Ascot Vale Median PriceThe House price is 8% lower than last year.
Surrounding suburbsAscot Vale Median RentThe House rent is 15% higher than last year.
| | Map | Street view | Nearby property price | | Planning History: | | | Registered as Victorian heritage | Last updated on - February 12, 2007
What is significant? Developed as the base for the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria and the home of the Royal Melbourne Show from 1883, the Royal Melbourne Showgroundsis Victoria's largest and pre-eminent agricultural showground complex. Until 2005 the substantial grounds contained a large number of buildings and a range of building types, continuously developed and added to until the site was quite crowded. The most distinctive building type was the large, long red-brick or concrete basilica-like halls, built between 1910 and the 1930s, with lower side-aisles and a central raised section with a clerestory between, where animals were exhibited. There were also many other structures built for various purposes that were an integral part of the show, such as: the Arts & Crafts Pavilion of 1904 (demolished), built to display the foods and crafts made mainly by country women; the Royal Luncheon Rooms of 1916; an Administration Building; various pavilions displaying agricultural machinery; and in the mid twentieth century striking outlets for various banks and a chair lift. Many semi- permanent side-show structures were also scattered across the site, attesting to the site's secondary purpose of providing amusements to attract crowds and add to the carnival atmosphere. The Pie-in-the-Sky Kiosk was added in 1976. All this was focussed on the Grand Arena surrounded by grandstands, built from the 1920s to the 1970s.
In 2005-6 the site was virtually cleared, leaving at least fifteen historic structures, some relocated. The site underwent a substantial redevelopment at this time, increasing open space and providing new buildings considered to be more adaptable, in order to increase the viability of the site, whilst retaining it as the base for the Show, Melbourne's most popular event.
How is it significant? The Royal Agricultural Showgrounds and the remaining historic structures are significant for architectural, historic, and social reasons at the State level.
Why is it significant? As a complex, the Royal Agricultural Showgrounds have economic, historical and cultural significance as the largest agricultural show complex in Australia, a vital part of Australia's oldest major industry, and an important location for the enactment of national identity. The site and its Show are of cultural significance as the largest single public event held annually in Victoria, attracting in excess of 700,000 persons each year. The Show itself is significant for demonstrating the importance of the metropolitan area as a focus for the continuing exchange of ideas and experience of agricultural producers across Victoria. It also maintains a fundamental principle of the Show, showcasing rural life to Melbourne's urban population.
The remaining structures at the Showgrounds are the primary illustration of the significant activities of the Royal Agricultural Society of |
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