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City of Port Phillip Heritage Review
These Mission to Seamen buildings principally catered for the recreational
and spiritual needs of the merchant seamen whose ships were docked in Victorian ports. Chapel services, entertainments, dances, concerts and picture shows were held at the Mission buildings and lay readers paid visits to the ships. Picnics and other outings were also arranged and letters were sent home. The Missions also sent supplies to ships, including books, gramophones, records, magazines, table games, playing cards and toys for the children of the seamen'.iv
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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
The alterations made to the 1888 Beach Street building at this date appear to have consisted of additions to the east along the Beach Street frontage (now demolished).
Both the 1931 foundation stone and the original 1888 foundation stone were later removed from the 1888 building and incorporated in a new Missions to Seamen building constructed west of the railway line in Beach Road in 1937.viii Designed by architect Harry Norris, this building was subsequently demolished to make way for the Beacon Cove development. Following the move to the new building, 49 Beach Street was sold. It was subsequently converted to flats and in more recent years has been put to commercial use.
Thematic Context
The former Missions to Seamen building of 1888 was one of a number of facilities in the Port Melbourne foreshore area in the nineteenth century which were designed to cater for the needs of maritime workers. Situated amidst a collection of hotels, the Mission aimed to provide alternative facilities for the entertainment and spiritual solace of visiting sailors and was an important focus on Beach Street. The Mission was replaced with a new facility in 1937, located further west on Beach Street, but has now been demolished (Figure 3).
PRINCIPAL THEME: Assembly and Entertainment
SUB-THEME: Halls principally used for recreation. Philanthropic and charitable buildings Religion
ORIGINAL OWNER: Mission to Seamen
CURRENT OWNER: Deco Bar
LOCAL/PRECINCT CHARACTER: Individual Character (Individual different from adjacent)
AUTHENTICITY: 70% (to extended 1917 form)
BUILDING TYPE: Hall
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Inter-war Neo-Georgian /Victorian
PRINCIPAL MATERIAL: Brick
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Figure 2
The former Anglican Missions to Seamen, now the Mission to Seafarers (1917), Flinders Street extension, Docklands, photographed in 1981.
Source: John T Collins collection, State Library of Victoria.
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Figure 3
The Mission building which superseded the subject building, constructed at the corner of Beach Street and Swallow Streets, 1937 (demolished).
Source: Rose Postcard collection, State Library of Victoria.
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.
Statement of Significance
What is significant?
49 Beach Street is a much-altered rendered and overpainted brick building originally constructed as the Port Melbourne Seamen’s Institute in 1888. An upper level was added to the building in the 1920s, and in 1937 its role was superseded by a new building further west along Beach Street.
How is it significant?
49 Beach Street is of historical significance to the City of Port Phillip.
Why is it significant?
49 Beach Street is of local historical significance. 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. It also stands now as a rare example of a purpose-built seamen’s mission. Although considerably altered, and most recently absorbed into a residential development, the external form and fabric of the building remain legible to its c. 1917-18 form.
Recommendations
Recommended for inclusion in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay in the Port Phillip Planning Scheme
Paint controls are recommended.
References
General
Allom Lovell & Associates, Port Melbourne Conservation Study review, 1995. Andrew Ward, City of Port Phillip Heritage Review, 1998.
Specific
- Jennifer Lee et al, Bayside Heritage Study Draft Report, Office of Major Projects (Victorian Government), 1992, p. 125.
- Australasian Builder and Contractor’s News, 9 June 1888, tender notice for the erection Seamen’s Institute and Hall, Beach Street, Port Melbourne by Frederick Williams.
- U’Ren, Nancy and Turnbull, Noel, A History of Port Melbourne, Melbourne, 1983, p. 136.
- Jennifer Lee et al, Bayside Heritage Study Draft Report, 1992, p. 125.
- Victoria Missions to Seamen Annual Report and Balance Sheet. Quoted in Jennifer Lee at al, Bayside Heritage Study Draft Report, 1992, p. 125.
- Port Melbourne Rate book, 1890-91, no. 92.
- Port Melbourne Rate book, 1917-18, no. 2355.
- Jennifer Lee et al, Bayside Heritage Study Draft Report, 1992, p. 125.
- Sands and McDougall Melbourne Directory, 1954
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