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BEECHWORTH POST OFFICE

Location 28A CAMP STREET BEECHWORTH, INDIGO SHIRE File Number 13/008675-01 Level Registered

[1/7] BEECHWORTH POST OFFICE SOHE [2/7] 1 beechworth post office ford [3/7] beechworth post office ford [4/7] beechworth post office ford [5/7] beechworth post office ford [6/7] beechworth post office ford [7/7] h00867 plan h0867

Statement of Significance

The Beechworth Post Office was constructed in 1870, to a design by Peter Kerr, incorporating a tower dating from 1865 and other materials from an earlier post office building on the site. It is of importance at a State level for the following reasons:

The post office represents a prominent landmark in this important gold-mining centre. It is an intact example of the larger two story post offices of this period, incorporating a telegraph office and postmaster's residence.

It demonstrates the role and essential nature of communications in the development of early Victoria and the growth of individual townships.

It is a significant work of the renowned government architect Peter Kerr, under the leadership of Public Works Department Inspector-General, William Wilkinson Wardell. Kerr was able to accommodate parts of an earlier building on the site, and integrate them into a very successful hybrid of the Italianate style, well proportioned, forming a visual focus in this rural township.

The building was influential in the development of the Italianate style for public buildings within the Victorian Public Works Department. The style dominated designs in this Department for over twenty years.