Projects > projects > vhall restoration

Victoria Hall was constructed in 1896-1897 as a parish hall for the nearby St John’s Vestry. The architect for the design of the new hall was Joseph John Talbot Hobbs, one of Western Australia’s most esteemed architects. Originally intended to be named St John’s Hall, the opening coincided with the diamond jubilee of the ruling monarch and it is presumed that the name we now know was in honour of the Queen’s jubilee. Observant visitors may be able to discern the remnants of the old hall name under the raised Victoria Hall signage in the pediment area of the front façade.

The building was built during the gold boom and its exuberant style and detailing are evidence of this. During the first half of the twentieth century the hall was a focal point for various uses with community involvement, including the South Fremantle Football Club and some church organisations. The backstage skillion of Hobbs’ original design was demolished in 1926 and the Lesser Hall and a flat were built in their place. Various community events, balls and galas continued to be held in the place up to the Second World War. Following the Second World War, the place was leased to Mr Bob Wrightson who operated a dance studio within the building until the early 1970s and who later bought the place.

The Fremantle City Council approved demolition of the Hall in 1974 but this was stopped by public opinion. It was then when the place was classified by the National Trust and also when the Builders’ Labourers’ Federation put a ‘green ban’ on the Hall. The building has been held in high esteem by the community ever since.

The City of Fremantle purchased the hall in 2001. The place is currently leased by the City of Fremantle to the Deckchair Theatre Company. Deckchair Theatre use the hall as a theatre and occasional cabaret. One of the front two rooms is sublet from Deckchair theatre to a community group as a shopfront office.

With the financial assistance provided by the Heritage Council of WA and the Lotteries Commission Western Australia, the City has embarked on a programme of conservation works to reveal its full significance and to ensure the continuous and viable use of the hall.

Conservation Works

The City has engaged Palassis Architects to act as their consultants to design, document and administer the conservation works programme in accordance with the principles of Burra Charter, the Australia’s national charter for heritage conservation. Therefore the approach to design, the choice of remedies and other treatment employed to address the apparent deterioration of the building fabric involve in depth and proper conservation analysis, methods and techniques. As the progress of conservation works is limited by a number of factors including availability of funds and the ongoing usage, the works will continue for some time in stages.

The conservators for the building were selected by a tender process to find the most suitable and experienced trades people for the work. Antonio Graneri Building Conservationists were the successful tenderers bringing both local experience and traditional Italian craftsmanship to the project. The first stage of conservation works is nearly complete (January 2003) and includes the following:

Removal of the paint finish from the front façade to reveal the original cement render finish.

The building façade to High Street was originally bare cement render, in relatively recent times the façade has been painted – the paint finish obscured much of the fine detail which will soon be revealed again. The paint tests (scraping individual layers of paints) done in a number of location on the façade revealed a multiplicity of colours which included cream, maroon, pink and cream. The process of removing the paint is painstakingly slow, the different layers of paint have been softened with chemicals and then gently washed off the wall with fresh water. As the building façade is quite complex the cleaning of original mouldings and decoration required many hours of expert attention with small tools and brushes.

Repairs to the decorative render and structural pinning of the front façade.

As the paint has been stripped the condition of the underlying render work has become apparent. The thick layers of paint obscured much detail, but also hid a multitude of small defects, including crude previous repairs and in parts missing components. Some defects required the expertise of structural engineers Wood and Grieve before appropriate repairs could be decided on. Other repairs were more aesthetic and required the skilled fabrication of replacement mouldings and details to replace badly damaged or missing components. Wherever possible the original pieces were re-used and fixed back in place with non corrosive pins and glue systems.

Re-pointing of some of the limestone and brickwork on the exterior wall of the hall.

Some of the pointing has fretted over the years due to weathering and rising damp (with salts in solution which damaged the mortar and masonry.) The damaged mortar has been raked out and replaced with new mortar to match the original mixes, the decorative black lining visible of the limestone on the north side elevation has been replaced where damaged. Some of this work will be ongoing and further repairs are expected in coming years.

Repairs and repainting of the windows and doors externally.

The windows and doors have been neglected for many years, termites and ultra violet light have together combined to damage the paint finishes and underlying timber framing. Where possible original fabric has been stabilised and retained, but some new material has been introduced to match the existing. The timber used is Oregon, a common building material from the time of the hall’s construction. The most major joinery replacement work is the new front doors which have been constructed using the original drawings as a guide. The original doors were removed at some stage in the past and in recent years the front doors have been a pair of nondescript flush panels.

A new system of storm drainage to remove some of the damp problems in the building.

A new system of stormwater drainage has been installed on the northern side of the building to address the damp issues which have been causing the low level failure of the stone and mortar. The agricultural drains were placed in trenches along the walls, filled with gravel to induce air circulation.

Replacing the roof sheeting on the western slope of the main roof.

Some roof repairs have been undertaken to ensure that the area behind the newly conserved front elevation doesn’t leak into the roof space of the gallery behind. Although this work isn’t visible to the observer it is one of the more important tasks in a process of preventative conservation to protect other fabric.

Next stage of the works.

The next stage of the works will involve a major upgrade of the visitor facilities including provision of toilets for universal access to make Victoria Hall enjoyable by all.

City Of Fremantle is committed to model conservation processes and treatments of this unique building. It is hoped that the results will speak for themselves and the project will encourage other owners of heritage buildings in Fremantle to follow the suit. Comprehensive and principled conservation of the city’s heritage buildings that would reveal their original splendour combined with sympathetic adaptations for compatible, new uses is considered an essential part of the City’s strategy to rejuvenate the Fremantle’s once vibrant city life and beauty.