House

Parent Place or Precinct

24365 West Subiaco Conservation Area

Statement of Significance

The place has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
• As a good example of a well designed and detailed bungalow of Subiaco dating from the early twentieth century.
• For its historic value as a demonstration of the period in which Subiaco underwent rapid development in the early 20th century.

Physical Description

16 Browne Street is a single storey face brick dwelling with a terracotta tile hip roof designed in the Federation Bungalow style of architecture. The residence is located on the corner of Browne Street and Redfern Street. The residence has an asymmetrical form with a predominately hipped roof with gablet bays extending out above the northern and western corners. The roof features terracotta finials and a face brick chimney with a rough rendered section and brick corbelled detailing. The dwelling has a verandah that extends off the main roof line and returns around the corner addressing both streets. The verandah is supported by pairs of turned timber posts. A section of the verandah addressing Browne Street features a rendered masonry balustrade with timber half posts. The main entrance is located along the northern façade addressing Redfern Street and features a timber framed door with sidelights. The windows are timber framed casements with multi-paned glazing. A 1990s addition to the eastern end of the dwelling is enclosed by a corrugated steel panel fence approximately 1800mm high. The front yard is predominately a grass area with a number of trees and shrubs extending along the northern façade. Thefront yard is enclosed by a low limestone fence approximately 600mm high with a face brick coping and a concrete pathway extending from the corner fence opening. Mature verge trees address each street and largely obscure the dwelling.

History

Lots between Hamersley, Hensman, Heytesbury and Derby Roads were subdivided in 1891 (former Perth Lots 257 to 260), including the future Browne Street. In October 1892, this subdivision went on sale along with the Federal, Bagot, Hensman and Hamersley block (former Perth Lots 232a, 233 & 234), marketed by the Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company Ltd of Sydney. However, by 1895 there were still no residents recorded within West Subiaco Precinct.
A c.1903 plan shows no buildings in Browne Street. Post Office Directories list no residents in 1910. By 1915 there were ten residences noted and by 1925 all sixteen available lots had houses occupied. The street was spelt ‘Brown’ in the Post Office Directories up to the last available in 1949. A 1953 map identifies the street as ‘Browne’.
A residence is first listed at the corner of Redfern and Browne Streets in 1917, suggesting it was built in the preceding year. At this time, it was numbered as 12Brown Street and occupied by Alfred M. Hall. Alfred and then George Hall remain up to the 1919 listing, by which time the numbering had changed and the place was 16 Brown Street, as it remains. In 1920, the place was noted as vacant. By 1921, G.H. Brown was resident. He remained to 1924. After this, the occupants of the house changed relatively regularly. One of the longer-term occupants was A.R. Stubbs, who is listed at the address from 1926 to 1932. Another was Thomas Oliver, occupant from 1939 to 1945.
From 1946 to 1949, George H Brown is listed at the address. George Henry Brown died in July 1949, aged 56. He was survived by his wife Frances Ellen (Nell) and adult children Maxwell (Max), Joyce (Joy), Mavis and Audrey (Billie). Brown was employed at the State Engineering Works at North Fremantle.
It is not known if this was the same G.H. Brown who lived at the place in the early 1920s. George H Brown married Frances E Mclean in 1919, which would align with the couple moving into the place in 1919/ 1920. It is likely the Browns owned the place throughout the period and rented it to the numerous occupants listed in Post Office Directories.
A sewerage plan from 1955 shows a brick residence with verandahs wrapping the west and south elevations, including a projecting wide section to the southwest. A rear (east) verandah is marked as a timber portion of the building, suggesting it had probably been enclosed by this time. There are several outbuildings including a shade house between the house and Redfern Street, external laundry and toilet and both timber and asbestos sheds at the rear of the yard.
Frances Ellen Brown continued to live at 16 Brown Street until at least 1980. She died in 1993, aged 99, by which time she lived in Wembley.
Aerial photographs suggest the place was largely unchanged until at least 1995. A substantial addition was made to the rear of the residence in the latter 1990s, almost doubling the size of the house.
16 Browne Street last changed ownership in 2009.13 Both before and after this sale, it was used as a rental property.

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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.