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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Heritage Assessment
July 2011
bryce raworth pty ltd
conservation • urban design
19 victoria street, st kilda, vic 3182
telephone 9525 4299
Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Heritage Assessment
July 2011
1.0
Introduction
This report was commissioned by Banyule City Council. It has been prepared in
relation to Council’s intention to develop a master plan for the future development
of the Ivanhoe Civic Precinct (comprising the former Heidelberg Town Hall,
municipal offices and Ivanhoe Library).
In particular, this office has been asked to comment on the significance of the
Ivanhoe Library, so as to help inform further work being done by Council for the
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct. In addition, and associated with separate work being
done by Council for the broader municipal wide review of the Banyule Heritage
Places Study (Allom Lovell and Associates, 1999), a nomination request was
received for the Ivanhoe Library to be considered for separate heritage
assessment.
The report comments on the significance of the site, with particular reference to
the Ivanhoe Library, and provides an assessment of the potential heritage impacts
resulting from changes to the complex anticipated by current master planning
concepts.
2.0
Sources of Information
The analysis below draws on site visits and external and internal inspections of
the building. The authors have reviewed the Victorian Heritage Register and
relevant heritage studies, including the Banyule Heritage Places Study (Allom
Lovell and Associates, 1999) and the Heidelberg Conservation Study (Graeme
Butler, 1985). They have also been mindful of the heritage overlay provisions at
clause 43.01 of the Banyule Planning Scheme and the cultural heritage policy, as
set out under Clause 21.03.
Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd has also been provided with background information
prepared by Context Pty Ltd on behalf of Council, for a Banyule Heritage Review
(2011), which is providing a review of the Banyule Heritage Places Study (Allom
Lovell and Associates, 1999).
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
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Listings and Controls
Heritage Victoria
The former Heidelberg Town Hall is included on the Victorian Heritage Register
(VHR Number H2077). The current registration includes the Town Hall and all
of the land at 275 Upper Heidelberg Road, but excludes the Ivanhoe Library.
Figure 1
Extent of Heritage Victoria Registration, as mapped by Heritage
Victoria. B1 is the former Heidelberg Town Hall.
City of Banyule
The former Heidelberg Town is individually identified in the City of Banyule
Schedule to the Heritage Overlay (HO77). The extent of HO77 corresponds to
Heritage Victoria’s registration.
The Ivanhoe Library does not have any specific protection aside from being
included in the extent of HO77.
The library was not identified as a significant building in either the Banyule
Heritage Places Study (Allom Lovell and Associates, 1999) or the earlier
Heidelberg Conservation Study (Graeme Butler, 1985). There are citations for the
town hall in both studies, but neither makes any reference to the library.
National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
The former Heidelberg Town is classified by the National Trust of Australia
(Victoria) as a place of state significance (File Number B4919). No reference is
made to the Ivanhoe Library in this classification.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Australian Heritage Council
The former Heidelberg Town is included on the Register of the National Estate as
administered by the Australian Heritage Council (Place ID 15279). No reference
is made to the Ivanhoe Library in this registration.
4.0
History
Town Hall
Heritage Victoria’s statement of significance provides the following overview of
the history and development of the former Heidelberg Town Hall:
Heidelberg Town Hall was officially opened in April 1937. The former
Shire of Heidelberg experienced rapid suburbanisation during the 1930s
and the City of Heidelberg was proclaimed in 1934. The increased
population and expanded range of municipal services and responsibilities
determined the need for a large civic centre that could provide extensive
office space for Council staff, as well as Council chambers and a public
hall.
Two architectural firms, Peck & Kemter and AC Leith & Bartlett were
appointed in association to design the new civic centre. Bartlett had
recently returned from overseas where he was greatly influenced by
recent architecture in Europe. The City of Heidelberg was desirous of a
progressive modern image. Externally the design owes much to the
seminal Hilversum Town Hall in the Netherlands designed by Willem
Dudok and constructed between 1924 and 1931. The interior shows the
influence of Art Deco design.
