House

Parent Place or Precinct

27310 Park Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The place has cultural heritage significance:
• As a good representative example of a well designed and detailed “gentleman’s villa” of Subiaco dating from the early twentieth century.
For its aesthetic value as a good representative example of a well-designed Federation Queen Anne villa of the early twentieth century, designed to a style and scale suited to the professional/business classes.
• For its aesthetic contribution to a largely intact group of early twentieth century houses.
• For its association with the rapid development of Subiaco in the early 20th century.

For information on the significance of the Park Street Heritage Area refer to the Local Planning Policy for the Heritage Area.

Physical Description

Architectural style
Typical of many well built 2-3 bedroom suburban houses of the early twentieth century, 67 Olive Street incorporated elements of the Federation Queen Anne style. It was designed to a scale and form generally considered suitable for occupiers such as professional men, office workers, retail employees and skilled tradesmen.
Plan form at the street frontage
• Asymmetrical façade featuring a gable-roofed projecting bay to the main façade (off-set from the centre) and a return verandah (extending across the Olive Street frontage and partway along the northern side of the house).
Roof form and materials
• Hipped-gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
• Prominent gable over the projecting bay. This has a roughcast rendered face and picturesque timber batten detailing, featuring wave pattern vertical battens to the apex, set over slender carved panels and widely spaced plain vertical battens.
• Painted brick chimney with rendered cap.
• Bullnose verandah roof.
Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Painted brick walls (originally tuck-pointed).
• Two rendered sting courses – one at window sill height and the other at door head height. The upper string course steps up to frame the heads of the windows and doors.
Other detailing to main facade
• Main entrance facing north, towards the end of the return verandah along the northern side of the house. Oblique views indicate that this has traditional moulded architraves, highlight and sidelight(s).
• Single double hung window to the western end of the return verandah. This is set over a moulded projecting sill with a decorative under-sill panel.
• Single double hung window to the shallow projecting bay at the front of the house (matching the above).
• Full height double hung window with timber kick-plate to the recessed section of the front wall.
• Turned timber verandah posts with carved brackets.
Streetscape setting
• House set back approximately 5.2m from the Olive Street frontage.
• Lot width approximately 12.2m.
• Side setbacks of 500-800mm.
• Front yard enclosed by a scalloped timber picket fence.

History

Subiaco's population increased significantly in the 1890s due to an economic depression in the eastern states and the discovery of gold in Western Australia. During the 1890s property developers bought large landholdings for subdivision in the Perth metropolitan area. The original subdivisions in Subiaco were generally simple grid pattern developments with small lots suitable for occupancy by working families. However, the more elevated parts of the suburb, particularly towards Kings Park, also attracted business and professional men and some lots were later amalgamated to accommodate their larger homes and gardens. Mixed development occurred and within the Park Street Heritage Area this ranged from narrow, single storey terrace housing through to a large 2-storey house set in spacious grounds. The readily available evidence indicates that the number of houses within this area increased from around 24 in 1901 to 72 in 1906; 86 in 1910; 91 in 1915, 94 in 1920 and 13 by 1925. Development then stabilised, with 106 houses and 1 block of flats identified in 1949.
Perth Suburban Lots 218 and 219 were subdivided as Deposited Plan 214 in the early 1890s. This comprised 52 lots, including 24 lots with frontages to Ivy Street, which extended between Barker and Bagot Roads (renamed as part of Olive Street in c.1901). The Subiaco Rate Books listed Lot 2 (67 Olive Street) as vacant land through until 1911 and with a house by 1912. At that time the property was owned by H Coppin and it remained in that family’s ownership until c.1937 when it was offered for sale as part of the deceased estate of Herbert Owen Coppin:
WEIL SITUATED RESIDENCE WITH 2 BLOCKS OF GROUND.
No. 67 OLIVE-STREET, SUBIACO (Next Corner Barker-road) ……
Executor of the Will of the late Herbert Owen Coppin, to SELL by PUBLIC AUCTION as above.
Portions of Perth Suburban Lot 219 and being Lots 2 and 3 on Plan 214, having a total frontage of 121.2 links to Olive-st by a depth of 200 links.
Improvements comprise commodious and attractive brick residence, with front and side verandahs, entrance ball and passage, lounge, dining room, 3 bedrooms, vestibule, kitchen,
pantry, bathroom, back verandah. washhouse, c and t. All good-sized rooms, 18ft. x 14t., etc.
An excellent opportunity of acquiring family residence or investment. Large grounds with room on southern side for tennis court, etc., or further building. Property excellently situated, much sought after locality, convenient to trans port and an opportunity seldom occurring.
Members of the Coppin family lived here in c.1928-1930 (following the death of Herbert Coppin in 1926), but other than this the house was primarily occupied by tenants through until at least the mid-twentieth century.
The first known occupant was Reg Hamilton, who announced the birth of a daughter at ‘Croydon’, 67 Olive Street, in October 1913. This house name was also used in newspaper notices in 1916, 1926 and 1929. Generally the occupants changed every 2-4 years and the only longer term occupants were Cecil Henry Hammond (c.1853-1926) (accountant) and his wife Fanny Mary Hamilton (c.1854-1931), who lived here in c.1915-1927.
A plan of the property in 1927, resurveyed in 1955, shows the outline of the house with a verandah across the back elevation and a brick water closet located near the back property boundary. Aerial photographs show that the form of the original residence has not changed significantly despite a major addition across the rear in the late 1980s and the change of the roof cladding to corrugated iron from either red corrugated iron or terracotta tile. The clarity of the aerial photograph in this period is average making it difficult to determine the cladding material. The roof form of the later additions reflect earlier additions and alterations to the rear of the original house which still remains intact and readily identifiable.
67 Olive Street was adopted on the City of Subiaco Local Heritage Survey in 2021. It has been assessed as level 3 (contributes to the heritage of the City of Subiaco).

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High: The place continues to be used as a private residence.
Authenticity - Moderate - The original external form and detailing of the building is largely intact although diminished by the painted brickwork.

Condition

Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in a good condition.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.