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BEHNKE'S STONEMASON'S YARD AND COTTAGE

Location

51 Martin Street, PENSHURST VIC 3289 - Property No 0030

File Number

569

Level

Stage 2 study complete

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
Behnke's Stonemason's Yard, located on the Hamilton Highway on the western edge of Penshurst opposite the Botanic Gardens and permanent spring, has always been associated with families in the construction industry. It began as the yard of carpenters and builders, the Gunn family. One descendent, Graeme Gunn became a highly regarded and award winning Melbourne architect in the second half of the twentieth century. Subsequently it became a plumber's and builder's yard, the last being the partnership of the McNiece and Hatherell families who moved to another site after the Second World War. From the early 1950s, the yard was owned and occupied by the Behnke family who were stonemasons as well as general building contractors.

How is it significant?
Behnke's Stonemason's Yard is of historical and architectural significance to the township of Penshurst and the Southern Grampians Shire.

Why is it significant?
Behnke's Stonemason's Yard is of historical significance to the township of Penshurst as a representation of the building industry in general and particularly of the stonemason's trade, which was of critical important from the earliest times. It is of historical significance as the best physical reminder in the study area of that trade, which is now little supported. It is of architectural significance for its long-term connection with the construction industry.

Group