…Heidelberg Town Hall stands at the highest point of Ivanhoe as an
imposingly monumental building. The different functions of offices and
auditorium are clearly expressed in the simple block-like masses which
are arranged asymmetrically, separated by the 28 metres clock tower.
The building is faced with textured buff brickwork with a minimum of
applied decorative detail. Vertical accents are provided to the principal
elevation not only by the clocktower but also by the massive three-quarter
height triplet of door and window openings to the hall.
Figure 2
1934 Sketch of the Heidelberg Town Hall.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Library
The first library in Heidelberg operated from an old courthouse in 1900.1 In
1937, fundraising efforts began for a new children’s library. It opened on 17
September 1938, under the municipal offices. Larger rooms were opened in 1942.
In 1951 Heidelberg City Council took over the provision of free library services
and introduced an adult section in 1952. In 1957 the library was transferred to a
hall in Ivanhoe Parade. Conditions at the hall were poor, and following a fire in
1960, the library returned to the town hall.
Council moved haltingly to provide a new library building and eventually selected
a site south of the Town Hall for this purpose. Despite opposition from the local
Chamber of Commerce on the site, and concerns about costs, plans by Leith &
Bartlett architects were accepted in 1963 and tenders called. The foundation stone
was laid on 7 August 1964 by the then Mayor, Cr W.L. Kelly, and the Town
Clerk, Frank Phillips. The new library was officially opened on 8 October 1965
by Vernon Wilcox, MLA, Minister for Immigration in the State Parliament.
As originally designed, the library had a ground floor reading area with a
mezzanine level above (refer figure 4 below).2 A children’s library, audio visual
room and work room were located on the third floor. There was also covered
bookmobile loading dock at the rear of the library.
Figure 3
Ivanhoe Library, 1974. Reproduced from the Former Heidelberg Town
Hall and Municipal Offices Conservation Management Plan.
1 Unless otherwise noted, the library history is taken from: www.wikinorthia.net.au/index.php/
The_History_of_library_services_in_the_City_of_Heidelberg_and_Banyule_and_how_we've_grown
2 Public Building File. No. 13743 Public Record Office Victoria. VPRS 7882/P1 Unit 1627.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Figure 4
5.0
A 1968 plan of the Ivanhoe. Library. Source: Public Records Office
Victoria.
Description
Site
The Ivanhoe Civic Precinct includes a large irregular site bound by Upper
Heidelberg Road to the east, St Elmo Road to the north, Ivanhoe Parade to the
west. Buildings on the site include the 1937 town hall and municipal offices and
the 1965 Ivanhoe library.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
The town hall and municipal offices address Upper Heidleberg Road, with post
war and late-twentieth century additions generally confined to the rear (west).
Most of the land around the town hall is an asphalt paved carpark. The Ivanhoe
Library is a freestanding building on the south side of the town hall/municipal
offices. It has a brick paved forecourt on the Upper Heidelberg Road side, with
raised planter beds and several eucalypts trees.
Town Hall/Municipal
Offices
Library
Figure 5
Aerial view of the civic precinct.
Library
The Ivanhoe Library is a rectilinear, flat roofed three-storey building with a
projecting single-storey entry wing on the east side facing Upper Heidelberg
Road. The south elevation is divided into five equal bays with full-height
aluminium-framed windows set between tile faced concrete piers. These
windows face the library’s carpark and service/rear areas behind shops with
frontage onto Ivanhoe Parade. The entry wing is clad partly in copper sheet and
has a loading dock at its northern end. The plainer west and south elevations are
constructed of tan coloured bricks. The interior is a fairly unremarkable and
plainly finished space with standard late-twentieth century fixtures and fittings.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
The library’s exterior is largely intact to its 1965 state. The original bookmobile
loading dock survives on the north side of the building although its upper storey
appears to be a later addition. There is also a small flat-roofed addition on the
north elevation, as well as additional rooftop plant and ducts. Relatively few
alterations have been made to the library interior, aside from changes to some
room uses and refurbishment of the foyer.
