68 Victoria Street

The Victoria Street Precinct is located on the south side of Victoria Street, Richmond. The precinct is linear in nature, following the alignment of Victoria Street between Shelley Street to the west and several properties short of Lennox Street to the east; Little Butler Street is to the rear. The precinct comprises historic commercial/retail buildings, the majority of which are two-storey rendered masonry and brick buildings, with several single-storey buildings at the west end. The buildings date from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the 1910s. Buildings in the precinct are predominantly of 'contributory' heritage value; with one 'individually significant' property (pair of two-storey Victorian shop/residences at 92-94 Victoria Street); and two 'not-contributory' properties. The graded properties of the precinct share many characteristics, including rendered masonry and brick buildings, many overpainted, of (mainly) two-storey scale; no setbacks to the street; typically concealed or partly concealed roof forms, with some visible chimneys; generally intact upper (first floor) facades with parapets which are variously plain or curved, with some triangular or square pediments; some elaborate detailing to parapets; and original first floor windows associated with the former residences above the ground floor shops. The shopfronts are typically altered, with many of quite recent origin; awnings over the street (cantilevered or suspended with tie rods) are also commonly not original. Signage varies in impact and prominence: signs are attached to the fascias of awings; to parapets, first floor facades and the roofs of verandahs and awnings; and in painted form to shop windows. Many of the properties also have rear service yards, with annexes, skillions and outbuildings being common, accessed via Litte Butler Street.

The Victoria Street Precinct is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance. 

The Victoria Street Precinct is of local historical significance. The street forms the boundary between Richmond and Abbotsford, and was originally known as Simpson's Road. It began to develop a commercial and retail character in the mid-nineteenth century, a pattern which was consolidated by the 1880s when there was a significant increase in the number of businesses. By the end of the century, many of the existing buildings had been constructed. Victoria Street has subsequently continued as a local retail and service precinct for Richmond and Abbotsford, albeit with the mix of businesses, and the commercial character of the precinct changing in the period since the Second World War. This was in response to waves of migrant groups moving to the area, including people from South East Asia who from the 1970s to the present have operated numerous restaurants, green grocers and grocery shops. The colourful retail character of the street, and the rich collection of restaurants, draws customers from all over Melbourne. The Victoria Street Precinct is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance. It has a comparatively high level of intactness to the collection of nineteenth and early twentieth century buildings, concentrated in the first floor facades. The predominantly two-storey scale, combined with the generally consistent and repetitive pattern of parapeted first floor facades, generates a high level of cohesion and homogeneity. The mix of single and paired buildings also adds to the character of the precinct. In addition, the precinct demonstrates some of the principal characteristics of late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial/retail streets. These include many two-storey historic masonry buildings, which combine retail and residential components; zero setbacks to the street; shopfronts at ground floor level (albeit mostly altered to their original form); awnings; and a preponderance of intact first floor facades, with solid walls, punched rectangular windows, and often prominent parapets. The latter are variously plain or curved, with some triangular or square pediments, and elaborate detailing.