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Maitland Technical College (former)
| Type: | Built | ||
| Group: | Education | ||
| Category: | Tertiary college | ||
| Town/City: | Maitland | ||
| Local Govt Area: | Maitland City | ||
| Street Address: | 230 High Street Maitland |
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| Postcode: | 2320 | ||
| Description: | |||
| The former Maitland Technical College site is now the home of the Maitland Regional Art Gallery. The 1910 and 1912 buildings that provided the core of the Technical College are now incorporated into the Art Gallery |
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| History: | |||
| In 1892 the site was acquired by the NSW Department of Public Instruction for use as the Maitland Technical College. At the time of acquisition it was owned by Miarus Moore and, for the previous three decades, had operated as the Northumberland Coach and Buggy Factory (see Views of Maitland: S212) (MM 28 July 1892:4 and 25 August 1892:5). The buildings on the site at the time included a three storey brick building in the north-east corner, and a number of sheds. A site plan dated 1892 indicates the layout: with no buildings along the High Street frontage. The three storey brick building itself dated from 1856 when it was first erected as the bulk warehouse for local merchants David and James Dickson (MM, 1 Mar 1856). Adaptations were made to the buildings on the site, and the West Maitland Technical College moved there in late 1892 (MM 15 Oct 1892). From the outset, there were some reservations about the adequacy of the site and the need for the ‘erection of other necessary structures’ (MM 15 Oct 1892:4). Within a few years, there were too many classes to be accommodated in the premises and, as well, there was increasing criticism of the facilities and suitability of the adapted coach factory itself. In 1896, for example, the rooms were described as ‘totally unsuited …owing to the lowness of the ceilings’ (MM 2 Dec 1896:6); by 1907 it was seen to have ‘outlived its usefulness’ and was in need of ‘replacing by a more up-to-date and commodious structure’ (MM 5 Feb 1907:3); and by July 1909 it was described as an ‘unsuitable, insanitary, ill-lighted barn-like building’ (MM 24 July 1909:4). The criticisms were part of the lobbying that eventually won approval for the design and building of new premises at the front of the site. The original drawings developed by the NSW government architect’s office under Walter Liberty Vernon showed a two storey building with frontage along High Street and wings extending back into the site. The costing for the original design came in well over budget and, as a consequence, it was decided to construct only the front section of the building. The decision quickly met with criticism. Local newspaper reports wrote about ‘the more essential part of the college, the classrooms’ having been cut out (MM 24 July 1909:4) and, lyrically, described the enterprise as ‘a play of Hamlet without Hamlet, a Christmas pudding without the plums’ (MM 28 August 1909:2) The new building opened in August 1910 and is still there, sitting along the High Street frontage of the site. Its architectural features were – and continue to be – glowingly praised. There is the impressive front façade made from local Ravensfield sandstone and described at the time as ‘perpendicular Gothic’; the entrance porch with its ‘seven trachyte steps’ leading into the vestibule and on to the stairs hall with its freestanding marble staircase arching its way along the wall and lit by the arts and crafts leadlight above; the parquetry floors and the arched entrance ways into the large and inviting downstairs rooms created to accommodate the technological museum. This was impressive public architecture and was described at the time as ‘one of the finest buildings of its kind in the State’ (MM 13 August 1910:14). And there were also innovative engineering and technical features: water and gas laid throughout the building and a ventilation system consisting of galvanized tubing wound its way across and through the building. The shortage of teaching spaces and workshops was an immediate problem. The old coach factory was kept in commission and then, recognizing that the funding for the intended second section of the original design would not be forthcoming, a more modest two storey block of classrooms was built on the north-west corner of the block and was opened in 1912. This building is still there and is now suitably called the Art Factory. Its spaces are used for children’s workshops, exhibitions and other activities. The coach factory building was presumably pulled down once the back building was available. The patterns of fluctuating but overall growing enrolments, increasing staff, increasing need for better and more facilities, and the shortage of accommodation remained a feature of the use of the site. On a number of occasions there were discussions and moves to build further suitable structures on the site, and extra land was acquired. In 1954, for example, the land adjoining the building on its western end was acquired. There was a service station on the site at the time (Higginbotham 2008: 93). In 1964/5 the land on the eastern side of the main building, which had formerly been the site of the Lipscombs’ chemist and bookstore (q.v.), was acquired, and a couple of years later the 1865 building that had been there was demolished (Booker 2012:28). The intended extensions did not eventuate. Instead, the department looked elsewhere for a new location, eventually settling on the property in Metford to which the technical college was relocated in 1987. Between 1987 and 2002 the site was in private ownership. It was acquired in 2002 by Maitland City Council for use as the Maitland City Art Gallery (now the Maitland Regional Art Gallery). A constant concern for the site and, indeed, for this part of Maitland, is the risk of flooding. On a number of occasions, the site has been underwater with perhaps the most dramatic flood being that of 1955. The bottom floor of the 1910 building was inundated to such an extent that it marked the end of the Technology Museum that had been housed there. Stop number 17 in the Maitland Regional Art Gallery Art and Heritage Audio Tour invites you to contemplate the height of the flood waters in 1955. |
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Related Records
© Views of Maitland
- Views of Maitland Record No.
- S24
- Created
- 01/04/2009
- By
- Janis Wilton
- Modified
- 25/09/2014
- By
- Janis Wilton