5 RADOVICK STREET, KORUMBURRA, SOUTH GIPPSLAND SHIRE
Level
Recommended for Heritage Overlay
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State Savings Bank of Victoria
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State Savings Bank of Victoria
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The former State Savings Bank of Victoria, designed by Sydney, Smith & Ogg and constructed by Neil Falconer in 1902 and substantially remodelled in 1940, at 5 Radovick Street, Korumburra is significant. It is a two-storey brick bank, plainly rendered and on a brick plinth, with references to Egyptian motifs in the palm/papyrus like decoration of the capitals to the four piers of the facade. The facade has a wide central panel with two upper windows flanked by narrower panels at the sides with single windows. On the ground floor, the entry is in the north panel with a small, bracketed canopy. The ground floor windows surrounded by rendered architraves, have lower fixed panels and upper elements with diagonally crossed steel glazing bars. The piers support a blocking course with cornice capped by a simple solid parapet with a wide, flat triangular pediment bearing the date 1940, presumed to be that date of the alteration. The residence is a single storey element at the rear and south side. Alterations and additions made to the building after 1940 are not significant.
How is it significant?
The former State Savings Bank of Victoria at 5 Radovick Street, Korumburra is of local historic and aesthetic significance to South Gippsland Shire.
Why is it significant?
Historically, this building was the second permanent bank established in Korumburra and is associated with a period of growth in the early twentieth century when it became one of the largest towns in South Gippsland and an important commercial centre. It also demonstrates the historic development of the intersection of Radovick and Commercial streets as one of the early commercial areas in the town. (Criterion A)
Aesthetically, it is significant as a fine and well detailed example of a bank in the interwar Stripped Classical style. The pilasters with unusual Egyptian style capitals and other simplified classical details including the simple pediment, cornice and the bracketed canopy over the entrance demonstrate the continuing interpretation of this style in bank design and how these details were abstracted and simplified during the late interwar period. (Criterion E)