Once lauded as having the best cuts of meat for miles, the 1920s building has recently been converted into a bustling art gallery and studio.

The creative revamp of the Edwardian butcher shop was this week recognised at the annual Ballarat Heritage Awards.

The store’s owner, artist Julie Bennett, snagged the award for Best Adaptive Reuse of a Heritage Space ahead of Suttons House of Music on Sturt Street and the Adam Lindsay Gordon Cottage in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. 

Ms Bennett said she had been floored by the win.

“I was certainly a little surprised because bigger money had been spent on the other nominees and I hadn’t expected to win at all,” Ms Bennett said.

When Ms Bennett purchased the store in 2008, it was falling apart, with a sagging verandah and peeling paint.

But following a lengthy labour of love, Ms Bennett refurbished the exterior, complete with original patterned tiles, back to its former Edwardian glory.

She also recreated the store’s iconic advertising signage. 

Inside, she modernised the building with stainless steel sections and ripped up the faded carpet to polish the floor beneath. 

Ms Bennett said since she purchased the former butcher shop, she had been moved by people’s nostalgia for the iconic store on the corner of Seymour and Neil streets. 

“I often sit out the front of the store on my red chair and people will come up to share stories of how they used to pick up their family’s meat orders from the store when they were children,” Ms Bennett said.

“When I renovated it, I wanted to recapture that. I wanted to bring back the historic elements of the corner to make it another little piece of Ballarat’s history.”

Other winners for conservation of heritage places included a private home at 143 Wendouree Parade and another house at 23 Victoria Avenue. The Arch of Victory Honour Committee also won an award for its work on the Avenue of Honour.

Heritage specialist Clare Gervasoni won an award for her history and heritage skills, along with P & M Attwood Pty Ltd for its work in heritage trades. 

The heritage innovation award went to Federation University for its Living Heritage: Trades and Traditions exhibition which ran across the city.

The Greg Binns Award for Outstanding Community Contribution to Heritage was awarded to the Lucas Past Employees Association.

A record number of nominations were received across the six award categories this year, with all the winners announced at the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute on Tuesday night.

melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au