518-24, 534 & 534A Bridge Road

The former Flour Mill & Grain Store complex, to the extent of the fabric dating from c.1870 to c.1951 associated with the use as a flour mill (including the c.1951 alterations and additions designed by architect, Frederick Moresby), at 534 & 534A Bridge Road, and the silo structure constructed c.1941 situated on part of 518-24 Bridge Road in Richmond is significant. It comprises a complex of brick and timber-framed iron clad buildings built in stages from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries with an associated silo structure. The buildings are all built up to the frontages to Bridge Road, Type Street and the rear laneway, and vary in height from one to three stories. The three-storey building adjacent to Type Street, and immediately to the north of the vehicle crossing, dates from the late nineteenth century. It has a hip and gable roof, and double hung two pane sash windows with segmental arched heads and brick cills. Some of these windows (including a half-circular window at first floor level near the centre of the wall) have been closed up. This was described on a 1948 plan as the 'Mill building' and probably contained the milling equipment used to process the grain. At rear (south end) of this building is the 1948 skillion roof addition end, which originally contained staff amenities, motor and machinery rooms and a 'silk room'. To the west of this building and located toward the centre of the site is a building clad in corrugated iron with a skillion roof, with a tower element, which may have contained the flour and wheat bins as shown on the 1948 plans. Adjacent to the laneway is a mid-twentieth century parapeted brick building of one and two storeys that extends from Type Street to the silos. This was described on a 1948 plan as the 'Bag cleaning and store'. Adjacent to this the silo structure comprises four cylindrical reinforced concrete silos arranged in a square.

Alterations and additions made, and new buildings constructed after the use by the building as a flour mill ceased (1955 onwards) are not significant.

How is it significant?

The former Flour Mill & Grain Store complex at 518-24, 534 & 534A Bridge Road, Richmond is of local historic, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Yarra.

Why is it significant?

The former Flour Mill & Grain Store complex is associated with the development of secondary industry in Richmond. It demonstrates the diverse range of manufacturing carried out including flour milling, which remained an important industry in Richmond until the 1950s. (Criterion A)

The former Flour Mill & Grain Store complex is representative of the industrial complexes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with a range of buildings that demonstrate the continuous use and development of the site as a flour mill over 100 years. The flour mill use is demonstrated by the form and scale of the three storey building adjacent to Type Street with the associated corrugated iron clad tower, and by the reinforced concrete silos, which demonstrate the change to bulk handling of grain by the early 1940s. The significance of the complex is enhanced by its rarity values, as surviving example of a nineteenth century flour mill in the City of Yarra. Most of the other flour mills in the City of Yarra have been demolished, while archaeological remains are all that survive of Dights Mill in Abbotsford. (Criteria B & D)

The reinforced concrete silo is significant as a landmark within the local area. (Criterion E)

Group

Manufacturing and Processing

Category

Flour Mill