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Burswood Garden

Location

15 Cape Nelson Road, PORTLAND VIC 3305 - Property No G13014

File Number

G13014

Level

State

Statement of Significance

Burswood, erected for pastoralist Edward Henty in 1853-55 and landscaped in the mid to late 1850s, is of statewide cultural significance:

- As a fine example of a marine villa, erected for a pioneering pastoral family in a period when the Western District's economic dominance was only just beginning to be challenged by gold discoveries; the architecture and siting of Burswood incorporated many of these attributes of the marine villa, the ornamental glazed verandah being especially redolent of the English prototype;

- For the retention of a fine and intact early garden, amongst the earliest surviving domestic gardens in Victoria; major attributes include the drive, carriage loop, separate garden compartments, works such as early fencing and gates, the intact plan form and overall design, major trees and shrubberies, the distinction between cultivated garden and rural paddocks, and the unchanged relationship between house and garden;

- As a characteristic and early surviving example of the gardenesque style with the controlled formality of its front set against the more picturesque layout of paths away from the house, the serpentine drive which provides only glimpses of the garden and residence beyond, the use of exotic specimen trees, the controlled and carefully manicured areas of lawn and the incorporation of many shrubberies and smaller beds where the art of the garden can be well displayed;

- For the considerable aesthetic values of the garden, derived from the mature plantings, vistas both within the garden and beyond the garden boundaries, the division of the garden into discrete compartments allowing variety and contrast, and the patination associated with an early garden which has not been extensively modified or reconstructed.
File note 18/03/2011: G13014 amalgamated & filed with B0052.

Group