Builder unearths gold rush cottage
JENNY BROWN
June 29, 2010
Once an eyesore, the refurbished Singapore Cottage is now of state significance
What appeared to be a dump turned out to be a historic prefab from Singapore.
Anthony Morton became an accidental champion of heritage when, on the way to bowling over ‘‘a ramshackle dump’’ in South Melbourne, he complied with a heritage sign-off requirement and had it looked over by conservation architect Roger Beeston.
The specialist builder was planning to erect two townhouses on the 240-square-metre block.
But Beeston put his head up through the ceiling manhole ‘‘and found Chinese markings on the timber framing’’.
With that, it was back to the drawing board for Morton, and on to deeper research for Beeston, who was eventually able to confirm that the 56-square-metre cottage with the unfortunate aluminium windows and a skin of concrete render was a mid-19th-century, prefabricated ‘‘Singapore Cottage’’ and as such, of great importance to Victoria’s building history.
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