House, 160 Barker Rd, 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
Typical of many modest but well built 2-3 bedroom suburban houses of the inter-war era, 160 Barker Road incorporated some elements of the Inter-War California Bungalow 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 facade. This features a simple stepped frontage with a deep entry porch extending out from the recessed section.
Roof form and materials
• Visually prominent gabled roof with a double gable created by the lower roof over the front porch.
• Terracotta roof tiles with a rams-horn final to each of the front gables.
• Rough cast render to the face of the gables, finished with a simple pattern of vertical timber battens.
• Face-brick chimney with simple corbelled cap set along the western side of the house.
• Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Projecting rendered string-course at window sill level. Smooth rendered finish below the stringcourse (possibly originally contrasting face brickwork). Roughcast render above the stringcourse.
Other detailing to main facade
• Main entrance under the porch, facing west.
• French doors under the porch, facing south. These feature 12 small panes of textured glass to each leaf.
• Triple casement windows to the front wall, set over a moulded, rendered sill. Each window is divided vertically in the proportion 1/3:2/3. The smaller upper panel is then divided into small leadlight panes of clear glass. Marks on the wall indicate the former location of a window hood over the casement windows (presumably removed when the carport was constructed to abut this wall).
Half-height masonry pier on either side of the porch, with smooth rendered faces and a simple flat cap. Each pier carries 3 robust square timber posts and the porch is finished with a simple deep frieze of widely spaced vertical timber battens. The piers are linked by a timber balustrade of flat pickets set under a top rail.
Streetscape setting
• House set back approximately 3.5m from the Barker Road frontage.
• Lot width approximately 10.1m.
• House set back approximately 900mm from east boundary. Smaller setback along west boundary.
• Flat roofed carport at the south-east corner of the site, abutting the front wing of the house (constructed c.1980)
• 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 Lot 208 was subdivided as Deposited Plan 1125 in the mid 1890s. This comprised 42 lots of which Lot 42 was subsequently developed as 160 Barker Road. This house was first listed in the Post Office Directories in 1923 and the first known occupant was Leonard Harris Atkinson (bank official), who lived here in c.1923-1925. It then became the long-term family home of the Hugo family.
William George Hugo (c.1885-1980)(electrician) and Ada Victoria Winter (c.1892-1968) were married in the goldfields district in c.1910 and they had one child, Lenard (born c.1911). They had settled at 160 Barker Road by 1925 and remained here until (or near) the end of their lives. During the 1930s, a family friend, Albert Hyman Cahn, also lived here and Ada’s father Arthur, was sharing the house at the time of his death in 1942. William and Ada’s son, Lenard, lived here on and off, including a period in early 1960s-early 1970s. William was still listed at this address in the Electoral Rolls of 1980.
An analysis of a historical Metropolitan Sewerage Plan (revised March 1954) and historical aerial photographs indicates that a carport was constructed at the front of the house in c.1980. The footprint of the original house is still clearly recognisable.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium: Based on other places of this type it is quite likely that the smooth rendered sections (lower walls and verandah piers) were originally finished in contrasting face brickwork. The carport replaced a former window hood.

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.