Figure 6
The library view from the south-east.
Figure 7
The south elevation of the library.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
6.0
Figure 8
The rear (north) elevation of the library with 1970s additions to the
town hall to the left.
Figure 9
The library interior viewed from the level 1 mezzanine.
Comparative Analysis
Late Twentieth Century Modernism
The Ivanhoe Library can broadly be described as an example of the late-twentieth
century International style. The style is characterised by sleek, glossy prismatic
forms using concrete, glass and steel construction.3 Plain, smooth wall surfaces
were used, sometimes with contrasting textures. Open planning and selective
expression of structural systems were also favoured. Key attributes were
precision, sharpness and transparency.4
3 Apperly, et al., A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Styles and Terms from 1788
4 Apperly, Irving Reynolds (ed) A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture Styles and Terms from 1788
to the Present, p. 217.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
By the mid 1950s the International modernist style had been enthusiastically
embraced by big corporations and governments. The style’s emphasis on
simplicity and rationality was especially appealing to clients seeking efficient and
cost effective building solutions. The International style also had a monumental
formality considered appropriate throughout the 1960s and 1970s for educational,
college and civic buildings, including libraries. One of the largest modernist
libraries in Australia is the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne (195759). Designed by architect John E D Scarborough, it has a vast curtain wall
facade with green and red-glass spandrels. Side walls are cream brick with
exposed aggregate concrete panels. The interior was designed to have no load
bearing walls so that he whole of the floor area could support book shelves in any
location. The interior also features a gracious spiral staircase and double-height
marble clad entrance lobby.
On a somewhat smaller scale, the 1959 Sandringham Library (now demolished)
by Bates Smart McCutcheon has been described as the first modern purpose-built
branch library in Victoria.5 Another acclaimed modernist library was built on
Toorak Road, South Yarra to a design by Yuncken Freeman Architects.
Completed in 1973, the South Yarra Library is regarded as one of the finest
examples of the formal minimalism inspired by architect Mies Van der Rohe.
Figure 10 (left) Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.
Figure 11 (right) Sandringham Library, 1959. Source: State Library of Victoria.
Figure 12
South Yarra Library. Source: National Archives of Australia.
5 Heritage Alliance, City of Bayside Inter-war & Post-War Heritage Study, Volume 2, p.8.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Leith and Bartlett
Arthur Cedric Leith was the son of architect George Brown Leith, and brother of
George Burridge Leith, Chief Architect for the State Savings Bank. Around 1930,
Leith began practicing as A C Leith and Associates. Architect Harold E Bartlett
joined A C. Leith and Associates in November 1934 after having worked
overseas, and holding the position of Associate Head of Architectural School at
Gordon Institute of Technology, Geelong.6
In 1936, the firm changed its name to A.C. Leith and Bartlett Architects and
Engineers. The firm was involved with a range of civic projects in the
metropolitan area and in country Victoria in the 1930s, the most notable being
Heidelberg Town Hall, completed and opened in 1937. Other municipal projects
by Leith and Bartlett include the Swan Hill Town Hall (1934), civic offices in
Glenelg Shire (1935), renovations to the Collingwood Town Hall (1935), Morwell
Shire Hall and Offices (1935-36), Wycheproof Town Hall (1938) and Euroa
Town Hall (1938).7 Aside from the neo-Grecian Swan Hill Town Hall, Leith and
Bartlett’s municipal buildings of the 1930s are mostly conventional, hipped
roofed Moderne designs. In this context, the more overtly modernist aspects of
the Heidelberg Town Hall represent something of an anomaly.
Figure 13 (left) Swan Hill Town Hall.
Figure 14 (right) Morwell Shire Hall. Source: State Library of Victoria.
Figure 15 (left) 1938 illustration of the Euroa Town Hall. Source: Argus.
Figure 16 (right) Wycheproof Town Hall.
