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Physical Description

The Berry Museum is a single storey brick building in the Scottish Baronial style with a stepped gable facade. The gable parapet is capped with stone and surmounted by a spherical finial. The parapet at is supported at the corners of the building by a stone corbel and a circular louvre windows placed in the centre of the gable.

The lintels over the windows and entrance are constructed in light coloured brickwork while the fanlight and upper half of the windows feature painted lattice work (Bishop and Hitchcock 1988, item 3. 15). There are verandahs on the western and eastern sides. The roof is tiled with manganese colour French pattern terracotta tiles that replaced the original slate roof. A white picket fence flanks the building. There is a grassed driveway on the eastern side and a small garden on the western side, which gives access to the front door of the residence. (Simpson Dawbin Associates 1999,22)

Modifications

1951 - Removal of two fireplaces, alteration to manager's office, W.Cs to rear verandah of the Bank, bathroom and kitchen upgrade.
1970 - External and internal renovation. The tiles replaced the slate on the roof.

Condition

The building is in an excellent and largely original condition.

History

The English, Scottish and Australian Banking company commenced business in Broughton Creek in June 1875 (Private Communication, Hall H.K. To Lidbetter M. 1975 ). It was the second branch on the coast and the third in N.S.W. ( Bayley, 1975,111). On the 8th March 1884 the E.S.& A. bank purchased the land on which the Berry Museum, former E.S.& A Bank still stands ( Lidbetter 1993 ,63 ) for the purpose of erecting a new bank building. The architect for the new bank building was William Wilkinson Wardell.

Wardell was born in England in 1824 and became a distinguished designer of churches in his homeland before he moved to Melbourne in 1857. Here in his position as inspector general of public works in Victoria, he prepared designs for many public buildings including St Pauls Catholic Cathedral, the Royal Mint and Customs House, and the English Scottish and Australian Bank in Collins St Melbourne. Wardell later moved to Sydney where he worked as an architect for the remainder of his life. Wardell died in 1899. Wardell designed St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney as well as St Johns College at Sydney University. Whilst living in NSW he was commissioned to design a number of bank buildings for then E.S.& A Bank. Berry Museum is the only surviving bank building of a group of 5 suburban and regional branches of the E.S. & A Bank in NSW designed by William Wilkinson Wardell with a north European architectural influence.

The E.S & A Bank in Berry traded through the last years of the 19th Century and up until 1942
when it closed its Berry branch. (Anthill R.G. 1982,106). In June of that year the Berry and Bomaderry Municipal Council purchased the property from the bank for (Pounds)1,200. From 1943-1948 the premises served as the council chambers and the Town clerk Henry Stenning occupied the residence. In 1948 the Shoalhaven Shire council was formed by the amalgamation of several councils including Berry with all assets being transferred to Shoalhaven. Mr Stenning was not employed by the new council but continued to rent the residence until 1950. Shoalhaven Shire Council leased the premises back to the E.S.& A bank when it re-opened in 1951 (Simpson Dawbin Associates 1999,9)

In 1969 the E.S. & A. Bank merged with the ANZ Bank and the bank operated out of the Wardell building until December 1972 when the bank ceased trading.

In October 1975 the Berry Museum sub-rented the banking section of the property from the A.N.Z. bank with the assistance of the Shoalhaven Shire Council in meeting the cost of the rent. When the bank's lease ended in 1978 the area rented to the Museum was enlarged and an out-door display set up. In 1983 the residence portion of the building was vacated and the Shoalhaven City Council agreed to rent the entire building and grounds to the Berry and District Historical Society providing an admirable setting for the Museum. (Lidbetter 1993, 63)

Internet links

Webpage	Source
Berry Museum	Attraction Homepage
Berry Historic Museum	Tourism NSW

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