ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE AND
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
RECOMMENDATION TO THE
HERITAGE COUNCIL
Name: Civic Hall, Ballarat
Hermes Number: 22591
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Name: Civic Hall, Ballarat
Hermes Number: 22591
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NAME / civic hallLOCATION / 300-304 mair street, ballarat
HERITAGE OVERLAY NO: / CITY OF BALLARAT, included in HO171 (Lydiard Street Precinct) but not individually listed
FILE NUMBER: / FOL/15/6632
HERMES NUMBER: / 22591
This Recommendation Report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.32 of the Heritage Act 1995. It has not been considered or endorsed by the Heritage Council of Victoria.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESPONSE SUMMARY
Nomination and recommendation
On 2 February 2015 the Executive Director accepted a nomination for the Ballarat Civic Hall. In 2016 Heritage Victoria assessed the cultural heritage significance of this place. It is the view of the Executive Director that the Ballarat Civic Hall should not be included in the Victorian Heritage Register. It does not satisfy any of the Heritage Council’s criteria at a state level of cultural heritage significance. The reasons for the Executive Director’s decision are outlined in this report.
Potential local level significance
It is the view of the Executive Director that the information presented in this report and the attached documents demonstrate that the Ballarat Civic Hall is of potential individual local significance, rather than state level significance. The Heritage Council may wish to consider:
· exercising its powers under s.42 (1)(d)(i) of the Heritage Act 1995 and refer this recommendation to the City of Ballarat for consideration for an amendment to the planning scheme by an individual listing of this place in the local Heritage Overlay.
· exercising its powers under s.42 (1)(d)(ii) of the Heritage Act 1995 and determine that it is more appropriate for steps to be taken under the Planning and Environment Act 1987 or by any other means to protect or conserve the place.
Previous Heritage Council Determination (26 May 2011)
The Executive Director notes that the Heritage Council of Victoria determined on 26 May 2011 not to include the Ballarat Civic Hall in the Victorian Heritage Register after a hearing was held on this matter on 15 April 2011. See attached ‘Decision of the Heritage Council Concerning Ballarat Civic Hall’, Heritage Council Registrations Committee, May 2016. At that time, the Heritage Council referred the recommendation and hearing submissions to the City of Ballarat for consideration for an amendment to the Ballarat Planning Scheme. The place is now included in HO171 (the Lydiard Street Precinct) but not individually listed.
RECOMMENDATION REASONS
REASONS FOR NOT RECOMMENDING INCLUSION IN THE VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER [s.34A(2)]
Following is the Executive Director's assessment of the place against the tests set out in The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2014).
CRITERION A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION A
The place/object has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life in Victoria’s cultural history.
Plus
The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history.
Plus
The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall has an association with the post-war development of regional centres in Victoria and this association is evident in both the physical fabric of the place and in documentary sources. This phase of post-war development made a strong contribution to Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion A is likely to be satisfied.
STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION A
The place/object allows the clear association with the event, phase etc. of historical importance to be UNDERSTOOD BETTER THAN MOST OTHER PLACES OR OBJECTS IN VICTORIA WITH SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME ASSOCIATION.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall is one of many municipal buildings constructed in Victoria in the 1950s and 1960s which illustrate the development of regional centres after World War II. The Ballarat Civic Hall does not allow the clear association with this phase to be understood any better than a number of these places in Victoria, including municipal buildings at Echuca (1952-53) and Sale (1951-60), neither of these places is in the VHR.
Criterion A is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.
CRITERION B
Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION B
The place/object has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life of importance in Victoria’s cultural history.
Plus
The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history.
Plus
The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, being one of a small number of places/objects remaining that demonstrates the important event, phase etc.
OR
The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, containing unusual features of note that were not widely replicated
OR
The existence of the class of place/object that demonstrates the important event, phase etc is ENDANGERED to the point of rarity due to threats and pressures on such places/objects.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall does not possess uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history. There are a substantial number of similar places that remain to demonstrate the development of regional Victoria.
Criterion B is not likely to be satisfied.
CRITERION C
Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION C
The:
· visible physical fabric; &/or
· documentary evidence; &/or
· oral history,
relating to the place/object indicates a likelihood that the place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE of historical interest that is NOT CURRENTLY VISIBLE OR UNDERSTOOD.
Plus
From what we know of the place/object, the physical evidence is likely to be of an INTEGRITY and/or CONDITION that it COULD YIELD INFORMATION through detailed investigation.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall does not have the potential to yield information that is not currently visible or understood (such as archaeological information) that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion C is not likely to be satisfied.
CRITERION D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION D
The place/object is one of a CLASS of places/objects that has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, important person(s), custom or way of life in Victoria’s history.
Plus
The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria.
Plus
The principal characteristics of the class are EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object.
Executive Director’s Response
Ballarat Civic Hall is one of a class of municipal buildings erected in the 1950s and 1960s which have an association with the post-war development of regional centres in Victoria. This phase of post-war development made a strong contribution to Victoria’s cultural history. Ballarat Civic Hall displays characteristics typical of this class of place.