6 Miles Lewis Architectural Index, www.mileslewis.net/australian-architectural.html
7 Miles Lewis Architectural Index, www.mileslewis.net/australian-architectural.html
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
In the post war years, Leith and Bartlett continued to be well known for their civic
work, but also undertook large scale commercial projects including the Victorian
Racing Club, St Kilda Road (1953) and the Allied Insurance Building, Collins
Street (designed 1952, completed 1957) – reputedly the first curtain wall design in
central Melbourne (but not the first to be built).8 The firm also designed a
number of buildings for the Olympic village in Heidelberg and major grandstands
for the Royal Agricultural Showgrounds and Flemington Racecourse and Moonee
Valley racecourses.
Figure 17 (left) Victorian Racing Club, St Kilda Road, 1953. Source: National Library
of Australia.
Figure 18 (right) Moonee Valley Racecourse grandstand, 1959. Source: National
Library of Australia.
Figure 19 (left) Kew Civic Centre, 1960. Source: National Library of Australia.
Figure 20 (left) Lilydale Town Hall, 1961. Source: State Library of Australia.
Conclusion
The Ivanhoe Library is a relatively modest and conventional example of 1960s
civic architecture, representative of the character of many similar structures in
Victoria from that time. The library's architects, Leith and Bartlett, were prolific
and competent designers, but they are generally not as highly regarded as other
key practitioners in modernist idioms, such as Bates, Smart McCutcheon and
Yuncken Freeman. Leith and Barlett’s work, before and after the Second World
War, was for the most part not groundbreaking or architecturally innovative 8 www.walkingmelbourne.com/building542_allied-insurance-office-building.html
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Ivanhoe Library
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notwithstanding the Heidelberg Town Hall and their later involvement with one of
the earliest curtain wall designs in Melbourne. The practice’s output could
instead be categorised as orthodox modernism, reflecting the aspirations of
mainstream corporate and local government clients.
7.0
Significance
As noted above, the Heidelberg Town Hall is included on the Victorian Heritage
Register, and is recognised as being of state significance. The statement of
significance for the site, as endorsed by Heritage Victoria, provides a detailed
appreciation of the significance of the place, and this is reproduced in full below:
What is significant?
Heidelberg Town Hall was officially opened in April 1937. The former Shire
of Heidelberg experienced rapid suburbanisation during the 1930s and the City
of Heidelberg was proclaimed in 1934. The increased population and expanded
range of municipal services and responsibilities determined the need for a large
civic centre that could provide extensive office space for Council staff, as well
as Council chambers and a public hall.
Two architectural firms, Peck & Kemter and AC Leith & Bartlett were
appointed in association to design the new civic centre. Bartlett had recently
returned from overseas where he was greatly influenced by recent architecture in
Europe. The City of Heidelberg was desirous of a progressive modern image.
Externally the design owes much to the seminal Hilversum Town Hall in the
Netherlands designed by Willem Dudok and constructed between 1924 and
1931. The interior shows the influence of Art Deco design.
Built by local contractor G S Gay, Heidelberg Town Hall stands at the highest
point of Ivanhoe as an imposingly monumental building. The different
functions of offices and auditorium are clearly expressed in the simple blocklike masses which are arranged asymmetrically, separated by the 28 metres
clock tower. The building is faced with textured buff brickwork with a
minimum of applied decorative detail. Vertical accents are provided to the
principal elevation not only by the clocktower but also by the massive threequarter height triplet of door and window openings to the hall. The portico
added in 1994 attempted a contextual solution but unfortunately now partially
obscures this important element.
