City of Ballarat votes to protect Holmes Street precinct

At Wednesday night's council meeting, Cr Samantha McIntosh, who moved the motion to have the Planning Minister apply an Interim Heritage Overlay on the Holmes Street precinct and seek a permanent heritage control for the properties, said this was a "great way forward" for the city.

She said having preservation measures such as this was crucial in ensuring the longevity of Ballarat's heritage for future generations.

"We must not take our foot off the pedal," Cr McIntosh said.

"This will be valuable to our children and their grandchildren."

Cr Mark Harris, who seconded the motion, said while he supported the officer's recommendations there needed to be further progress on the council's Heritage Gap study which was commissioned early last year.

He said without a detailed review of the report there would not be a "sobering reflection" of properties in the region.

"Bring on the study so we can do this in more logical way," Cr Harris said.

The decision was voted on unanimously by all councillors.

The properties of 7-19 Holmes Street, Ballarat Central were identified as meeting the threshold of local significance, with 15 and 17 Holmes Street being "notable dwellings within the precinct" due its "Edwardian period" aesthetic and " rare grouping in a city mostly characterised by very heterogenous streetscapes".

Constructed over two phases about the 1860s and 1870s, the row of houses which have a "distinctive red brick chimney with special cream brick corbelling and curved render parging" depict one of Ballarat's earliest small-scale speculative residential developments prior to the advent of large-scale private developers.

"The retention of bluestone kerbs and spoon drains, dating from its formation in 1866, illustrate the nature of public infrastructure in the nineteenth century and enhance appreciation of the row of houses," council agenda documents wrote.

The City of Ballarat sought to put in place interim heritage controls after being alerted of the dwellings significance after a series of council meetings and reports.

Specifically, heritage measures were sparked when the council received an application to demolish and develop at 17 Holmes Street on October 4 last year.

The City of Ballarat Statutory Planning Department then assessed this request and determined that the dwelling and outbuildings on 17 Holmes Street may have heritage significance.

This then prompted the Statutory Planning Department to refer this request onto the council's heritage advisor.

On 10 October 2022, the heritage advisor highlighted the potential heritage value of the precinct. The advisor indicated Holmes Street is "a very good and intact collection of timber dwellings dating from the 1870-1900 period and meets the threshold of local cultural heritage significance for its historical values".

This then led the council to initiate a review of the history of the site by Natica Schmeder of Landmark Heritage.

The report, delivered on December 1 last year, substantiated the heritage value of the houses with it finding they were pivotal in "an era of growing ownership of properties by women".

"These owners (William Coltman and Jonathan H Thompson) had a mix of working-class occupations and included three women," the heritage report wrote.

"This stage in the precinct's development illustrates the increasing permanent nature of Ballarat's workforce, evidenced by long-term occupancy and the means for home ownership."

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The land on Holmes Street containing period dwellings is currently in a commercial zone and is not subject to any site specific or precinct heritage controls under the Ballarat Planning Scheme.

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