House

Parent Place or Precinct

25376 Duke Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

Duke Street Heritage Area
Aesthetic Value
• Duke Street has a distinctive urban character that has been primarily created by the local road closure and public landscaping of the late twentieth century.
• Within this setting the heritage character is derived from the modest, single, storey suburban houses dating from the Federation and early Inter-War era (c.1902-1924). Only one of these houses has been replaced (#3, c.1980s) and the defined period and nature of development has resulted in a complementary palette of materials and design idioms.
Historic Value
• The subdivision of this area was undertaken by the Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company of Sydney. This represents part of a much wider role that this company took in the development of Subiaco in the 1890s and early 1900s.
• The collection of houses in the study area helps to demonstrate the scale and standard of houses built and occupied by people such as small business owners, clerks and tradesmen in the early twentieth century.
• The study area was generally the place of residence for people who left only a small mark on the written records. However, it also accommodated at least two men who were prominent in the local community or were otherwise public identities of the early to mid twentieth century (see Associations - Residents, below).
Representativeness
• The study area includes a good representative collection of modest early twentieth century brick and timber housing developed in close proximity to the Rokeby Road tramway.

Physical Description

6 Duke Street was designed as modest, single storey, Federation Queen Anne house. Key elements include:
• Asymmetrical plan, in this case simply articulated by a projecting wing on the eastern side of the main façade.
• Tuck-pointed brickwork to the main façade (now painted) with three contrasting rendered string courses – one at window sill height, one at mid-wall height and one as a deeper panel at the eaves.
• Contrasting, rock-faced stone foundation, visible at the base of the main façade.
• Gabled-hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
• Tall face brick chimney with a rendered base, cap and decorative under-cap panels (now painted in a single colour).
• Flying gable to the projecting wing.
This features wide slatted eaves extending over a bay window. The face of the gable is finished in roughcast render with a decorative pattern of curved, vertical and diagonal timber battens.
• Varied fenestration and doors.
 Bay window to the projecting wing.
Each of the three principal faces of the bay has a single casement window, set under a highlight fitted with small square panes of coloured glass. At the base of the windows there is a continuous projecting moulded sill over a decorative under-sill panel.
 French doors opening onto the verandah from the main front room.
 Main entrance door.
In this case the relatively modest nature of the house is illustrated by the use of a single width entrance, with no sidelights. This has been fitted with a three-panelled door, set under a traditional highlight fitted with a stained glass panel.
• Front verandah.
This abuts the projecting wing and extends across the remainder of the façade. It has a dropped, bullnose roof, turned timber posts, and deep arched valance panels fitted with square balusters. The verandah floor is finished with a traditional pattern of tessellated tiles.
The house is set back approximately 4m from the front boundary, which is defined by a low, rendered masonry wall with rendered masonry posts and low timber picket infill panels.
Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in good condition.

History

A Certificate of Title for Perth Suburban Lot 277 and part Perth Suburban Lot 276 (totalling 5 acres and 18 perches) was issued in the name of The Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company Ltd on 18 September 1901. This area was subsequently laid out as a new subdivision, including ten building allotments facing Duke Street (Lots 13 to 17 and 18 to 22 of Plan 2352).
Charles Wesley Genge was listed as the owner of Lot 14 in the Subiaco Rates Books from 1903, although it was not until 9 January 1905 that the title was transferred to his name. Genge was a grocer of Rokeby Road and this appears to have been an undeveloped investment property, which was sold to A E Gamble in c.1909.
The house was first listed in the Post Office Directory in 1915, when it was occupied by James Smyth (packer) and his wife, Beatrice Emily (nee Oliver). By 1916 Beatrice’s mother, Frances, was living next door at 8 Duke Street, and in c.1919 (when the Smyths moved away), #6 was occupied for about a year by Beatrice’s father, Joseph Oliver, her mother, Frances, her brothers Frederick and Percy, and possibly her younger sisters, Eileen and Eva.
In 1922 6 Duke Street became the long-term family home of Frederick and Amelia Blakemore – who had migrated from England at some stage after 1911, together with their three young children: Samuel Joseph (born c.1908), Frederick Robert (1907) and Gertrude Minnie (1909).
Howard Blakemore died in January 1936 and Amelia had moved away from Duke Street by 1940.
The house was then occupied for a few years by a Mrs Farquar, followed Harold Lyall Vawser (electoplater) and his wife Eva (who had previously lived at 7 Duke Street). Vawser was a specialist tradesman who was operating his own business in the early to mid 1940s under the name “H.L.Vawser and Sons, Surgical Instrument Manufacturers” (with business premises at 129 Murray Street ). By the late 1940s this firm also had a factory 350 Hay Street and was specialising in chrome, nickel and silver plating
Occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1953 included:
1915-1918 James Smyth, packer
1919 Joseph Oliver, labourer
1920-1921 Charles Henry Brown, civil servant
1922-1939 Frederick Howard Blakemore, currier (i.e. a specialist leather worker)(until his death in 1936) and his wife, Amelia Blakemore
1940-1944 Mrs Elsie Farquar
1945- pre-1954 Harold Lyall Vawser (surgical instrument maker)

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.