Monday, September 29, 2008

Register of the National Estate

Nominator's Statement of Significance:
The Edinburgh Gardens are significant in terms of the large number of established trees and garden beds and the associated garden furniture - cast iron bollards, drinking fountain, fixed seats and bandstand. The tennis club house, train track and fixed train engine and the Bowling Club house and lawns are integral to this significance, while the adjacent cricket ground, with its two gatehouses and historic grandstand, is of complementary significance. They are also notable for the open space they provide and the manner in which they complement and close the vistas observable while passing along Alfred Crescent. The significance of the precinct is seen to lie in the marriage of the built environment with a sylvan landscape. It is enhanced by the quality of individual elements, both built and floral, in terms of their historical, architectural, recreational and visual amenity.

Description:
The Edinburgh Gardens precint is defined by the escargot shaped reserve originally set aside for Public Gardens, the Fitzroy and the North Fitzroy Cricket Grounds and a railway station and line. The unique shape of the gardens stems from the resolution between different street grids and the desire to create a circus along Georgian lines. The scheme for a grand crescent with central gardens, playing grounds and rail facilities was developed as the most logical answer to this dilemma.

Condition and Integrity:
There is at present only one cricket ground in the south west corner, to the north of which lie the bowling and tennis clubs. The northernmost land of the reserve originally set aside for the north Fitzroy Cricket Ground has been absorbed into the gardens proper. The railway line is decrepit and unused, except on its northernmost gardens section, which now houses an old engine. The area originally allotted to the railway station and yards has become a timber mill. The one building of individual significance within the garden is an early twentieth century bandstand. Other, newer, buildings are intrusive.
Location:
About 15ha, bordered by Brunswick Street, St Georges Road, Alfred Crescent, Jamieson Street, Queens Parade, Napier Street and Freeman Street, Fitzroy North.