the berry museum, former e.s. & a bank building, is of state heritage significance through association as it was designed in 1884 by the prominent victorian architect william wilkinson wardell. the building is an aesthetically distinctive building designed in the victorian gothic or scottish baronial style and provides a significant landmark in the township of berry. the architectural style and detail of the building clearly expresses wardell's design philosophy and provides an important research resource relating to late victorian period architecture. its heritage significance at a state level is enhanced by the rarity of the item, it is one surviving example of wardell's suburban and regional banks, built in the small scale with northern european architectural influences. as such it is a benchmark example which demonstrates the principal characteristics of this group of five buildings characterised by the warmth and domesticity of architectural design and scale.