The state government body will on Friday announce it has recommended Festival Hall be included on the Victorian Heritage Register, meaning its owners' plan to demolish the much-loved music venue are unlikely to be approved. Festival Hall's significance is more cultural than architectural, as the statement attached to Heritage Victoria executive director Steven Avery's recommendation attests. The venue was built in 1956, in time to host events during the Melbourne Olympic, after a 1912-era stadium on the site burnt down. Credit:Justin McManus Mr Avery determined that Festival Hall should be included on the heritage register for its historical and social significance as Victoria’s principal purpose-built boxing and wrestling venue and as one of Victoria’s primary live music venues. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

The statement of significance cites the hall's "importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history" and "strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons". And it lists the specific features - the floor, bleachers, stage and balcony - among its charms worth preserving. Even the "volume of the internal space" - it can hold up to 4500 people - was a factor in the decision. John and Chris Wren, grandsons of bookmaker John Wren who built the current Festival Hall venue, are directors of the company that owns venue. Credit:Justin McManus The venue hosted boxing and gymnastics at the 1956 Olympic Games as well as bouts featuring revered Australian boxers including Johnny Famechon and Lionel Rose, whose funeral was held there in 2011. For many years Melbourne's only large concert hall, it bore witness to Judy Garland and the Beatles in the 1960s, Frank Sinatra and Joe Cocker in the 1970s, and Radiohead, Kanye West and Patti Smith more recently, the latter performing with hometown hero Courtney Barnett last year.

Music identity Molly Meldrum said Festival Hall held a unique place in Victoria’s live music history. “There’s been so much of Melbourne’s music history in there, back to the days of Johnny O’Keeffe and then Skyhooks, Sherbet, Daddy Cool and of course the Beatles,” he said. Meldrum - who said he was thrown out of the Beatles concert by bouncers who couldn’t handle the sight of a bloke screaming his love for John and Paul - called on the venue’s owners to turn its interior into a museum and live music venue. “Let the people enjoy it,” he said. Planning Minister Richard Wynne said he welcomed Heritage Victoria’s decision to accept a nomination to heritage-list Festival Hall.

Interiors such as the timber floors and wooden bleachers, where Chris and John Wren are pictured standing, are deemed to be of cultural significance. Credit:Justin McManus “Inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register will mean that any development of the site will have to protect and preserve [it's] character and the history,” Mr Wynne said. An anonymous application to heritage-list the venue was made in January, days after The Age revealed the owners had applied to knock down all but its facade. The Heritage Council of Victoria will make the final decision. The venue’s owner, Stadiums Limited, has indicated it plans to sell the site, and has lodged a planning application to demolish most of the hall and build two 16-storey buildings on the site.

Chris Wren, a director of the business, could not be contacted for comment before deadline. Where's Molly? Beatles fans scream as the Liverpudlians played Festival Hall in 1964. Credit:John Lamb Festival Hall has risen like a phoenix before. The original structure, built in 1912, was known as the West Melbourne Stadium. It was taken over by John Wren, a well-known bookmaker, in 1915. The building burnt down in 1955 but by 1956 Wren had built a new Festival Hall on the site in time for the Olympics. Courtney Barnett's September 1 gig is the latest listed on the Festival Hall website.