This early photograph of Goulburn’s main street shows awnings supported by posts on buildings opposite Belmore Park. The posts were removed and replaced by suspension fastening. Goulburn Mulwaree Council would like to see the posts reinstated. Photo: National Library of Australia.
Awning posts should be reinstated and other historic details recovered in many of the main street shop fronts in Goulburn, according to an updated Main Street Study.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council planners say in the 1930s the then council ordered all the awning posts in the main street to be removed. But today they recommend using posts for new and renovated awnings to avoid the less reliable suspension fastenings which often fail and damage buildings.
The Main Street Study is a photo record of building facades in Goulburn’s heritage-rich central business district. It recommends facade design and presentation, removing air-conditioning boxes on awnings and out-of-date signs and adoption of heritage colour suggestions.
For example, on the 1900 Tattersalls Hotel building, planners suggest adopting a 1900s Edwardian colour scheme, reinstating the posts under the awning, restoring French doors to three left-hand openings on the first floor and reinstating the ‘Tattersalls Hotel’ sign on the parapet.
Main street buildings opposite Belmore Park, Goulburn, showing the awning suspensions which have replaced the posts below, and detract from facades. Photo: John Thistleton.
Many of the awnings on century-old buildings retain their pressed metal ceilings which add to the heritage significance of Auburn Street. But some big facades cover heritage hallmarks, and the study simply asks, “What’s underneath the facade?”
Updating the study is part of a major undertaking to rewrite planning controls to transform the CBD with more multistorey apartment accommodation.
Senior Strategic Planner David Kiernan said a few of the study’s previous recommendations from 30 years ago were enacted, but most of them were not.
“Part of our strategic framework is to update that; our planning team has been working on it, updating it with new photographs and new recommendations,” he said.
This 1887 building at 115 Auburn Street, Goulburn is of high local heritage significance according to the updated Main Street Study. Recently repainted in heritage colours it contributes to the enhancement of Goulburn’s heritage values. Photo: John Thistleton.
“The idea is that it will tie policy hopefully to those recommendations in the Main Street Study,” he said. “For example, reinstating awning posts. Then when you [the building’s owners] are refitting your awning, it might be something you need to have a look at.
“This is an incremental approach,” Mr Kiernan said. “We are not saying as soon as this (study) is adopted everyone has to do this. It is a matter of when things are being improved, then you need to take these recommendations in hand at the time. It is only a matter of when you are undertaking work.”
Director of Planning and Environment Scott Martin said incentives were on offer for building owners. “If you come to us and say, ‘I own a building in the main street and have a cantilevered awning, but I want to reinstate the posts, I might apply for our CBD heritage grant’. The study would help, you are showing you are actually bringing it back to something we have identified.”
A good example of a recent facade upgrade, one of four successful heritage grant applications is the Shelleys Sewing Centre building at 115 Auburn Street. The Main Street Study says the 1887 two-storey building has acquired strong social and commercial association with Goulburn’s city centre. The Victorian filigree style creates a prominent architectural presence in Auburn Street.
“It shows it can be done,” Mr Kiernan said. “It just takes time; it’s a slow process over decades.”
Many of the old signage above awnings in Auburn Street, Goulburn, have been removed, but some old ones still linger, detracting from the CBD’s appearance. Photo: John Thistleton.
Also included in the Main Street Study are photos of retailers well remembered in Goulburn, who have closed. They include Keith Gegg Discounts, Bon Ton Cafe, Michael Connolly Pharmacy, Doughty Meats, Jocelyn and Allens.
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