The Hawthorn Fire Station is a former fire station at 66-68 William Street in Hawthorn, an inner-east suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The building has also been known as the Hawthorn Metropolitan Fire Station and as the Former Hawthorn Fire Station.
The building was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 14 August 1997 in recognition of its architectural and historical significance.
According to the Heritage Council of Victoria, The Hawthorn Fire Station was constructed in 1910 to the design of Cedric Ballantyne of the architectural firm of Oakden and Ballantyne. The two storey asymmetrically planned, red brick building consists of a fire station at ground floor level and two flats above. The building is designed in the Edwardian Freestyle [style] and its most notable features are its arched vehicle openings with original timber doors, and its Art Nouveau wrought iron detailing. Apart from minor and reversible modifications the building is remarkably intact and retains all the features of a small suburban fire station.
It also was recognized in 1992 by the City of Boroondara as "Architecturally, an original and successful example of Edwardian Freestyle architecture applied by prominent architects, Oakden and Ballantyne, to a utility-use building which is unmatched in other contemporary fire stations, and possesses valuable Art Nouveau inspired iron detailing: of high regional importance. Historically, of local interest as a public utility building."
It was also recognized by the Victorian branch of the National Trust in 1985 or 2005 as "A successful and largely intact Edwardian Freestyle fire station of 1910 by the prominent architects Oakden & Ballantyne, distinguished by its deeply set arched vehicle entrances complete with folding doors, its valuable Art Nouveau wrought iron details and, as counterpoint to the bold asymmetry of the station, the bland proto-Modern residential section adjoining."
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