CENTRAL DOORWAY, A MOTIF REPEATED ABOVE WITH FLAT-HEADED WINDOWS BENEATH THE
PARAPET. A DECORATIVE FRIEZE IS DISTINCTIVE. FORMER 'ADVERTISER' BUILDING,
205 NELSON PLACE, WILLIAMSTOWN, IS A STRUCTURE WITH CONSIDERABLE HISTORICAL
ASSOCIATIONS WITH THE 'WILLIAMSTOWN ADVERTISER' AND THE HISTORY OF
WILLIAMSTOWN. THE BUILDING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE TOWNSCAPE AND IN ITS
STREETSCAPE IN THE HISTORIC CITY. ARCHITECTURALLY THE BUILDING IS IN THE
CLASSICAL REVIVAL STYLE AND IS A FAIRLY TYPICAL DESIGN, GIVEN
DISTINCTION BY THE USE OF A FRIEZE WHICH REPRESENTS THE ORIGINATOR OF
PRINTING, WILLIAM CAXTON. FORMER 'ADVERTISER' BUILDING, 205 NELSON PLACE,
WILLIAMSTWON, IS IN GOOD CONDITION AND REASONABLY INTACT. OF LOCAL
SIGNIFICANCE.