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Mount Buffalo Chalet

Location Mount Buffalo National Park,, MOUNT BUFFALO VIC 3740 - Property No B5699 File Number B5699 Level State

[1/1] B5699 Mt Buffalo Chalet

Statement of Significance

Scenically located in the Mt Buffalo National Park and designed by the Public Works Department as a Victorian state government owned hotel which opened in 1910, the Mt Buffalo Chalet is of historic, social and architectural significance at State level.
Historically and socially, the Chalet is significant for its role in promoting the development of the Mount Buffalo National Park as a year-round alpine resort for a broad cross section of the Australian community; for its continuing popularity as a government run tourist destination for over seventy years; and for its association with the Victorian Railways since 1924 and the unique nature of that organization in operating such a facility.
Architecturally, the Mt Bufflao Chalet is significant as being one of the largest chalet complexes in Australia. Rare for its isolated location, the Chalet is also architecturally notable for the consistent theme of rubble rock plinths and steeply pitched gable roofed pavilion wings to either side of a central and much larger gabled block which echoes the dominant rock formations of the site and which has prevailed despite alterations and extensions over many years. Still sensitive to the surrounding wilderness and remarkable for the comprehensive and self-contained range of services and accommodation achieved within this building, the core of the original design concept still pervades this rambling collection of timber buildings perched on the edge of a cliff.
The rock terraces and landscape area to the front of the Chalet developed between 1920 and 1950 are to be included
Classified: 12/06/1991