Category:Luddenham Progress Hall

English: Luddenham Progress Hall is a community hall on what was formerly The Northern Road but is now Willmington Avenue. This modest brick hall with gabled roof was completed in 1886 as the Protestant Hall. The external walls are cement rendered and lined as fine ashlar stone masonry. The front elevation is set very close to the road reserve and comprises a centred two-leaf door and flanking sashed windows set high in the wall. There is a smaller offertory type opening set low in the wall. The front gable has a timber lourved vent and the sign 'Progress Hall, Luddenham, 1886'. There is a later, post 1950, weatherboard addition on the northern elevation which has a skillion roof. The rear west elevation has a timber 4 panel door located to one side with a simple concrete stair and timber handrail. The simple timber bargeboard sits flush against the wall and the gable end has a louvred vent. The south elevation has 5 equally spaced timber painted double hung sash windows with masonry piers in between.

Completed in 1886, the building is a unique example of an extant former Protestant Hall in the LGA and demonstrates the development of a village at Luddenham in the late nineteenth century and the commencement of the provision of community services. The building is an excellent example of a hall that retains a form and detailing which provides insight into this type of building of the era. The building continues in use as a community hall and is one of a number of structures in Luddenham village erected over the nineteenth century and early part of the twentieth century that demonstrates the pattern of a village settlement at this important location on what was then The Great Northern Road. This building is one of a contiguous group of three church related buildings, the others being the Uniting and Anglican Churches.

References

• Portions of this description come from the Heritage NSW description, which is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.