The auditorium, now known as the Great Hall, achieves a very wide clear span
by incorporating an innovative welded steel frame in its structure.The parquetry
floor, capable of seating 1,000 people, is flanked by vestibules for lounge
seating. Above the vestibules are arcades with curved balconies overlooking
the auditorium. Internally the building makes extensive use of Australian
native timber, principally Queensland maple. Art Deco style fittings include
original light fittings and concealed lighting, door furniture, clocks, some
original signage, and use of chrome and marble. Although there have been
some alterations, there are several spaces within the building which have high
integerity, and are a contributory part of the distinctive styling of the building
and which assist in an understanding of the responsibilities of local
government in Victoria in the 1930s. These are:
-the entrance to the Municipal offices and the stair lobby on the ground and
first floor;
-the Council Chamber;
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
-the Mayors Room;
-the first floor hallway connecting the stair lobby and serving the Council
chamber, adjoining offices and the Withers room;
-the Withers Room;
-the whole of the Town Hall including the entrance foyer, lounges and
assoicated service rooms and stairways;
-the Streeton Room;
-the Condor Room (note that the original west face-brick external wall is
extant);
-the northern staircase and associated lobbies serving the Streeton and Condor
rooms including the phone box;
A substantial addition creating office space was added to the south of the
building in the early 1970s.
The building won the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects Street
Architecture medal in 1939. The RAIA commented on the strong character of
the building and commended the texture and colour of the brick elevations.
How is it significant?
Heidelberg Town Hall is of architectural significance to the State of Victoria.
Why is it significant?
Heidelberg Town Hall is architecturally significant as the greatest and most
eloquent expression of the inter-war brick Moderne style in Victoria. It should
be compared to MacRobertson's Girls High School in South Melbourne of
1934-5, and to the Church of Christ the Scientist in Camberwell of 1937,
which also won an RAIA Street Architecture medal. The choice of brick in the
Moderne style sat comfortably within the Melbourne context, of a city with a
preference for brick buildings. Heidelberg Town Hall is clearly informed by
developments in functionalist Modern architecture in Europe in the late 1920s,
and specifically draws on the exemplar of Willem Dudok's Hilversum Town
Hall in the Netherlands, and which was Dudok's most important and influential
work, an inspiration to several leading architects in Victoria.
The building has landmark qualities for the surrounding suburbs where its
location on high ground can be viewed from close and distant locations. The
building is historically significant as a confident expression of the expansion
of municipal facilities as a consequence of rapid suburban expansion of the
municipality in the inter-war period.
It is noted that most heritage assessments of the civic centre precinct carried out to
date have focussed essentially on the former Heidelberg Town Hall and municipal
offices, and typically make no specific reference to the Ivanhoe Library, even
though it is located within Heritage Victoria's extent of registration. There is
nonetheless a brief statement of significance for the library in the Survey of Post
War Built Heritage in Victoria (Heritage Alliance, 2008):
A particularly notable (and substantially intact) example of a municipal
library in the post war modernist tradition, expressed as a rectilinear volume
with a fully glazed side wall, enclosing a double-height reading room with
mezzanine level. The north side of the building incorporated a loading dock
for the mobile library, which may have been a unique feature at the time.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
This is a view that seems difficult to sustain given the analysis earlier in this
report in relation to the comparative architectural interest of the place. Rather
than being particularly notable, the Ivanhoe Library is a representative example of
a post-war municipal library in terms of its architecture. The library does not
appear to have built using innovate construction techniques or materials, and the
loading dock is not in itself especially remarkable.
In regards to its context, the library has no strong visual relationship to the
adjacent 1937 town hall, aside from both buildings having rectilinear massing and
face brick walls. It should nonetheless be pointed out that the library has tan
coloured bricks of an entirely different appearance to the mottled cream bricks of
the town hall.
With regards to the site history, no particular interest or significance arises from
the opening of the library by the then State Minister of Immigration, Vernon
Wilcox. One would expect a library to have an opening ceremony, and this would
seem to have been a typical example of such an opening. It is more reasonable to
conclude that the library has some social and historical significance at a local
level as a valued community resource for the past 46 years.
Having regard for this, the key question to be addressed in this report is whether
the Ivanhoe Library is of significance at a local level, and warrants retention
either in its own right or as a component part of the extent of registration of the
Town Hall precinct and the associated curtilage of the heritage overlay.
