64 Wellington Street

The 1895 building at 64 Wellington Street, Collingwood, is a large two storey factory/warehouse building with a long single hipped roof, gabled at the west end, and clad in corrugated galvanised steel. The facade to Wellington Street is in red brick with two flat-faced stringcourses at ground and first floor levels separated by a moulded cornice. The facade is capped by a rendered stepped and corniced parapet with a central female-head moulding and flanking consoles; the windows and door to the principal facade have overpainted round arches in brick, intersecting with the top stringcourse. Both side elevations have windows at ground and first floor levels. The building has a single-course base in bluestone, rough-fronted at the sides, planed and overpainted at the front.

How is it significant?

The building at 64 Wellington Street, Collingwood, is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Why is it significant?

The large two storey red brick former boot factory at 64 Wellington Street, which dates from 1895, is of local historical significance. It was established by William Peatt, a successful local boot maker, who commenced operations in the 1860s, had a smaller boot factory in Collingwood by the 1870s, and constructed the subject building to meet the growth of his business in the 1890s. It was also one of a number of shoe and boot factories in Collingwood and Abbotsford, an area which attracted leather-based manufacturing due to the proximity of tanneries on the banks of the Yarra River. The growth of Peatt's business is further demonstrated in the later extensions of the factory to the north and east to Langridge Street. The 1895 building is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance. It is a comparatively largely externally intact example of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century former factory/warehouse building, where the red brick facade to Wellington Street is handsomely proportioned and well detailed; and the rendered stepped and corniced parapet with a central female-head moulding and flanking consoles is a prominent element. The survival of the building as largely free-standing, save for the later extension to the east and rear is also of note. The building additionally demonstrates some of the principal characteristics of late nineteenth and early twentieth century former factory/warehouse buildings. It combines the typical arrangement of front office accommodation, as evidenced by the more formal presentation and entry to Wellington Street, with more utilitarian factory spaces to the rear. The regular windows to the long side elevations are also typical, introduced to facilitate an even light to the interior working areas.

Group

Retail and Wholesale

Category

Factory/ Plant