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Murrumbeena Village Precinct

Location

398 AND 412 AND 414-422 (ROW OF FIVE: WARDROP'S BUILDINGS AND 430 AND 436 AND 438 AND 440 AND 446 AND 450 AND 453-455 (PAIR) AND 456 AND 458 AND 460 AND 465-473 (ROW OF PAIR) AND 466 AND 468 AND 470-472 (PAIR) AND 476-486 (ROW OF SIX) AND 504 NEERIM ROAD AND 55 AND 61 AND 63 AND 65 AND 69-71 (PAIR) AND 73-75 (PAIR) AND 77-79 (WARDROP'S BUILDINGS) AND 81 AND 83-83A (PAIR) AND 85 AND 87 AND 88 AND 90-92 (PAIR) AND 94 (FORMER BANK) MURRUMBEENA ROAD AND 432-434 AND 442 AND 448 AND 452 (AT REAR) AND 457-459 (PAIR) AND 463 AND 462-464 (FORMER BANK) AND 474 (FACTORY AT REAR) AND 454 AND 461 AND 453 (COFFEE KIOSK ADJACENT TO THIS) NEERIM ROAD AND 57-59 (FORMER BANK) AND 67 MURRUMBEENA ROAD AND 430 (POST-WW2 BUILDINGS TO THE REAR) NEERIM ROAD

Level

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Statement of Significance

What is significant?

The Murrumbeena Village Precinct, extending along both sides of Neerim and Murrumbeena Road where the latter crosses the railway line, comprises cohesive
commercial streetscapes made up of single and double-storey buildings predominantly dating from the first four decades of the twentieth century, punctuated
by two rare survivors from the late-Victorian era and a small number of post-war buildings of sympathetic scale and form.
The following are deemed to be contributory elements in the precinct:

Neerim Road: Nos 398, 412, 414-422 (row of five; Wardrop’s Buildings), 430, 436, 438, 440, 446, 450, 453-455 (pair), 456, 458, 460, 465-473 (row of five), 466, 468, 470-472 (pair), 476-486 (row of six), 504.
Murrumbeena Road: Nos 55, 61, 63, 65, 69-71 (pair), 73-75 (pair), 77-79 (Wardrop’s Buildings), 81, 83-83a (pair), 85, 87, 88, 90-92 (pair), 94 (former bank).

The following are deemed to be non-contributory elements within the precinct:

Neerim Road: Nos 432-434, 442, 444, 448, 452 (at rear), 457-459 (pair), 461, 463, 462-464 (former bank), 474 (factory at rear), 454, 461; also coffee kiosk adjacent to No 453.
Murrumbeena Road: Nos 57-59 (former bank), 67.
Post-WW2 buildings to the rear of 430 Neerim Road are deemed to be noncontributory.

How is it significant?

The Murrumbeena Village Precinct satisfies the following criteria for inclusion on the heritage overlay schedule to the City of Glen Eira planning scheme:

Criterion A: Importance to the course, or pattern, of Glen Eira’s cultural history.
Criterion E: Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

Why is it significant?

The Murrumbeena Village Precinct is significant for historic associations with early development of the suburb of Murrumbeena. A local retail centre emerged promptly after subdivision and sale of land on the north side of Neerim Road in 1887-88. Of ten shops built by 1900, two survive (Nos 430, 468) to provide rare evidence of the strip’s origins. A commercial boom from the mid-1910s to the mid-1920s, echoing the suburb’s rapid residential growth, is illustrated by so many buildings from that era, including not only shops but also motor garages, a bank, outposts of leading city retailers such as Moran & Cato and Bruce & Carey, and George Wardrop’s eponymous corner office/retail complex. Shops on the south side of Neerim Road, built on railway land, demonstrate what was then an unusual and controversial phenomenon, while a breezeway that once provided access to the station is amongst the last remaining physical evidence of the railway complex at ground level prior to the recent completion of the elevated Skyrail. (Criterion A)
The Murrumbeena Village Precinct is significant as a mostly pre-war commercial streetscape of unusual form, radiating in all four directions from an offset crossroad bisected by a railway line. The pre-war shops display noted cohesion through consistent single- and double-storey scale, single-fronted expression with low parapets, and a recurring palette of materials (face red brick, smooth and roughcast tender) coupled with an array of decorative detailing. Many are atypically intact, retaining elements of original shopfronts (eg recessed doorways, metal-framed windows, leadlight, spandrel tiling), and some with painted signage or rendered lettering. These shops, as individual specimens, pairs or longer rows, are punctuated by other building types of similar vintage, notably two motor garages and a monumental branch bank. (Criterion E)