Criterion D is likely to be satisfied.
STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION D
The place/object is a NOTABLE EXAMPLE of the class in Victoria (refer to Reference Tool D).
Executive Director’s Response
Ballarat Civic Hall is not a notable example of this class of place in Victoria. It is one of a number of municipal buildings from the 1950s and 1960s designed in a regressive Austere Modern/Stripped Classical style, not dissimilar to inter-war town halls of the 1930s such as Heidelberg Town Hall (1936-37, VHR H2077), Warracknabeal Town Hall (1939-40, VHR H2223) and the Horsham Town Hall (1939, VHR H2279). In contrast a small number of municipal buildings in the 1950s and 1960s were designed in a highly progressive and individual modern style including the Benalla Shire Offices (1958, VHR H2189) and the Former Brighton Municipal Offices (1959-60, VHR H1292).
Ballarat Civic Hall is of interest, but not notable, as a stand-alone municipal building. This type did not become a common civic building type and therefore the Ballarat Civic Hall was not an influential or pivotal example of this class of place.
Criterion D is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.
Criterion E
Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION E
The PHYSICAL FABRIC of the place/object clearly exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall does not exhibit particular aesthetic characteristics as defined by Reference Tool E in The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2014).
Criterion F
Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION F
The place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE that clearly demonstrates creative or technical ACHIEVEMENT for the time in which it was created.
Plus
The physical evidence demonstrates a HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY.
Executive Director’s Response
Criterion F is not likely to be satisfied.
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 people as part of their continuing and developing cultural traditions.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION G
Evidence exists of a DIRECT ASSOCIATION between the place/object and a PARTICULAR COMMUNITY OR CULTURAL GROUP.
(For the purpose of these guidelines, ‘COMMUNITY or CULTURAL GROUP’ is defined as a sizable group of persons who share a common and long-standing interest or identity).
Plus
The association between the place/object and the community or cultural group is STRONG OR SPECIAL, as evidenced by the regular or long-term use of/engagement with the place/object or the enduring ceremonial, ritual, commemorative, spiritual or celebratory use of the place/object.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall has strong associations with the local community. Many events took place in the hall after it was completed in 1956.
Criterion G is likely to be satisfied.
STEP 2: A BASIC TEST FOR DETERMINING STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE FOR CRITERION G
The place/object represents a particularly strong example of the association between it and the community or cultural group by reason of its relationship to important historical events in Victoria and/or its ability to interpret experiences to the broader Victorian community.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall has had a wide variety of uses for almost half a century and at times attracted regional and Melbourne audiences however the attachment to the place does not resonate beyond the local community to the wider Victorian community.
Criterion G is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.
CRITERION H
Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history.
STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION H
The place/object has a DIRECT ASSOCIATION with a person or group of persons who have made a strong or influential CONTRIBUTION to the course of Victoria’s history.
Plus
The association of the place/object to the person(s) IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources and/or oral history.
Plus
The ASSOCIATION:
· directly relates to ACHIEVEMENTS of the person(s) at, or relating to, the place/object; or
· relates to an enduring and/or close INTERACTION between the person(s) and the place/object.
Executive Director’s Response
The Ballarat Civic Hall does not have special associations with the life or works of any person of importance in Victoria’s history. The contributions of architects Herbert Coburn and Gordon Murphy could not be considered strong or influential to the course of Victoria’s history.
Criterion H is not likely to be satisfied.
ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE [s.34A(2)(d)]
The Ballarat Civic Hall is a good and intact example of a municipal building but does not possess the qualities, significance or rarity that would elevate the building to a threshold of State significance.
DESCRIPTION
The Ballarat Civic Hall is situated to the north of the town centre of Ballarat on a large site between Sturt Street and the railway line. It is located one block from the Ballarat Town Hall in Sturt Street (VHR H0978, 1870).
The Ballarat Civic Hall is a large freestanding brick clad, steel framed building designed in an Austere Modern/Stripped Classical style. The building comprises a number of irregularly placed large cubic masses with plain rendered parapets and concealed roofs. It contains two main wings: a large main hall which runs north-south and a smaller lower hall which runs east-west, underneath the stage of the larger hall. The main hall is entered from Mair Street to the south and the lower hall from the west.
The main south façade of the building is symmetrically composed with the main central triple storey hall and foyer section flanked by double storey wings. It has a central entrance with three sets of deeply recessed doors, engraved granite commemorative panels between and a cantilevered canopy roof above. Three large recessed window bays above the awning are multi-paned with medallions in the spandrels. The upper level of the façade contains three small square openings within a rendered band and a metal sign ‘CIVIC HALL’ on the parapet above. Bands of multi-paned windows line the sides of the main hall above later brick additions. A tall fly tower and the lower hall dominate the northern end of the building.
The main entrance to the lower hall is located on the west side of the building. It comprises a wide bay with doors at ground level (now boarded up) and a rendered section above with two horizontal strips of windows. A metal sign ‘LOWER HALL’ is set below the parapet line. The rear of the building is of unadorned brickwork with functionally placed windows and a large number of service pipes and vents.