House, 87 Townshend 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
87 Townshend Road features detailing derived from the Federation Queen Anne style. It was designed to a scale and form generally considered suitable for occupiers such as office workers, retail employees and skilled tradesmen.
Plan form at the street frontage
• Asymmetrical facade.
• Projecting wing on the southern side.
• Abutting verandah extending across the remainder of the frontage.
Roof form and materials
• Hipped-gable roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
• Prominent verge gable over the projecting wing, finished with plain rough-cast render.
• Face brick chimney with contrasting rendered detailing towards the rear of the original portion of the house.
• Hipped, bull-nose verandah roof.
• Raked window awning featuring plain timber battens to the triangular side panels and curved timber brackets.
Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Panted brickwork up to approximately 1.8m (originally tuck-pointed face brick).
• Two plain rendered string-courses, one at window sill height and the other at the top of the painted brickwork.
• Roughcast rendered finish to the wall surfaces above the top stringcourse.
Note: the application of roughcast render to the upper part of the façade was more common for Subiaco houses built in the early interwar period. It has not been determined if this feature was part of a later renovation.
• Moulded rendered cornice extending over the width of the window awning.
Other detailing to main facade
• 5-panel entrance door abutting the projecting wing. Highlight and narrow sidelights with stained glass panels.
• Triple double-hung window set under the raked window hood to the projecting wing. This features a wide central sash, flanked by narrow sashes.
• Single double hung window under the verandah.
• Projecting moulded, rendered window sills and decorative, rendered under-sill panels.
• Turned timber verandah posts and timber frieze, the latter featuring chamfered balustrettes.
Streetscape setting
• House set back approximately 2.9m from the Townshend Road frontage.
• Narrow walkways along either side of the house.
• Lot width approximately 10.6m.
• Front yard enclosed by a modern concrete and metal 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; 92 in 1915, 94 in 1920 and 103 by 1925. Development then stabilised, with 106 houses and 1 block of flats identified in 1949.
Perth Suburban Lots 205 to 207 were subdivided as Deposited Plan 1088 and advertised for sale from around April 1895. This subdivision, known as the Berrybrow Estate, comprised 106 lots of which Lot 81 was later developed as 87 Townshend Road.
A matching pair of houses appear to have been built on Lots 80 and 81 (#s 83 and 87) Townshend Road by 1903, at which time the Rate Books recorded the owner as L Burke. Laurence Burke (c.1853-1916) was an Irish immigrant who had married Bridget Forristal (c.1854-1939) in Victoria in 1895. This couple lived at 87 Townshend Road in c.1904-1908 during which time Burke’s occupation was listed in the Electoral Rolls as ‘speculator’. In various newspaper advertisements placed in 1904 and 1905, L Burke’s house in Townshend Road, Subiaco, was referred to as ‘Oranmore’ (named after a town in County Galway, Ireland).
83 and 87 Townshend Road were both offered for sale in October 1923, at which time they were listed as “containing 4 rooms and kitchen, together with all the conveniences of the district.” There was a regular turn-over of occupants prior to this time, and a review of the Post Office Directories at approximately 5-yearly intervals (together with reference to contemporary Electoral Rolls) indicates that some of the residents of #87 included:
 1910: William Francis Campbell (carpenter)
 1915: William Holmes (clerk)
 1920: Arthur Thompson
The first longer-term residents of 87 Townshend Road were members of the Brady family. Thomas Edward Brady (c.1900-1939) (tramway employee) was living here with his widowed mother, Ellen (c.1865-1933) by 1925. He married Edna Earl Marsh (c.1902-1991) in c.1931 and this remained their family home until around the time of his death in March 1939. The property was then occupied by Francis Bertram Webber (storeman) and Mary Jane Webber until c.1949.
An analysis of the historical Metropolitan Sewerage Plan and historical aerial photographs indicates that the house was progressively extended to the rear from the mid-twentieth century. In 2019 the rear additions were replaced; the 1960s concrete roof tiles were replaced with corrugated metal sheeting; and the verandah was reconstructed based on available evidence about the original form (replacing an unsympathetic raked, tiled verandah). The footprint of the original front portion of the house remains clearly recognisable.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium: Some elements of the facade have been altered, including the application of paint to the face brickwork. However, the form, scale and general style of the place can still be readily understood (noting that the current verandah and roof cladding were informed by evidence of original detailing).

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.