Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged

Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged

Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged

5 Warner Road, Beechworth

Heritage Council Registrations Committee Hearing – 24 November 2015

DECISION OF THE HERITAGE COUNCIL

After considering the Executive Director’s recommendation and submissions received in response and after holding a hearing, pursuant to Sections 42 and 54 of the Heritage Act 1995 the Heritage Council has determined to amend the registration of the Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged in the Victorian Heritage Register.

Oona Nicolson (Chair) / Juliette Halliday / Stuart Macintyre

Decision Date – 29January 2016

submissions

S38 Submissions

S38 submissions were received from Mr Matthew Taylor and Mr Michael Taylor (no relation) in response to the Executive Director’s recommendation to amend the existing registration of the Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged.

Written Submissions to the Hearing

Written submissionswere received from Mr Matthew Taylor (with his wife Ms Zoe Taylor), Mr Michael Taylor and the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria (‘the Executive Director’). Mr Matthew Taylor, Mr Michael Taylor and the Executive Director’s representative allappeared at the hearing and made submissions.

An additional written submission,in the form of a table describing suggested changes to the Statement of Significance, was forwarded to the Committee by the Executive Director. This table details changes suggested by Owen and Judi Richards, owners of the Wallace Ward building.

INTRODUCTION

The Place

  1. The Former Ovens and Murray Hospital for the Aged (‘the Place’) comprises a complex of buildings on an elevated site overlooking the Beechworth township to the west. The Place is registered as being of historical significance to the State of Victoria as an example of the philanthropic welfare activities which were established throughout Victoria from the 1850s, as a place in possession of endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history and of importance for being the best surviving example of a nineteenth century benevolent asylum.
  2. The main building (1862-70) is a single-storey building in an unusual Victorian Tudor style. The front façade is most decorative, with walls of tuck-pointed bi-chrome brick laid in a diaper pattern, and four projecting bays with curvilinear parapeted gables. There are paired Gothic pointed windows and unusual wrought iron finials. The U-shaped plan encloses a courtyard at the rear. The 1881 extension to the 1866 wing is in a similar Tudor style, but of a simpler form, with stepped parapeted gables and flat arched windows. The originally detached single-storey brick former laundry and isolation ward are now incorporated into the former recreation wing. The former Chinese ward is a free-standing single-storey brick building with a gable roof and an enclosed verandah along the west side. The Wallace Memorial Ward is a free-standing red brick building with cement dressings. It is domestic in character, with a central projecting arched portico with decorated bargeboards and is flanked on both sides with bull-nosed verandahs on turned timber posts. The former gatehouse is an unusual feature providing evidence of the use of the Place during the 1930s depression.
  3. The site has been subdivided and many of the later twentieth century hospital buildings and additions have been demolished. The landscape (while altered from its origins when the entrance drive was from Albert Road) and the designed landscape (which included a variety of trees, shrubs and flowers) still retains trees and vegetation, such asthe treeslocated close to the main driveway, in the centre of the turning circle,and at the rear of the main building.Evidence of the original turning circle remains.

The Register of Government Buildings and the Victorian Heritage Register

  1. The Place was included in 1982 on what was then knownas the Register of Government buildings (‘GBR’). In 1988 the Placewas transferred to the Victorian Heritage Register (‘the Register’).The extent of registration included the exterior building fabric but did not include any land.

Application for Amendments to the Existing Registration

  1. An application to amend the registration of the Place was madeby the Executive Director on 25 March 2015. A recommendation to amend the registration of the Place was advertised on 15 May 2015.

Recommendation of the Executive Director

  1. On 15 May 2015 the Executive Director recommended that the registration of the Place be amended to include additional land at the Place, including land located at 5 Warner Road and at 3A Warner Road, that factual information about the Place be updated and that the Permit Policy and Exemptions be updated (“the Recommendation”).The Recommendation included multiple additions, changes and corrections to the factual information that normally forms part of the documentation for the registration of Places under the Heritage Act 1995 (‘the Act’).
  2. The Recommendation also included proposed changes to permit policy and permit exemptions, which are a standard element of the management of places on the Register.

S38 Submissions – objections to the Recommendation

  1. The Heritage Council received two (2)s38 submissions in response to the Recommendation, from Mr Matthew Taylorand from Mr Michael Taylor respectively.
  2. Both Mr Matthew Taylor and Mr Michael Taylor requested to be heard in relation to their s38 submissions. In light of theobjections to the Recommendation and therequests to be heard, a registrations committee (‘the Committee’) was constituted. A hearing was scheduled for 4 November 2015and the Committee sought further written submissions to the hearing.

Adjournment

  1. The hearing was subsequently adjournedto 24 November 2015. All parties were notified of the new hearing date and given additional time to make submissions.

