Potter's Arms

The property at 48-65 Taylors Road Ascot, known as Potter's Arms is significant. The house, built for Scottish Bendigo Pottery founder George Duncan Guthrie c1875 and added to in the 1920s; and the Moreton Bay fig tree are significant elements of the site. The outbuildings are not of significance. 

48-56 Taylor Street (Potter's Arms) is of historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Greater Bendigo. 

The property at 48-56 Taylor Street, subdivided from the larger holdings established by prominent Bendigo pharmaceutical supplier John Holdsworth, and purchased by Bendigo Pottery founder George Duncan Guthrie is significant for its historical associations. Located near Holdsworth's Gothic-revival style house, Guthrie's house of 1875 is a functional and utilitarian structure when compared with that of its neighbour; however Scot George Duncan Guthrie (1828-1910) is an important figure in Bendigo's history and the nearby pottery he established at Epsom has survived until the present time. Following the discovery of suitable clay, Guthrie's establishment and management of Bendigo Pottery saw it rival some of the great Staffordshire potteries of nineteenth century England, and the house he built for his family near to his workplace is of significance by association. The property continues its historic associations with ceramics, functioning as a home and as a pottery studio business under the present ownership. (Criteria A & H)

The property retains the size of the landholding as purchased by Guthrie in 1875 and a garden layout that enhances the setting of the house. The mid-Victorian brick house is of significance as a representative Victorian style single-storey face brick house with decorative brick chimneys. As a house reflecting a utilitarian approach to design, it contrasts with a number of the ornate and architecturally resplendent houses built by prominent citizens for which Bendigo is renowned.

The Moreton Bay fig tree (Ficus macrophylla) is a significant contributing element to the site and a significant tree specimen in its own right given its large size, fine shape and age. The partially brick and earth culvert outside the property boundary, together with the row of peppercorn trees are contributory elements of the site. (Criterion E)