Geelong council releases planning scheme amendment to protect 164-year-old Claremont Homestead from development

Geelong council has detailed how it plans to manage a historic Waurn Ponds homestead developers want to demolish.

Geelong council has moved to permanently protect a 164-year-old homestead from developers, after receiving an application to demolish the historic site.

But, developers would be free to subdivide and redevelop the land surrounding the building, under the proposed protection.

The City of Greater Geelong has released a planning scheme amendment for public consultation, detailing planned permanent heritage controls for the 1857-built Claremont Estate in Waurn Ponds.

The proposal would protect the site through a series of “heritage management objectives”, demanding property owners:

RETAIN and conserve the overall appearance of the property as a single-storey 19th century homestead, by keeping the two northernmost roof sections, external walls and verandas at the northern and eastern sides.

RETAIN and conserve the Victorian Georgian style and materials of the original dwelling over at least the two northernmost roof sections and adjoining verandas.

RETAIN the mature Norfolk Island pine Tree on the site, and sufficient open space surrounding the main northern and eastern facades.

Claremont is the original farmhouse on the Waurn Ponds hill east of Ghazeepore Rd.

The objectives also allow for both “changes and upgrades to accommodate contemporary standards of living to provide for a sustainable future use of the heritage building” and “subdivision and redevelopment of the property outside of the immediate environs of the heritage area as shown on the plan”.

The city drew up the heritage protection for the 6156sq m Kinsmead St site – formerly a 100ha farm – after referring he homestead to Victorian Planning Minister last year, having received an application to demolish the homestead.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne placed an interim heritage overlay on the building from September to December 31 last year, giving the city time to draw up heritage protections.

The city described the homestead’s heritage value in documents attached to its planning scheme amendment, describing it as one of the last surviving Victorian dwellings in the region.

“It was constructed of bricks produced on site in 1857 to a design by local architects, Shaw and Dowden, for Thomas Powell,” the documents noted.

“The property also has more enduring associations with four generations of the Baum family, farmers and orchardists, whose ownership from 1894 has spanned over 116 years.”

“Claremont Homestead has historic significance for its associations with crop, vine and fruit growing in the Waurn Ponds and Barrabool Hills areas in the mid-19th century. The area became synonymous for wine growing and cultivated the largest quantity of vines in Victoria, and a significant quantity of fruit, at the time of the building of Claremont Homestead in 1857.

“Claremont Homestead is a physical embodiment of this previous historic and enduring land use.”

The city’s planning scheme amendment will remain on public exhibition until March 15.

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Originally published as Geelong council releases planning scheme amendment to protect 164-year-old Claremont Homestead from development