House

Statement of Significance

9 Rankin Road, Shenton Park, is of cultural heritage significance:
• As a good representative example of the type of property built during the first year in which the Workers’ Homes Board constructed “Leasehold” houses under Part III of the Workers Homes Act, 1911.

Physical Description

The house at 9 Rankin Road displays some restrained characteristics of the Federation Queen Anne Style (of a style and standard that is consistent with the aim of providing good quality, cost effective housing under the Workers’ Homes Act, 1911). Key external details include:
Roof form and materials
• Gable-hipped roof with an east-west ridgeline flanked by louvered gablets. Modern corrugated profile roof sheeting.
• Exposed rafters to the eaves.
• Two tall, face-brick chimneys designed to serve fireplaces on the outer walls of both of the front rooms. These are of a restrained design with plain rendered caps.
• Raked verandah roof, which continues in a broken-back alignment from the main roof. This has a hipped return at the western end.
Wall materials and finishes
• Face-brick walls with two rendered string courses
• Low limestone block foundations.
Form and detailing of main façade(s)
• Largely symmetrical design to the front facade, with the front door opening onto a central entrance hall, which is flanked by two front rooms.
Complete symmetry was avoided by what appears to have originally been a return verandah, which extended part way along the western side of the house to abut a gabled side wing.
• Verandah extending across the full width of the main facade.
Square timber verandah posts, each scribed with two sets of simple paired recesses (set at approximately the same height as the rendered string course to the main façade).
Plain rectangular timber valance, which curves down at the posts to form simple carved brackets.
Timber floor.
• Central entrance with fanlight over (no sidelights).
The high-waisted door is of a traditional early inter-war style, with two moulded panels to the lower portion and 6 small rectangular panes of glass to the upper portion.
External alterations and additions
• Later brick infill to what appears to have been a return verandah along the western side of the house.
The detailing of this infill has been designed to match that of the original part of the house. The single full height sash window to the main façade matches those to the original front rooms and was possibly reused from a former wall opening onto the side verandah.
• Rear additions dating from the early-mid 1970s.
General condition
Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in fair to good condition.
Streetscape setting
• Main façade set back approx. 4.5m from the front boundary.
• Metal spear-topped fence, backed by lawn.
• Brick-paved driveway along the eastern boundary leading to a simple raked carport, which is set back from the main façade.
• Mature trees along the western side of the house.
• Rankin Road, between Gray Street and Rankin Road was fully developed with 16 houses by the Workers’ Homes Board in c.1914. Many of these houses have undergone alterations (such as rendering of the façade or major additions) that have altered the appearance and character of these places, although the original designs can generally be understood.

