Figure 1

The former Mission, photographed in 1934, after the construction of the additional level and before over-painting.

Source: City of Port Phillip Heritage Collection

Physical/Stylistic Description

This is an overpainted two-storey brick Victorian building (originally singlestorey) with symmetrical break-fronted façade, round-arched openings and cement cornice, defaced frieze and parapet. The windows have rebated reveals and double-hung sashes, the voussoirs and defaced string course having possibly been given bichromatic treatment. The Nott Street elevation is similar though pilastrated and terminated by a cement pediment. Several of the openings to this elevation have been bricked up and there is an arched secondary entrance with cement enrichment. Plinths are of bluestone. The later upper level has a hipped slate roof and symmetrical façade with expansive eaves and glazing bars to the upper sashes. There is a raised central pedimented section surmounting the entry, the arrangement being in the Neo-Georgian manner. An addition to the south end of the Beach Street elevation has been demolished and the rear section of the building has recently been incorporated into a large-scale residential development. The new development is also set off the south elevation, extending along Beach Street.

Assessment Against HERCON Criteria

Criterion A – Importance to the course, or pattern, of the City of Port Phillip’s cultural or natural history.

49 Beach Street is of historical significance at a local level. The building has important historical associations with Port Melbourne’s maritime history and with the international Anglican Missions to Seamen movement, established in Melbourne in 1856 shortly after its founding in England in 1853. The building provided purpose-built accommodation for the Mission after a period of time in rented premises. Historically, the subject building’s function was superseded by the 1937 Mission building, now demolished.

Criterion B – Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the City of Port Phillip’s cultural or natural history.

The former Missions to Seamen building is now a rare surviving example of a purpose-built Mission. Its Port Melbourne predecessors and the 1937 building which replaced it have all been demolished. The Missions to Seafarers in Docklands (architect Walter Butler, 1917) and the Stella Maris Seafarer’s Centre in Melbourne (accommodated in a later twentieth century building in Little Collins Street) are the only other surviving examples, both located outside of the City of Port Phillip.

Criterion C – Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the City of Port Phillip’s cultural or natural history.

Not applicable.

Criterion D – Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places or environments.

Not applicable.

Criterion E – Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

Not applicable.

Criterion F – Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.

Not applicable.

Criterion G – Strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons. This includes the significance of a place to Indigenous peoples as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions.

Not applicable.

Criterion H – Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in City of Port Phillip’s history.

Not applicable.