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PRESTON TECHNICAL COLLEGE (FORMER)

Other Name

NORTHERN METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Location

77-89 ST GEORGES ROAD, PRESTON, DAREBIN CITY

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2]
Northern Metropolitan
[2/2]
Northern Metropolitan

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Preston Technical College at 77-89 St Georges Road, Preston built in 1937, designed by the Public Works Department under its Chief Architect, Percy Everett, is significant. One of three secondary schools opened in Darebin during the inter-war period it provided technical education to boys from the Preston and Northcote districts. Later, its facilities were enlarged to teach girls. It is an inter-war two-storey building designed in a Stripped Classical style. The original building's symmetrical massing creates a Classical composition, and the entrance, which has some Moderne detailing, implies a Classical portico. Other architectural stylistic influences are also visible including the slightly convex hips of the roof, which is clad in terracotta Spanish tiles, giving this part of the building a Mediterranean appearance. The upper walls of the building are cream brick and sit upon a red brick base. Windows are multi-paned and have steel frames.

Later alterations and additions, and other buildings on the site now occupied by Northern Metropolitan Institute of Technology (NMIT) are not significant.

How is it significant?
The former Preston Technical College at 77-89 St Georges Road, Preston is of local historic, aesthetic and social significance to Darebin City.

Why is it significant?
Historically, the school provides evidence of the educational faciliies established to meet the educational needs of the growing municipalities of Northcote and Preston in the Inter-war years. It is also significant as a place that illustrates the development of technical colleges during the inter-war period. It is significant as an example of a school designed under the direction of notable Chief Architect, Percy Everett (AHC criteria A.4, D.2, H.1).

Architecturally, the former Preston Technical College is a relatively intact and good example of a substantial Education Department secondary school building from the Inter-war years. The Stripped Classical composition of its east (St Georges Road) elevation is of note, which is layered with materials and embellishment that are found on Moderne and Mediterranean style buildings, creating an interesting hybrid of styles (AHC criterion F.1).

Group