Heritage Protection for Osborne House, 214 Creswick Road, Ballarat Central

Planning Scheme Amendment C249ball will insert a permanent Heritage Overlay (HO234) into the Ballarat Planning Scheme to Osborne House - 214 Creswick Road, Ballarat Central. An interim Heritage Overlay applies to the site and expires on 1 August 2025.

Osborne House is a 1912 Federation era villa designed by Ballarat architect, Percy Richards for ironfounder, Joseph Osborne, who was the proprietor of the nearby James Smith's agricultural foundry on Creswick Road. In 1913 the property was further developed with Richards designing the stables and brick motor house, representing the transition from horse to motor car. A brick laundry was also built around the same time. The house is an excellent example of the work of this prominent and prolific local architect, demonstrating Richards' fine use of detail and the evolution of his style from highly embellished early Federation to the stronger lines of the interwar era. The house is distinguished by its very high level of intactness, which includes original unpainted render, slate roof cladding and terracotta embellishments, and the retention of all original brick outbuildings.

More information can be found on the Ballarat Planning Delegated Committee Agenda dated 13th March 2024.

Heritage Protection for Former Carrier's Arms Hotel & Stables, 9 Creswick Road, Ballarat Central

Planning Scheme Amendment C252ball will insert Heritage Overlay HO235 into the Ballarat Planning Scheme at 9 Creswick Road, Ballarat Central.

The former Carrier's Arms Hotel and Stables illustrates the early commercial activity in the north part of Ballarat’s business district, and its form and fortunes were intrinsically entwined with the market reserve across from it. A hotel has operated on the site since 1857, with the current hotel built in 1890 in a simplified Second Empire style, with a mansard-roofed tower, and bichrome brick walls and rear kitchen. It ceased operation as a hotel in 1968 and has since been readapted to other commercial uses.

The c1866-69 brick stables are a rare surviving example of a typical mid-nineteenth-century commercial stables. In the 1870s and ‘80s they were described as ‘extensive and first-class stabling’ which were ‘large and specially adapted to the requirements of the Patrons of this well-known Hostelry’. These patrons were primarily farmers from out of town. The stables retain most of its original form comprising a hipped roof, handmade brick walls, early or original pedestrian and barn doors, and an internal hayloft. The stables illustrate who the key patrons were of the Carriers’ Arms Hotel: the place farmers would stay when delivering loads of produce or hay to the market across the road.

More information can be found on the Ballarat Planning Delegated Committee Agenda dated 10 July 2024.