Site Inspection

  1. The Committee conducted two separate consecutive site inspections of the Place (at the addresses 3A Warner Road and 5 Warner Road) on the afternoon of 23 November 2015, accompanied by the Heritage Council Hearings Coordinator. The Committee was conducted through the land at 3A Warner Road by Zoe Taylor, and through the land and buildings of 5 Warner Road by Michael Taylor. No submissions were sought or received at the time of therespective site inspections.

Preliminary and Other Matters

Additional Submissions

  1. In a letter to the Heritage Council dated 25 May 2015, the Executive Director wrote to the Heritage Council to suggest that the dwelling at 3A Warner Road be formally identified as having no cultural heritage significance and that this be demonstrated in the diagrams of the Recommendation and by way of permit exemptions.
  2. An additional written submission in the form of a table was providedby the Executive Director, which detailed changes sought by Owen and Judi Richards (owners of the land on which the Wallace Ward buildings are located)and agreed to by the Executive Director, accepting eachof the Richards’ suggestionswith respect to descriptions of the Wallace Ward, an oak tree and the use of images (‘the table of agreed changes’).
  3. As no party objected to the table of agreed changes, or to the changes suggested by the Executive Director on 25 May 2015, the Committee does not propose to deal with them here in detail and instead proposes to simply make the changes as agreed to the Recommendation report (ATTACHMENT 2).

ISSUES

  1. This section is not intended to be a complete record of submissions that were made to the Committee. It is summary of the written and verbal submissions that the Committee received in relation to the Place and the cultural heritage significance of the Place.

Summary of Issues

  1. Submissions received relate only to amendments to the registration (‘the Amendments’) of the Place. No submissions were received that objected to the inclusion of the entirety of thePlaceon the Register or that challenged either the level of significance or the categories of registration of the Place as a whole.
  2. The Executive Director submitted that the proposed addition of land to the extent of registration would ensure that appropriate curtilage forms part of the registration of the Place. The Executive Director submitted that certain landscape elements at the Place, including particular trees and remnants of an original driveway located at 3A Warner Road, contributed to the cultural heritage significance of the Place.
  3. In his written submission in response to the Recommendation, Matthew Taylor objected to the inclusion of 3A Warner Road in the proposed extent of registration, on the basis that 3A Warner Road no longer has any association with the Place. Matthew Taylorstated in particular that individual elements such as remnants of an 1860s driveway and trees on his land do not in any way form part of the story of the Place.In verbal submissions, Matthew Taylor reiterated this view and expressed frustration at the lack of consultation with him as a relevant owner by Heritage Victoria staff, prior to him receiving notice of the nomination to include his land in the Heritage Register under s29(1) of the Act.
  4. In his written submissions Mr Michael Taylorargued that the guardhouse should not be included in the registration of the Place, that part of the Recreation Block is not significant building fabric and further submitted that no permit controls should apply to the internal fabric of certain buildings, for example the Recreation Block. Michael Taylor submitted that the proposed permit policy for the internal fabric of the buildings at the Place was inadequate. He further submitted that the inclusion of certain individual elements as part of the registration, such as trees, was not appropriate.

3A Warner Road and individual landscape elements

  1. The Executive Director submitted that the proposed extent of registration, including the land at 3A Warner Road,was appropriate to protect and enhance the cultural heritage significance of the Place as a whole and that the proposed addition of landwould contribute to the understanding of the Place.
  2. The Executive Director submitted that the English Oak and the Irish Strawberry tree (both located within the boundary of 3A Warner Road, close to the boundary between 3A Warner Road and 5 Warner Road and near the turning circle)(‘the southernmost trees’ shown on the permit policy and exemptions diagram in Attachment 2)and the Himalayan Cedar located close to the turning circle at 5 Warner Road (also shown on the permit policy and exemptions diagram in Attachment 2) were elements of the original setting. The Executive Director further submitted that three Irish Strawberry trees and one Himalayan Cedar treein the northerly portion of 3A (‘the northernmost trees’) were important landscape elements of the Place that allowed the visitor to appreciate the setting and landscape of the Place and contributed to the understanding of the remnant 1860s drivewayfrom Albert Road to the Place.
  3. The Executive Director submitted that the consideration of the cultural heritage significance of the Place involves the assessment of the Place as a whole rather than individual elements within the extent of registration.The Executive Director, in written and verbal submissions, however, also conceded that the remnant driveway can no longer be easily read on the ground and that whatever remained of the remnant driveway has lost its integrity to the point that it can no longer be interpreted as associated with the Place.
  4. As noted above, shortly after the publication of the Recommendation and prior to this hearing process, the Executive Director wrote to the Heritage Council to suggest that the dwelling at 3A Warner Road be formally identified as having no cultural heritage significance and that this be demonstrated in the diagrams of the Recommendation and by way of permit exemptions.
  5. In writtenand verbal submissions, Matthew Taylor, although not disputing that the larger part of the Place outside of his property at 3A should be included in the Register, submitted that the extent of registration should not include his property at 3A Warner Road, as it “no longer has any association with the Ovens and Murray Hospital.” Specifically, Matthew Taylor objected to the inclusion ofany or all specific trees at 3A Warner Road and remnant driveway elementsas being of significanceto the Place. Matthew Taylor, in his written submission, makes several arguments referring to Criteria A, B, C, D, E, F, and G respectively of the Heritage Council Criteria for assessment of places of cultural heritage significance (‘the Criteria’ – see ATTACHMENT 1) in submitting that the 1860s remnant driveway does not meet the Criteria.
  6. With the exception of Matthew Taylor’s objection to the inclusion of 3A Warner Road in the proposed extent of registration, no objections were received to the inclusion of additional land surrounding the Placeas proposed by the Recommendation or to the external boundary of the proposed extent of registration.

