House

Parent Place or Precinct

27310 Park Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The place has cultural heritage significance:
• As a good representative example of the many 4-5 room brick homes which were built in Subiaco during the early twentieth century to meet the needs and aspirations of middle-class residents such as public servants, senior office workers, small business owners, skilled tradesmen and single/widowed women of private means.
• As a good representative example of the application of materials and
detailing which were derived from the Federation Queen Anne style, but
which were applied in a more restrained manner that suited the budgets and
expectations of the middle classes in Subiaco during the early twentieth
century.
• For its contribution to a largely intact group of early twentieth century houses in the portion of Park Street from Olive Street to Townshend Road.
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 well built 2-3 bedroom suburban houses of the early twentieth century, 101 Park Street incorporated elements of the Federation Queen Anne style. It was designed to a scale and form generally considered suitable for occupiers such as small business owners, office workers, senior retail employees and skilled tradesmen.
Plan form at the street frontage
• Asymmetrical façade, featuring a projecting wing on the eastern side, and a verandah across the remainder of the frontage.
Roof form and materials
• Hipped-gabled roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting.
• Short east-west ridgeline, flanked by louvered gablets.
Prominent verge gable with a roughcast rendered face set with vertical timber battens to the lower portion. The upper part of the gable has been framed out from the rendered face to align with the gable boards and final.
• On the western side this retains a panel of decorative timber fretwork in a complex leaf pattern. The panel is missing from the eastern side.
• Convex, roughcast rendered cornice under the gable.
• Carved timber brackets supporting the projecting outer ends of the gable.
• Two face brick chimneys with rendered caps, rendered plinths and remnants of tuck-pointing.
• Bull-nosed verandah roof.
Wall materials and finishes to the main facade
• Tuck-pointed brick walls.
• Two rendered stringcourses, one at door head height and the other at window sill height.
Other detailing to main facade
• Raked window hood to the projecting wing, finished with ornate detailing. This has vertical balusters to the sides, decorative carved brackets and a frieze finished with pointed timber dentils and decorative balustrettes.
• Two double-hung windows to the face of the projecting wing, each set over a projecting moulded window sill with a decorative under-sill panel.
• Main entrance door located adjacent to the projecting wing. This has traditional moulded architraves, a single sidelight and highlight.
• Single double-hung windows under the verandah, set over a projecting moulded window sill with a decorative under-sill panel.
• Full height arched niche to the face of the parapet at the western end of the verandah.
• Former verandah posts, carved brackets and frieze removed as part of renovations in progress at the time of inspection.
• Evidence of a former stucco finial to the front of the parapet wall (base only remaining)
Streetscape setting
• House set back approximately 2.8m from the Park Street frontage.
• Lot width approximately 10.1m.
• House built up to a parapet wall along the western side; small side setback of approximately 600mm from the eastern boundary.
• Front yard enclosed by 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 220 was subdivided as Deposited Plan 1552 in 1896 and advertised as the “Parkerville Estate”. This comprised 38 lots with frontages along the eastern side of Townshend Road (between Barker and Bagot Roads), part of the southern side of Barker Road, part of Salisbury Avenue (renamed as part of Park Street in 1901) and part of the northern side of Bagot Road.
In 1905 the Subiaco Rate Books identified F Sedgley (builder) as the owner of Lot 22. Frederick Sedgley was a prolific local builder and, in addition to the development of numerous houses, also undertook the construction of the Subiaco Council Chambers in 1909 and the Subiaco Clock Tower in 1923.
101 Park Street was listed in the Post Office Directories from 1908 it therefore seems highly likely that this was the house advertised for sale by Sedgley in September 1907:
MODERN NEW BRICK VILLA, In Park-street, Subiaco, near Olive-street, Two Minutes from Tram. Containing 5 large and lofty rooms, hall, vestibule bathroom, pantry, etc. will be completed in few days; substantially built of pressed bricks on stone foundations, cornices and grained throughout; costly mantels, grates, and electric light; washhouse, copper and troughs, woodshed, and perfect drainage; price £500; inspection invited. F. E. Sedgley, Builder and Owner.
The readily available evidence suggests that Sedgley then built an almost identical house on Lot 23 (105 Park Street, first listed in the Post Office Directories in 1909).
In the Rate Books of 1908-1909, Ida Carpenter was identified as the owner/occupier of Lot 22. Ida May Spencer (c.1885-1965) and William John Carpenter (c.1870-1922) were married in West Perth in September 1906 and had 3 children: William Ernest (‘Willie’) (born 1907), Jean Florence Rose (1909) and Herbert York (c.1914). Newspaper notices confirm that this family were already living at “Mayo Villa”, Park Street by October 1907, when they announced the birth of their first child.
The family remained here until c.1918 when the house was offered for sale:
ON THE PREMISE, 101 PARK STREET, SUBIACO (take tram to Olive-st.). C. B. PELL has received instructions from Mr. W. Carpenter to SELL his CHARMING VILLA RESIDENCE, being Perth Town Lot 22, on which is erected a substantial Brick Villa, of 5 rooms and kitchen, garden back and front, up-to-date and modern.
The next long term owner/occupants were Howard Oscar Wills (c.1876-1958) (butcher) and his wife, Alice Caroline Wills (nee Austin) (c.1880-1956). This couple had married in Boulder in c.1903 and lived at 101 Park Street from c.1919 until around the time of Alice’s death. During the 1920s and early 1930s they shared the house with their son, Howard Arthur Wills.
A plan of the lot prepared in 1927 and reviewed in 1955 for the purpose of planning sewerage and water supply services shows that the original footprint of this house is consistent with the current form and extent, including the large sheds on the rear property boundary. Aerial photographs from the mid 20th century demonstrate that the additions to the rear were undertaken in the late 1980s. The form and extent of the original residence is still apparent.
101 Park Street was adopted on the City of Subiaco Local Heritage Survey in 2003. It has been assessed as level 3 (contributes to the heritage of the City of Subiaco).

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High: The place continues to be used as a private residence.
Authenticity - High: The original external detailing of the building is largely intact and/or
sympathetically restored/extended, and the place has been well maintained.

Condition

Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in excellent condition.

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.