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Police Station

Location 155 Royal Parade,, PARKVILLE VIC 3052 - Property No B4729 File Number B4729 Level State

[1/1] B4729 Police Station Royal

Statement of Significance

The Parkville Police Station was erected in 1878 by the Public Works Department (PWD). The single storey brick structure has a triple fronted facade comprising a timber verandah between projecting gabled wings. The exposed brick elevations are decorated with string courses and an impost course in contrasting brick. The arched windows of the principal rooms are grouped in pairs. The building has a slate roof and is set back from the street.
Most police quarters erected in the nineteenth century comprised single storey verandahed structures with a variety of double fronted compositions . Often these structures were extended or sometimes conceived as symmetrical double gabled forms with a veradah between, a favourite composition of the PWD. The Parkville example belongs to this latter case and remains one of the finest of these simple structures. Stylistically it belongs to the Wardell era of public works (although Wardell had been dismissed in January 1878), with its utilitarian design and simple form that contrast markedly with later examples. The police station is an essential element of the Royal Parade Streetscape.
Classified: 04/09/1980
Revised: 03/08/1998