Webb red brick dwelling and stables (former)

The development of the land is a testament to the local histories of Bendigo and the micro-politics of the place associated with water and flour mills, public baths and laundries, which centred on Bendigo Creek and clustered around the centre of the town. For the first 40 years of the site's history from 1864 to 1904, the land was used as a laundry business operated by Mrs Mary Donohue, who also lived there. Mary Donohue arrived in Bendigo in 1864/5 taking out a Crown Allotment lease on the land, later purchasing the land in 1867 and operating a laundry business in which she employed other women, Mrs Martin and Mrs McLaughlin in 1865-1866. Access to water was nearby and had the added advantage of being near the town baths located approximately 50 metres away in Bath Lane. At the time of her death in 1904 the land was purchased by William Webb, a successful flour mill owner and mining speculator. 

In Victoria in the mid 1870s there were between 150-160 flour mills. The operation and establishment of flour mills during the gold rush years yielded high returns for investors. Flour mills were among the most highly capitalized industrial concerns in Bendigo. Like other local mill owners, William Webb invested his money in mining, becoming part of the Bendigo elite mine speculators. But unlike many others, faced with financial difficulty at the end of the quartz boom in the late 1870s, Webb prospered building the four storey Webb & Co flour mill on the corner of Queen and Williamson Streets in 1878. The J. Buckley and J. B. Loridan mills were insolvent by 1879 as too were the W. Degraves mills, which were purchased by William Webb. By 1901, Webb owned one of the few country flour mill businesses that still were in operation. The house and stables at Edward and Queen Streets represents the zenith of the lucrative returns made possible during the flour milling days in Bendigo. William Webb who arrived in Melbourne in 1850s, worked as manager and owner for over 50 years in the biggest flour mills in the state is regarded as an old pioneer a'50ers'. His Bendigo Boom style house, which he built at the end of his career, is an important testament to the changing values and tastes of early migrants to the colony, which were inspired by the new Federation of Australia movement in the early 20th century. 

William Webb commissioned the construction of a substantial Bendigo architectural boom style villa with attached two-storey stables at 72 Queen and 52 Edward Street in inner Bendigo city. The work is in the style of William Beebe, Bendigo's most prominent architect of the time, although this is not confirmed. The red brick stables, high boundary walls and adjoining residence form one complex which is visually prominent and adjacent Hunter House in Queen Street, a two-storey mine speculators mansion. The two buildings form an historic group of highly ornate Bendigo boom style residences complete with stables.

The residence at 72 Queen Street and former red brick two storey stables at 52 Edward Street and brick boundary walls are of local historical, social and aesthetic/architectural significance to the City of Greater Bendigo as a complex, which is considered rare. 

The residence and former two-storey stable and boundary walls are historically significant (Criterion A) for its history as a part of a substantial residential complex built in 1904 by the wealthy flour mill owner William Webb, J.P., who was also a successful mine speculator and had a long 50 year association since the early 1850s with some of the major flour mill businesses in Victoria. 

The site has historic significance as it demonstrates the arbitrary character and changing fortunes of the city as it developed from a new gold rush town to a large regional centre in the 20th century. The early history of the site illustrates the story of Mary Donohue and the opportunities available to her to establish a thriving laundry business in the 1860s and remain there for over 40 years. 

The red brick residence and adjoining stables and high boundary walls form one complex which is visually prominent and adjacent Hunter House in Queen Street, a two-storey mine speculators mansion. The two buildings complex both built by highly successful Bendigo mine speculators form a strong visual historic group of highly ornate Bendigo boom style residences complete with stables, which are rare in the centre of Bendigo. 

Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics . 

The house and stables at Edward and Queen Streets represents the zenith of the lucrative returns made possible during the flour milling days in Bendigo. The complex design of residence and stables demonstrates influence by the Picturesque Art Nouveau and Federation style of architecture is a very good example of the distinct hybrid Bendigo boom style. The decorative details shows borrowing from a number of different influences such as the French Second Empire, Edwardian and European Art Nouveau styles, all key architectural motifs present in typical Bendigo architectural style. The former red brick stables, high boundary walls and adjoining residence are of aesthetic/architectural significance (Criterion E) for their construction techniques in brick and architectural design. 

The residence and former red brick stables and high boundary walls meets the threshold of aesthetic value at a local level for community held value due to its prominence as a historic and aesthetic element of the streetscape, being located at a principal road intersection in the centre of Bendigo city. 

The residence and former red brick stables and high boundary walls is of local social significance (Criterion G and Criterion H ), to Bendigo as part of intact residential complex, built in 1904 by the wealthy flour mill owner William Webb, J.P., who was also a successful mine speculator. He had a long association with some of the major mill businesses in Victoria, working in the Desgraves & Co firm in Melbourne in 1850s, later managing the Kyneton mills before, transferring to the Degraves & Co Bendigo mills (2 at Hargreaves and Wills Streets). He later become a partner in the Degraves & Co, Hargeaves mill and purchased the milling property. In 1878 he built his own business the four storey mill at the corner of Lyttleton and Queen Street to the design of the architect Joseph Martin Brady with modifications by Webb and his miller/millwright John Butcher. 

William Webb's Bendigo Boom style house and stables, which he built at the end of his career, is an important testament to the changing values and tastes of early migrants to the colony and Bendigo in particular, which were inspired by the new Federation of Australia movement in the early 20th century.