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Newlands Estate Shopping Centre

Location Cnr Murray Road and Elizabeth Street,, COBURG VIC 3058 - Property No B6211 File Number B6211 Level Local

[1/1] B6211 Newlands Esate Shopping

Statement of Significance

The Newlands Estate Shopping Centre, designed in 1946 by the architects panel of the Housing Commission of Victoria, is architecturally and historically significant, at state level, as an innovative and relatively intact example of a particular building type designed by the panel which demonstrates contemporary, progressive ideals of the Housing Commission. While similar centres were built by the Commission, at Sandringham, Geelong and, in the 1950s, Olympic Village, Heidelberg, Newlands appears to have been the first of this type. It incorporated eight shops with dwellings attached, estate administrative offices and medical and dental clinics. The design was revolutionary in terms of both planning and appearance, with low pairs of brick shops separated by gardens leading to two storey accommodation at the rear. The shopfronts are unified by a single verandah. Subsequent centres of the same type are either less intact, facing demolition or already demolished. The shopping centre is the focal point of the Newlands Estate, itself significant for its unity of design and intactness.
Classified: 20/03/1991