FALLS ROAD PRECINCT

The Falls Road precinct comprising the buildings built from c.1900 to c.1940, at 7-29 Falls Road, Fish Creek is significant. Significant and Contributory buildings in the precinct include:

- Pre-World War II shops and residences at nos. 9, 11, 15, 17, 25 & 29. These include gable fronted shops with post-supported verandahs and attached hipped or gable roof residences. No.25 retains an early timber framed shopfront.

- The house at no. 27, which is an asymmetrical Federation/Edwardian house with a hip roof, a projecting gable with a box bay window and a separate verandah with an arched ladder valance.

- The former Bank of Australasia* at no. 19, which is a Federation timber bank with a transverse gable roof and a residence contained in a wide gable projecting to the rear. The roof has boxed eaves and the gable ends are bracketed and stepped with pressed metal cornices. The front elevation has weather boards to window height with a rough cast frieze above. It has a central pair of framed vertical board doors with a highlight above. The symmetrical side windows are paired double hung with bracketed mini-orb hoods over. The single end windows are similarly treated.

- The Fish Creek Memorial Hall*, which is a gable-fronted interwar hall, with flanking hipped roof ante rooms, constructed of red brick with rendered lintels and half-timbered gable ends.

- The former Fish Creek Butter Factory, which is a large building with a complex series of iron hip and gable roofed sections behind a plain red brick parapet wall with a rendered sign panel 'Fish Creek District Butter Factory'. At the front is a small hipped roof building constructed of red brick, while the entry is placed slightly off centre and is framed by dark and clinker brick pilasters with a flat rendered hood and flanked by tall metal framed windows

All buildings within the precinct are Contributory.

*The Fish Creek Memorial Hall and former Bank of Australasia are also of local significance and have individual citations in connection with their Heritage overlay status.

How is it significant?

The Falls Road Precinct, in Fish Creek, is of local historical, representative and aesthetic significance to South Gippsland Shire.

Why is it significant?

This precinct is historically significant as tangible evidence of the development of Fish Creek in the early twentieth century and the growth that was associated with the establishment of the butter factory, opened in 1910, that saw Falls Road become the commercial and civic centre of the town. This is demonstrated by buildings such as the Post Office, former Bank of Australasia, several early shops, the Public Hall, and the Butter Factory itself. (Criterion A)

This precinct a representative example of a small rural town commercial area of the early twentieth century. The mix of commercial, community, industrial and residential buildings is a defining characteristic of rural town centres and the significance of the precinct is enhanced by the intactness to the original phases of development. (Criterion D)

It has aesthetic significance as an early twentieth century mixed commercial area comprised of gable fronted or parapeted shops and residences, most with post-supported verandahs, interspersed with residences set back from the frontage. The aesthetic qualities of the precinct are enhanced by the former Bank of Australasia, which is a fine and well detailed Federation bank, and the Memorial Hall and the former butter factory, which are landmarks within the precinct. (Criterion E)

Group

Commercial

Category

Commercial Precinct