THE makeover of Millicent’s sole Art Deco building started recently.
The painting team started the arduous task of stripping back several layers of paint from the 79-year-old George Street landmark on February 4.
The noisy high-pressure water hose was silenced for an hour while worship was under way in the adjacent St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church.
Painter Joe Zurlino said it would take up to three weeks to remove the paint on the front and sides of the former banking chamber, make repairs to the limestone where necessary and apply fresh paint.
“We decided to make a start on a Sunday as the street is quieter and the flaking paint will not fall on vehicles,” Mr Zurlino said.
“I have been painting in Millicent for 35 years and I have never seen the old bank painted before.
“I submitted a quote to do the job 22 years ago and the work was never done.”
Building owners Helen Joyce and Colin Davies are part of the new Imagine Millicent arts group which is seeking regulatory approvals and grant funding for a colourful mural by Adelaide artist Mimby Jones Robinson.
The building was erected in 1939 as the banking chamber and manager’s residence of the Savings Bank of South Australia.
The architect was Walter White of Mount Gambier who designed alterations and extensions for several of the district’s hospitals including a theatre and maternity wing for Millicent’s Thyne
Memorial Hospital in 1933, and nurses quarters for the Naracoorte Hospital in 1936.
Following service in World War II, Mr White resumed work as an architect, and designed a large extension for the Kongorong cheese factory.
He had previously designed extensions for the Tantanoola cheese factory in 1938 and the Gambier West Co-operative Cheese and Butter Company.
Mr White designed memorial gates at the Penola Showgrounds to commemorate the local McCorquindale family and the entrance pillars were constructed of Penola sandstone with wrought iron gates between.
The Rymill Pavilion for the Penola Show Society was also designed by Mr White and constructed on McCorquindale Park of Mount Gambier stone and in an Art Deco design.
For its new Millicent premises, the Savings Bank of South Australia had purchased a portion of the Imperial acre of land which had been donated to the Anglican Church in 1872 by pioneering pastoralist Sir Samuel Davenport.
New premises for the Savings Bank of South Australia were built further north in George Street in the late 1970s and they now house Bank SA.
The original bank building was then used for various retail purposes and for accommodation.
