War Memorials in Australia

Beechworth Servicemen's Memorial Hall

Place: Beechworth, Victoria, 3747
District: Northeast (VIC)
Orientation: 36 km E of Wangaratta
Location: Ford Street
Position: 36 21 52 S     146 41 27 E
Ref: 30325

__________________________

The site of the Servicemen's Memorial Hall was formerly occupied by the Beechworth Technical School, a short-lived educational venture which closed in 1929.ⁱ The defunct building was subsequently acquired by the RSL Women's Auxiliary in the early 1940s with the intent of establishing it as a war memorial hall.  It was a modest timber building, comprising a rectangular hall with an annexe of small rooms to the west side.  In the mid 1950s, several schemes were prepared for renovation, which proposed extending the hall further to the east, and adding a new kitchen and committee room to the west side.  The renovated hall was officially opened on 23 July 1957, and it was reported in the local press that 'the crowd was so dense that dancing was almost impossible'.ⁱⁱ  The following year, further renovations were proposed, designed by architect C. H. MacKnight of Corowa.

Charles MacKnight's scheme for the Beechworth Memorial proposed the addition of a separate RSL clubroom, and a greatly extended stage with a suite of dressing rooms below.  The Ford Street elevation was also to be remodelled and the architect envisaged a sleek Moderne composition of strongly emphasised horizontal elements, flagstaffs and a prominent entrance with a glazed tile surround.

For over forty years, the memorial hall served as a venue for a wide range of social and recreational activities in Beechworth, including theatrical performances, debutante balls and in December 1963, the grandly-named Boxing Night Old Time Music Hall Cabaret.  At the time the hall was re-opened in 1957, it was stated that 'the hall would serve as a reminder of the spirit-sometimes called the Spirit of Anzac-shown throughout the Commonwealth of Nations in time of trial'.ⁱⁱ  To this effect, the use of the hall has been carefully controlled to ensure it remains closely associated as a war memorial.  As recently as 1980, the council refused to hire the hall to the Jehovah's Witnesses, on the grounds that the religious group does not believe in participating in wars.ⁱⁱⁱ

The memorial hall was extensively renovated, yet again, in 1994.  The work, which was carried out by Turner Ginivan, a Melbourne-based architectural firm, included the erection of a new wing to house the shire offices, and the complete remodelling of the Ford Street frontage.  The renovated building was official re-opened on 7 November 1994.ⁱⁱⁱ

The memorial hall is predominately a single-storey masonry building which is irregular in plan form and materials due to decades of ad hoc additions and alterations.

The hall proper is a concrete block construction, with a two-tiered gabled roof consisting of corrugated galvanized steel on steel trusses, which are exposed internally.  The Ford Street elevation, which has an unpainted rendered finish, has a row of large square window openings, each of which contains a pair of timber-framed double-hung sash windows.  Along the entire facade is verandah with a skillion roof of corrugated galvanized steel, supported on plain square timber posts. Over the main entrance to the hall, which is off-centre, the facade rises up above the verandah level to form a stepped and gabled parapet.  The parapet has a row of five small rectangular windows, which open off the projector booth at the mezzanine level.  Above the windows is the title BEECHWORTH SERVICEMEN'S MEMORIAL HALL in raised coloured lettering.

The rest of the hall proper is of concrete block, divided into bays by four piers which extend from the ground level to the gable end.  This elevation is stark, with no openings except at sub-floor level, where there is a central doorway flanked by large rectangular openings.  The doorway, which provides access to the plant room, has a louvered metal door, and the flanking openings each contain a pair of timber-framed, double-hung sashes and a battened timber door.  The west elevation of the hall proper has bays of square window openings with fixed and hopper sashes, and a side doorway accessed by a flight of concrete steps.

Further to the west of the main hall is the so-called RSL Anzac Hall, an attached wing which is set back slightly from Ford Street, but with a rendered frontage and verandah to match.  The side elevation, to the west, is of red face brick with a row of large square window openings which contain steel-framed casement sashes.  A small flight of concrete steps provides access to a raised side entrance.  At the rear of the RSL wing is a small timber-framed addition, clad partly in face red brick and cement sheet.  It has a shallow skillion roof and small aluminium-framed windows.

To the east side of the hall is the wing containing the municipal offices of the Indigo Shire.  Constructed of rendered brickwork, the wing is of canted form which steps outwards towards the rear of the building.  It has a shallow skillion roof, concealed by a low parapet, and a verandah which matches the front of the building.  Under the verandah there is a row of tall rectangular windows and doors with glazed panels.  At the rear of the wing the same windows are repeated at the upper level, with smaller windows and a pair of doors at the sub-floor level.  A flight of concrete steps, with a steel handrail, provides access to the rear entrance.

As a venue for countless balls, dances and so on for over forty years, the memorial hall has some social interest.  The fact that the building was erected as a war memorial is also of local historic interest, although this function is not actually demonstrated in the built form.  However, both of these aspects are far outweighed by the building's particularly nondescript appearance as a result of years of ad hoc addition and remodelling and overall slight history compared with that of Beechworth overall.  As such, it is considered to be of no heritage significance.

The memorial hall does not make a significant contribution to the historic streetscape of Ford Street.  Although it is compatible in scale, its architectural style and use of materials does not add positively to the streetscape.  At best it might be considered to be neutral.

Policy.  The memorial hall can be altered, adapted or demolished as required.

ⁱ Roy Harvey, Background to Beechworth, pp 22, 67
ⁱⁱ  'Crowd at Opening of New Memorial Hall', Ovens & Murray Advertiser, 24 July 1957, p1