House

Parent Place or Precinct

25912 Kings Road Heritage Area, Subiaco

Statement of Significance

Kings Road is of cultural heritage significance within the City of Subiaco for the following reasons:
• The existing development along Kings Road continues to represent the rapid development of the higher parts of Subiaco (near Kings Park) with good quality Federation Queen Anne houses during the early the twentieth century (with a particular focus on the c.1901-1914 period).
• The defined period and nature of development along Kings Road resulted in a complementary palette of materials and design idioms, enlivened by a diversity of individual details. Unlike many other local streets, the majority of the properties have retained a medium to high level of authenticity. Collectively they provide a good representative collection of middle-class Subiaco houses dating from the early twentieth century (extending from c.1901-1923).
• The character of the Kings Road streetscape epitomizes the general character of what is now known as the City of Subiaco’s Triangle Precinct.
• The history of the houses along Kings Road helps to demonstrate the original settlement of this part of Subiaco as a solid middle class area, in which the family residences of more senior white-collar workers existed side by side with the smaller, but still well-built, houses of more junior white-collar workers, retail employees and tradespeople.
• The history of the subdivision and early sale of residential lots along Kings Road helps to illustrate the status of Western Australia as a place of opportunity during the gold rush era of the late nineteenth century – attracting significant interest and investment from the eastern states.

Physical Description

Architectural style
• Federation Queen Anne.
This is of a scale and form typical of a well-built (but not ornate) suburban villa of the era.
Plan form at the street frontage
• Symmetrical facade with a central entrance flanked by two slightly projecting rectangular window bays.
• Parapet wall to the southern boundary.
Roof form and materials
• Gable hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
This features a small gablet facing the street at the main ridgeline and a pair of large gables over the front window bays.
• Dropped bull-nose verandah roof.
• Pair of face-brick chimneys with rendered projecting caps.
Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Tuck-pointed face-brick walls.
These feature an imitation stringcourse, formed by a painted finish to 3 courses of brick.
Detailing of main façade
• Prominent street-front gables, each finished with roughcast render and inlaid with a simple pattern of vertical and diagonal battens.
• Turned timber finials to each gable and the central gablet.
• Central entrance set in a recessed arched bay off the back of the verandah.
This has traditional moulded timber architraves; highlights; narrow sidelights and stained glass panels.
• Two individual double hung windows to each of the window bays, with each pair set over a continuous projecting rendered sill and curved, rendered under-sill panel.
• Turned timber posts and decorative carved brackets to the verandah.
Streetscape setting
• Main verandah set back approximately 3.5m from the front boundary.
• Front boundary defined by a modern brick fence with a low wall, tall piers and timber picket infill panels, covered by a hedge.

History

This part of Subiaco had been laid out as a residential subdivision by September 1891, but there was only one resident listed along the street in the Western Australian Post Office Directory of 1901 (referring to Park Street) and 2 in 1905 (referring to King’s Road). This was followed by a rapid period of development and by 1910 there were 14 houses within the Study Area, being 73 Bagot Road (now known as 3 Kings Road), #s 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21 Kings Road, 12 Hamersley Road (now 28 Kings Road) & 14 Hamersley Road (now 25 Kings Road). Steady infill continued after that time and the street was fully developed by the mid 1920s.
An analysis of information in the Rate Books, Western Australian Post Office Directories and Electoral Rolls indicates that 16 Kings Road was developed by J E Woods c.1908, together with 14 Kings Road, which he also owned.
Note: The original detailing of 12 and 16 Kings Road appears to have been the same or very similar, and both were built in c.1907, although an analysis of information in the Rate Books indicates that 12 Kings Road was developed for Mrs Martha Gibson. The Rate Books also indicate that the first occupant of #14 Kings Road was Charles De Gruchy, contractor.
Charles De Gruchy (c.1864-1919) was born in the Channel Islands and migrated to Australia as an assisted immigrant in 1885 (at which time his occupation was given as joiner/carpenter). By 1902 De Gruchy was working as a building contractor and in 1903 to 1919 was listed in the Post Office Directory under the category Builders & Contractors, with premises at various locations in Subiaco. During this time, De Gruchy advertised at least four houses for sale, suggesting that he undertook at least some work as a builder/developer.
The following advertisements confirm that De Gruchy was working in Kings Road in 1906 and 1908, but do not specify the lot or street numbers:
PAINTERS.-improver, good, wanted De Gruchy's job, Kings-rd., Subiaco. (Aug 1906)
and
PAINTERS and Plasterers wanted. Apply on job, Kings-rd., Subiaco. C De Gruchy, contractor. (Aug 1908)
It is therefore possible that he was involved in the construction of the three houses at 12, 14 & 16 Kings Road in c.1906-1908, either as a contract builder or as a builder/developer.
In 1912/13 the Rate Books identified the new owner/occupier of 16 Kings Road as C J Campbell, but in 1913/14 John Caris was listed as the owner and Mrs Mary Campbell as the occupier.
Mary Rebecca Campbell (c.1885-1937) had married Charles Frederick Campbell in 1905, but they were separated when Charles was committed to the Claremont Hospital for the Insane in 1910 (by which time they had one daughter). Mary was granted a divorce in August 1915 and in c.1916, she remarried to Walter Vaughan Maddox (c.1880-1945), a confectioner, who purchased 16 Kings Road at around that time. The Maddox family then lived at 16 Kings Road until c.1925, with at least one daughter (Zilla) and one son (Athol) being born during this period.
In 1929/30, the Rate Books identified a Mrs Chappell as the owner of the house, and the Post Office Directories and Electoral Rolls indicate that the Chappell family had lived here in c.1926-1927. However, 16 Kings Road was then used as a rental property for some time and there were no further long-term occupants through until the mid-twentieth century.
Reference to an inter-war era Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Department plan, plus a review of historical aerial photographs dating from 1964 and 2016, indicates that the building envelope of the front part of the house has remained largely unchanged, although major additions were undertaken at the rear at some stage in the period 1985-1995.
An analysis of the readily available information suggests that the primary occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1954 included:
1909-1910 Jane Ribton Ireland, housekeeper, and Miss Lucie De Courey Ireland
1910-1912 Charles William Greayer, agent, Jessie Emma Greayer, household duties
1913-1916 Mrs Mary Rebecca Campbell, home duties
1916-1925 Walter Vaughan Maddox, confectioner, and Mary Rebecca Maddox (formerly Mrs Mary Rebecca Campbell)
1926-1927 William Charles Chappell, traveller, and Pearl Ida Chappell, home duties
1928-1929 Mrs Mary Elizabeth Rees, home duties
Mrs Rees previously lived at #12
1929-1930 Mrs Kate Mary Donaldson, home duties, and Mark Henry Downes Donaldson, civil servant
1931-1932 James J Boland
1933-1936 William Cooper
1937-1942 Thomas Burt
1943-1946 Mrs Mary Jane Gallimore, home duties
1947-c.1954 Lyall Brown, van driver, and Doreen Bertha Brown, home duties

Integrity/Authenticity

High to medium authenticity
Large additions at the rear can be seen in some streetscape views, but the original part of the house remains the prominent streetscape element and the original scale and form of the house can be readily understood.
The painting of a strip across the face-brick façade to represent a traditional rendered stringcourse is not an original detail.

Condition

Good

Uses

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.