8.0
Discussion
As noted above, this analysis has been prepared in relation to Council’s intention
to develop a master plan for the future development of the Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
(comprising the former Heidelberg Town Hall, municipal offices and Ivanhoe
Library). This report looks at the significance of the site, with particular reference
to the Ivanhoe Library, and provides an assessment of the potential heritage
impacts resulting from changes to the complex anticipated by current master
planning concepts, including the suitability or otherwise of retaining the existing
library and the possibility of building a new library.
This office is advised that the current library no longer meets library servicing
requirements and is no longer fit for purpose. If the building is to be retained, it
would need to be adapted to an alternative use such as offices, with a new library
facility to be developed that meets current community needs and library servicing
standards.
It is noted that Heritage Victoria's extent of registration and the heritage overlay,
HO77, relate to the town hall, not to the library specifically. The library is not
referenced in the conservation management plan for the Heidelberg Town Hall,
and in most heritage assessment relating to the site. The building can be
considered to have no status with regard to the heritage overlay and relevant
statutory documents at this stage, although the land on which it is sited is within
the overlay.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Indeed, it is clear that the extent of the overlay and of the registration each relate
to standard mapping practices, in which a heritage control of this type is generally
mapped to the full curtilage or lot boundaries of a place, rather than because of
any sense that the buildings on the land other than the Town Hall need to be
protected or warrant heritage protection.
Having inspected the site and its environs in some detail, and having assessed the
significance of the civic precinct and its component parts, it could be argued that
the library building is of some modest local significance as a good representative
example of low-key civic modernism of the 1960s by a reputable architectural
firm. It also has social value as a community resource, and historical interest for
its ability to demonstrate the evolution of the civic precinct.
It is by no means certain, however, that this level of significance is sufficient to
justify retention of the building in the face of alternative plans for the site that
make appropriate provision for ongoing community use of the site, including a
new library facility.
At least some of the significance of the extant library can be recognised through
means other than retention of the building. For example, if the library were to be
altered or demolished and replaced with a new library, it would be appropriate to
prepare an archival quality photographic record of the structure, both external and
internal, prior to any works taking place. Indeed, it is worth noting that
construction of a new civic facilities on this site will itself maintain a history of
civic development and evolution on the land around the Heidelberg Town Hall.
A similar matter has recently arisen at Wangaratta, where the Leith and Bartlett
designed Memorial Town Hall of 1962-63 was demolished to make way for a new
performing arts centre (see figure 21 below). The town hall was, like the Ivanhoe
library, considered a good representative example of low key civic modernism of
the 1960s. The site also had social and historical interest arising from its civic use
dating back to the 1860s. The role associated with Council offices in the Leith
and Bartlett designed building had nonetheless been superseded by the
construction of the neighbouring municipal offices in the 1970s and 1980s. The
hall’s other role as a public auditorium had been important but was continued in
the new performing arts centre. In this way the redevelopment allowed for
historically and socially important civic uses to continue on the site.
Accepting the above, a future proposal for demolition of the Ivanhoe Library may
be acceptable, subject to provision for appropriate archival format documentation
of the building for historical purposes.
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Ivanhoe Library
Ivanhoe Civic Precinct
Figure 21
Wangaratta Memorial Town Hall, 1970. Source: State Library of
Australia.
Furthermore, it is possible that the demolition of this building may provide
options for better overall outcomes on the site that are complementary to, and
protective of, the higher order of significance that is attached to the 1937 Town
Hall. Depending on the nature of future development, the may well be an
argument that it is preferable to build a new library facility on some other part of
the site, such as at the immediate rear of the Town Hall, replacing other modern
additions of no significance, in order to free up as much of the balance of the
precinct land as possible for positive and sensitive development. Further to this,
retention of the extant Library could prove a constraint on future use of the
precinct land that ultimately results in less preferable outcomes in relation to the
Town Hall and adjoining land.
