House, 68 Olive St, Subiaco

Parent Place or Precinct

27310 Park Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

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
This house was built to a simple functional design and does not illustrate any of the major architectural styles defined for the Inter-War period.
It was designed to a scale and form generally considered suitable for occupiers such as office workers, retail employees and skilled tradesmen. In this case it may have been purpose-built for a widow of independent means.
Plan form at the street frontage
• Symmetrical facade. This features a central entrance door, flanked by windows to each of the front rooms.
Roof form and materials
• Hipped roof clad with terracotta tiles.
• Louvered gablet at the end of the east-west ridgeline, capped by a rams-horn finial.
• Raked verandah roof clad with terracotta tiles.
• No extant chimneys.
Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Painted brick walls (originally face brick).
Other detailing to main facade
• Centrally located entrance. High-waisted door, with glazed upper panel. No sidelights or highlights.
• Triple casement window to each front room, with raked, rendered sills.
• Chamfered square timber verandah posts with cornice caps.
Streetscape setting
• House set back approximately 5.9m from the Olive Street frontage.
• Lot width approximately 12.1m.
• Side setbacks approximately 1.2m.
• Front yard enclosed by a brick plinth, tall brick piers and timber picket panels.
• Modern carport located at the north-western corner of the site. Detailed to match the house.

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). In 1920, Lots 25 and 26 on Perth Suburban Lot 219 were advertised for sale as part of the grounds for the present house at 139 Barker Road. This emphasised the opportunity to split the site into its two separate lots, “leaving ample room for the erection of another house”.
Lot 25 (68 Olive Street) been developed with a separate house by c.1923 and this was occupied by members of the extended Truscott family until the early-mid 1970s. Agnes Josephine Truscott (nee Hayes) (c.1867-1939), who was widowed in 1918, had settled here by 1924, and was identified as the owner/occupier in the Subiaco Rate Book of 1929-1930 (which is the only surviving Rate Book of this period).
During the early years, Agnes shared the house with at least two of her three daughters, Elsie Rebecca Truscott and Olive Miriam Truscott. In December 1929 Olive married Phillip Norman Appleby (c.1878-1969) and they appear to have lived at 68 Olive Street for most if not all of their married lives, with Olive remaining here until the early-mid 1970s. Agnes remained here until around the time of her death in 1939 and Elsie lived here on and off, being listed at this address in the Electoral Rolls of the 1920s-1930s and again from the late 1960s to early 1970s.
Phillip Appleby was listed as an insurance inspector in the Electoral Rolls but was, for many years, closely associated with movie theatres in Subiaco. He had married Rose Borash in Victoria in 1904 and moved to Western Australia in c.1914, but a few months later Rose travelled to America, where she “accepted an engagement as a cinema actress” (with Phillip later being granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion). He was appointed as manager of West’s Theatre in Hay Street, Subiaco, in c.1916 and by 1918 he was also managing the nearby Coliseum Picture Gardens at the corner of Rokeby Road and Hay Street (later redeveloped as the Regal Theatre). In 1921 he was unanimously elected as the provisional chairman of the newly formed Associated Motion Picture Industry of WA. In 1938 he was identified as the manager of the newly opened Regal Theatre.
An analysis of a historical Metropolitan Sewerage Plan (dated 1927, updated 1955) and historical aerial photographs indicates that a carport was built at the front of this property in the mid-twentieth century, and that additions were built at the rear in c.1995-2000. However, the footprint of the front portion of the original house is still clearly recognisable.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium: The authenticity of the house within its streetscape setting has been reduced by the painting of the main façade. The verandah appears to have been reconstructed and a carport has been constructed in the NW corner of the front yard.

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.