Specimen Cottage - Conservation Management Plan

Specimen Cottage, Bendigo, was built in two stages by the English stonemason James Brierley (1821-84) as his family home. Beginning in 1856 as a single-storey residence followed by a two-storey addition in 1861. Both parts remained – for the most part – in residential use until the mid-1950s when it was utilised in conjunction with a motor vehicle centre at the corner of Hargreaves and Mundy Street. The

Victorian Government acquired Specimen Cottage in 1980 as part of the adjacent college campus development. This same development led to the demolition of other mid-19th century commercial buildings at the northwest corner of Hargreaves and Mundy streets associated with Brierley.

RBA were commissioned to develop a CMP for the State Listed place in 2021, to guide the future conservation, change and management during the redevelopment of the surrounding site for the new Bendigo Law Courts. A history was prepared that provided information on when the building was constructed and how it developed—was altered—over the following decades. This included written descriptions in local newspapers and other archival sources, and visual evidence from photographs, lithographs, maps and the like. And a physical survey was undertaken of the existing fabric, which also provided information about the history and development of the place.

Click below to read through the Specimen Cottage CMP.

Specimen Cottage CMP.pdf

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