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City Watch House - Part of Group Classification

Location 345-349 Russell Street,, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B4653 File Number B4653 Level State

[1/1] B4653 Former City Watch House

Statement of Significance

Individual Statement of significance: An 1895 Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works.plan shows within the Melbourne Gaol perimeter wall a three storey cell block which was demolished along with part of the perimeter wall in 1907 to make way for the City Watch House which was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by G.B.H. Austin, a Public Works Department architect, and built in 1907/8 by F.G.Shillabeer. The watch house, which is a symmetrical two storey rendered brick building with a central cell block to the rear, has had few alterations or additions externally or internally, and the facade forms an important element in the streetscape in Russell Street.
Classified: 08/07/1982
City Court GroupClassification: This group consists of The City Watchouse, B2773 - the R.M.I.T. Building, B3833 - the City Court and B0116 - the Old Melbourne Gaol. Each of the four notable buildings has already been Classified in its own right.
The former Working Mens College, now an R.M.I.T. building, was completed in 1891 in the Gothic Revival style and is architecturally compatible with the adjacent City Court. The Norman Revival style City Court built in 1911 is in turn compatible in scale and architectural detailing with the adjacent mediaeval style City Watch House which was built in 1907/8. The Melbourne Gaol bluestone perimeter wall and other gaol buildings are not only architecturally but also socially and historically linked with the City Watch House and City Court and together they form a notable streetscape in Russell Street.
Classified: 24/03/1983