Discussion

  1. The Committee recognises the value of an appropriate area of curtilage including part of the former landscape setting of the Place in order to protect and conserveits cultural heritage significance and to enhance and contribute to the understanding and interpretation of the Place.
  2. The Committee notes the Executive Director’s submission relating to the remnant driveway and, in light of the Committee’s site inspection, agrees that the 1860s remnant driveway is not intact and cannot be read on the ground.
  3. The Committee is of the view that the existence of individual trees at 3A Warner Road as evidence of a former landscape setting for the Place is not determinative of the value of the land at 3A Warner Road as curtilage for the Place. Not enough evidence was advanced to convincethe Committee as tothe intactness and integrity ofthe 1860s remnant driveway and value of the northernmost trees along its route in contributing to an understanding of the former landscape setting for the Place 3A. However the Committee is, of the view that 3A Warner Roadwas used in conjunction with the Place and is still able to contribute to an understanding of it as part of the former setting of the Place. The Committee is of the view that due to their proximity to heritage buildings at the Place, the southernmost trees (and the Himalayan Cedar in the turning circle)contribute to an understanding of the Place (including the former landscape setting) and are important to the protection of the remaining landscape setting of the Place.
  4. With respect to Matthew Taylor’s submissions making use of the Criteria in reference to the 1860s remnant driveway, the Committee notes the submission of the Executive Director that the driveway can no longer be easily read on the ground. The Committee is of the view that any remaining trace of the 1860s driveway does not contribute to the cultural heritage significance of the Place.
  5. The Committee takes this opportunity to note that if a permit exemption for particular works is not made in the registration documentation, this does not mean that those works are prohibited, but that a permit application is required to ensure that the any proposed works do not have a detrimental impact on the cultural heritage significance of the Place. The Committee notes that the expert staff of Heritage Victoria can guide owners through the application process in order to ensure that approved works are undertaken in a manner that conserves and protects the place in a sustainable way.

CONCLUSION

  1. The Committee determines that the land at 3A Warner Roadbe included in the extent of registration for the Place as an appropriate area of curtilage because of its importance for the protection and preservation of the Place, and due to its contribution to the understanding of the Place.
  2. The Committee determines that specific permit exemptions should apply to 3A Warner Road to allow for certain vegetation removal and works to take place without requiring a permit (but not the construction of new buildings or the construction of new additions to the existing dwelling on the land) (See Attachment 2).
  3. In relation to the inclusion of individual trees at 3A Warner Road, the Committee determines that the northernmost trees should not be noted as being of primary cultural heritage significance.
  4. The Committee is of the view that the southernmost trees, being the English Oak and Irish Strawberry located at 3A Warner Road close to the boundary of 5 Warner Road, should be listed as being of primary cultural heritage significance for several reasons. Firstly, for their value in contributing to the understanding of the former landscape settingof the Place. Secondly, for their ability to contribute to the cultural heritage significance of the Place by enhancing the route of the existing driveway at 5 Warner Road.Finally, the southernmost trees contribute to the cultural heritage significance of the Place for their aesthetic value, and for their proximity to the existing turning circle and the large Himalayan Cedar in the centre of the turning circle at 5 Warner Road (which should also be listed as being of primary cultural heritage significance).
  5. In relation to the 1860s remnant driveway, the Committee determines that it is no longer appreciable and that no mention be made of it in the permit policy for the Place.
  6. In relation to consultation with the owners of 3A Warner Road, the Committee is of the view that in future, owners of places within a proposed extent of registration should be consulted by Heritage Victoria at length and in detail, prior to receiving notice of the Recommendation. In this case, the provision in the Recommendation of inadequate and outdated material in relation to 3A Warner Road was unfortunate and this should be avoided.

Permit Policy & Permit Exemptions

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