History

In 1911, a major initiative of the Western Australian Labor Party, led by John Scadden, was the Workers’ Home Act, which was developed as a means of providing more affordable housing in both the metropolitan and regional areas. Under this Act, “workers” included any employed person who earned under £300 per year. Applicants had the choice of two options: “Leasehold” (Part III of the Act) which involved the Board constructing homes on Crown Land and selling each property at a reduced price under a perpetual lease; or “Freehold” (part IV of the Act) which provided a loan of up to £550 for landowners wishing to build a house on their own block, with a moderate repayment schedule.
The first meeting of the Workers’ Homes Board was held in March 1912 and the first metropolitan subdivision to be advertised under Part III of The Workers' Homes Act was located at East Fremantle (fronting Forrest, Holland and High Streets). This land release was advertised in February 1913 and the first leasehold house was completed in June of that year.
The next two metropolitan land releases were advertised in May 1913, in Victoria Park (fronting Leake, Kate and Lake View Streets) and West Subiaco (bounded by Nicholson, Herbert, Waylen and Railway Roads).
WORKERS' HOMES. LAND OPEN FOR SELECTION IN WEST SUBIACO.
It is hereby notified for general information that Subiaco Lots 295 and 500 to 529 inclusive, enclosed within Nicholson, Waylen and Railway Roads, and Herbert-street, will be OPEN FOR SELECTION on and after the 19th MAY 1913, under Part III of The Workers' Homes Act, 1911. Plans showing the Lots referred to are on view at the Council Chambers, Subiaco, Trades Hall, Perth, and The Workers' Homes Board Office, Perth. For further information apply to The Workers' Homes Board Office, Government Buildings, St. George's-terrace, Perth.
During the first 14 months that the Board was involved in the construction of leasehold homes, 88 were built in the metropolitan area, including 30 in Subiaco. In accordance with the practice of the Board at that time, these houses would have been built to a number of standard designs prepared by the Government Architect, but with considerable latitude for variations to suit the purchasers (subject to price constraints).
In March 1914 it was reported that 24 workers' homes were being erected in the West Subiaco subdivision (on blocks fronting Waylen and Rankin Roads), and that six of these had been completed. By 1915, when Rankin Road was first identified in the Western Australian Post Office Directories, 16 houses had been occupied in that street, which represented its full development between Herbert Road and Gray Street.
The first occupants of 9 Rankin Road (Lot 518) were Frederick May (railway employee) and his wife, Agnes. Online records indicate that Frederick William May had married Agnes Jane Harris in Perth in 1903, and that they had at least 2 children: Irene and William. This family lived in Brown Hill in c.1903-1911, where Frederick had worked as a miner. After living in West Leederville for a couple of years, Frederick successfully applied for the leasehold for the newly built Workers’ Homes Board house at 9 Rankin Road. Sadly, Frederick was one of 12 people in Perth to die of pneumonic influenza on 12 August 1919 (with 54 new cases reported on the same day). This was part of the toll of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic (otherwise known as the Spanish flu), which killed around 600 people in WA, around 12,000 people in Australia and millions world-wide.
Following Frederick’s death, Agnes remained at 9 Rankin Road until around the time of her marriage to Aylmer Colles in 1921, after which she moved to Mt Barker.
The house was then occupied by Mary Jane Meyer, a widow, who had also experienced tragedy during the late 1910s. Of her five sons, all of whom served in the armed forces during WWI, three (Les, Edward and Gus) died in France. Entries in the Electoral Rolls show that Mary shared the house at 9 Rankin Road with her youngest daughter, Elizabeth (born c.1888), and at various times with her youngest surviving son, Frank (born c.1894) and his wife, Ida. Following Mary’s death in 1945, Frank and Elizabeth continued to live here until around the times of their deaths in 1965 and 1967 respectively. Ida died in 1971 but it has not been confirmed if she remained at 9 Rankin Road for the last few years of her life.
The earliest clear aerial photograph of the place dates from 1965. This shows the main roofline to the same design as at present. What appears to have been a detached rear garage was located to the SW of the house
By 1972, 9 Rankin Road had been occupied by David and Jennifer Browne-Cooper. Aerial photographs indicate that rear additions had been undertaken by 1974 and a carport was added on the eastern side of the house during the same decade.
In c.2000, the block was subdivided and a new house was constructed on the rear lot (with vehicular access from the rear lane and a narrow pedestrian access way along the eastern boundary from Rankin Road).

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High: The place continues to be occupied as a private residence.
Authenticity - Moderate to High: Close inspection has confirmed that what appears to have originally been a return verandah along the western side of the house has been filled in as an extension to the house (with detailing matching the original).
Otherwise the form and detailing of the main facade appears to have retained a high level of authenticity and/or restored in a compatible style.
With reference to the c.1914 Workers’ Homes Board houses along Rankin Road, only #s 9 and 16 were identified as retaining a high level of authenticity in the Preliminary Survey of the City of Subiaco Station Precinct (2016).
Rarity/Representativeness - 9 Rankin Road is a good representative example of the type of houses built during the first year in which the Workers’ Homes Board constructed “Leasehold” houses under Part III of the Workers Homes Act, 1911.

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.