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AVONDALE GENERAL STORE (FORMER)

Other Name

The Cheesecake Shop, Kirchner's Store

Location

3 MILITARY ROAD,, AVONDALE HEIGHTS VIC 3034 - Property No 208060

File Number

074

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2]
View of shopfront on Military
[2/2]
Photograph of Cecil Kirchner's

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Avondale General Store was the first commercial premises to be established in the Avondale Heights area, having been erected in 1957 by local residents Cecil and Nancye Kirchner. This modest double-fronted brick shop served as a grocery, greengrocery, newsagent and post office to the earliest residents of the burgeoning semi-rural suburb as it developed in the late 1950s and '60s.

How is it significant?
The former Avondale General Store is of historical significance to the City of Moonee Valley

Why is it significant?
Historically, the former Avondale General Store is significant as the first retail premises to be established in what was still, in the late 1950s, an underdeveloped semi-rural area. Although less than fifty years old, and somewhat altered, the shop is nevertheless one of the oldest surviving buildings in the area and thus provides evidence of a significant phase in the development of the suburb. It also retains important associations with the Kirchner family, prominent local residents who took a proactive role in many aspects of the community's development during these early years. For many years, the general store played an important role as a meeting place for local residents and a venue for countless public meetings prompted by the Kirchners as they championed for adequate education, welfare and transport services in the area.

Group

Retail and Wholesale