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Scotch College

Location 491 Glenferrie Road, HAWTHORN VIC 3122 - Property No B5181 File Number B5181 Level State

[1/3] B5181 Scotch College Hawthorn [2/3] B5181 Scotch College [3/3] B5181 Scotch College (Chapel)

Statement of Significance

Picturesquely sited on the banks of the Yarra River in Hawthorn with playing fields on its lower slopes and an aforested hill in its north-eastern corner, the Scotch College campus is of architectural significance at a state level for its stylistic collection of buildings indicative of two important eras of the school's history.
The first group of buildings, built between 1917 and 1926, mark the progressive move of Scotch College from its previous site in Lansdowne Street, East Melbourne to the 64 acre Glen Estate in Hawthorn. The School architect was Henry Kemp, previously of the prominent residential firm of architects, Ussher & Kemp.
The buildings of this group include the original Preparatory School (1917), the gates and gatehouse on Glenferrie Hill (1917), The Senior Science Block, the Quadrangle and the War Memorial Hall and School and McKeckan House, all built between 1920 and 1926. These buildings were built in red brick with multi-pane windows, roughcast and half-timbering to upper storeys, gable ends and steeply pitched roofs, typical of Kemp's austere domestic designs. Medieval pointed arches appear in the cloisters of the Quadrangle and School and McKechan House.
The second group of buildings built 1933 and 1939 mark a new era in school buildings at Scotch following the death of much loved Headmaster, Dr W J Littlejohn in 1933.
This group of buildings reflects a change in the school's architectural style and a new collection of buildings, which complement the cohesive aesthetic of the Kemp designs. The new architects were Scarborough, Robertson and Love. The second group of buildings includes the highly acclaimed and finely sited Littlejohn Memorial Chapel (1933-36); the John Monash Gates and Lodge (1936); Arthur Robinson House (1937); Mackie Hall and Music School (1939); and the refacing with tapestry brick of some of the Kemp buildings to match the new 1930s buildings (1936). This second group of buildings built in tapestry brick, combines period and moderne details in what can be stylistically described as Scottish Baronial Moderne.
As an example of a large school complex built in the first half of the twentieth century the buildings of Scotch College are a cohesive visual entity. They remain in remarkably good condition and are complemented by sensitive siting in a landscape reminiscent of picturesque Scottish countryside.
The classification includes all the buildings on the site.
Classified: 08/02/1990
Littlejohn Memorial Chapel first Classified 27/06/1989, now incorporated in recent Classification of 08/02/1990.