9.0
Conclusion
In summary, the Ivanhoe Library is of some modest local heritage interest, as
noted above. This significance is worthy of recognition in some form, and it may
be appropriate to maintain the building in its library use for as long as it can
adequately fulfil its community role.
However, the building is not a key example of its type or style in a broader sense,
and as a result there is some basis for argument that replacement of this building
with another structure of improved facilities and appropriate design would be a
reasonable outcome on the site, accepting that this is in any case a building that
has itself replaced an earlier library in the local community’s use. This would in
part maintain the social and historical significance associated with the site.
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BRYCE
RAWORTH
PTY
LTD
CONSERVATION•URBAN
DESIGN
CONSERVATION
CONSULTANTS
A R C H I T E C T U R A L
H I S T O R I A N S
_______________________________________________________
BRYCE RAWORTH
M. ARCH., B. A. (HONS), ICCROM (ARCH)
Bryce Raworth has worked with issues relating to heritage and conservation since the mid-1980s,
and has specialised in this area since establishing his own consultant practice in 1991. Bryce
Raworth Pty Ltd, Conservation•Urban Design, provides a range of heritage services, including
the assessment of the significance of particular sites, preparation of conservation analyses and
management plans, design and/or restoration advice for interventions into significant buildings,
and detailed advice regarding the resolution of technical problems relating to deteriorating or
damaged building fabric.
Since 2004 Raworth has been a member of the Official Establishments Trust, which advises on the
conservation and improvement of Admiralty House and Kirribilli House in Sydney and
Government House and The Lodge in Canberra. As a member of the former Historic Buildings
Council in Victoria, sitting on the Council's permit, planning and community relations committees,
Raworth has been involved with the registration and permit processes for many registered historic
buildings. In 1996 he was appointed an alternate member of the new Heritage Council, the
successor the Historic Buildings Council, and in 1998 was made a full member. At present he
provides regular advice to architects and private owners on technical, architectural and planning
issues relative to the conservation and adaptation of historic buildings, and is occasionally called
upon to provide expert advice before the VCAT. He is currently the conservation consultant for
the cities of Melbourne and Stonnington and conservation consultant to the Melbourne Heritage
Restoration Fund.
Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd has prepared conservation plans for a number of registered historic
buildings, including Walter Burley Griffin's Essendon Incinerator. The company's experience with
institutional buildings has led to preparation of conservation plans for the Mac.Robertson Girls'
High School, Castlemaine Gaol, J Ward, Ararat, the former Russell Road Police Headquarters,
Ballarat State Offices, Camberwell Court House, Shepparton Court House and the Mont Park
asylum precinct.
With respect to historic precincts, the company has provided detailed advice towards the resolution
of heritage issues along the Upfield railway line. The company is currently contributing to
redevelopment plans for the former Coburg Prisons Complex (comprising Pentridge Prison and the
Metropolitan Prison) and the former Albion Explosives Factory, Maribyrnong. In 1993 Bryce
Raworth led a consultant team which reviewed the City of Melbourne's conservation data and
controls for the CBD, and in 1997 Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd revised the former City of South
Melbourne Conservation Study with respect to the area within the present City of Melbourne. The
firm is currently undertaking heritage studies on behalf of the cities of Melbourne and Kingston
and is completing documentation for significant heritage places and areas in the City of
Stonnington
In recent years Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd has also provided documentation and advice during
construction on the restoration of a number of key registered and heritage overlay buildings,
including the Ebenezer Mission church and outbuildings, Antwerp, the former MMTB Building,
Bourke Road West, Melbourne, the former Martin & Pleasance Building, 178 Collins Road,
Melbourne, and the former Uniting Church, Howe Crescent, South Melbourne. At present the
office is documenting substantial restoration works to the MOMA at Heide, Templestowe Road,
Bulleen, to the Church of the Sacred Heart, Grey Road, St Kilda, and to the Coburg Prisons
Complex (including the Pentridge Prison entry buildings and walls to Champ Road).
bryce raworth pty ltd conservation•urban design
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