House

Parent Place or Precinct

25394 Union and Redfern Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

For information on the significance of the Union and Redfern Heritage Area refer to the Local Planning Policy for the Heritage Area.

Physical Description

Federation Queen Anne style. Key elements include:
Asymmetrical plan, with a projecting wing on the southern side of the main façade (now extended in a continuous alignment by the attached garage).
Tuck-pointed brickwork to the main façade with a contrasting rendered string course at window sill height and plain rendered panel above door head height (the latter possibly concealing a former second string course).
Gabled-hipped roof, clad with corrugated metal sheeting and extending in a continuous alignment over both the verandah and the attached garage.
Note: no chimneys have been retained.
Prominent gable to the projecting wing.
The face of this gable has been reclad with flush panel sheeting and finished with slim-line timber battens in a V pattern.
Stepped front verandah.
This extends across the front of the original projecting wing and then steps back across the remainder of the façade. The square timber posts have chamfered edges, which finish below two square-profile grooves at the springing point for the valance.
The valance forms a wide, shallow, pointed arch between each pair of posts, with square timber balusters flanking a solid timber ‘key’ at the apex.
Triple casement windows with square highlights, chamfered timber mullions and a projecting rendered sill to each of the two front rooms.
Below each window there is a stucco under-sill panel with decorative curved detailing – featuring a discrete embossed pattern at the centre and at either end.
Mid-twentieth century style glazed door, with sidelight and highlight windows – all with etched patterns on ripple glass.
The house is set back approximately 4m from the front boundary, which is defined by a scalloped timber picket fence.
On the southern side of the block a driveway leads to the single garage, which has been extended in an unbroken alignment from the original house. The front wall of this garage has been rendered around a metal door.

History

Perth Suburban Lot 255 was purchased by the Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company Ltd of Sydney in August 1890. Two years later it was transferred to James Chesters of 155 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, estate agent, and by 1894 Chesters had subdivided this land as Deposited Plan 899, with 42 lots laid out around Queen Street (soon renamed Union Street). The allotments to the west of Union Street were numbered 1 to 21, with four of these facing Hamersley Road (Lots 1 to 4) and four facing Heytesbury Road (Lots 18 to 21). An early subdivision plan showed 13 lots facing Queen Street but, prior to sale, these were re-subdivided as nine slightly wider lots (Lots 5 to 13 on Diagram 4432).
According to the City of Subiaco Rates Books a house was built on Lot 7 for Charles Morrish (a jeweller) in 1915/16, and the property had been transferred to Thomas and Ethel Coatham by 1918/19. However ownership was not officially transferred from James Chesters until 1920, when a new Certificate of Title was issued in the name of Fanny Bardwell.
The house on this lot appears to have been built to the same design as 5 Union Street and it is highly likely that Chesters had built both houses as part of the speculative development he is known to have undertaken in various parts of his Subiaco subdivisions in the period c.1907-1916.
Based on other similar cases, it is also likely that he had taken a deposit, with full payment to be received in instalments, but that the initial purchaser(s) had moved on before finalising the transaction.
In 1917, Charles Morrish was the first resident to be listed at this address in the Post Office Directories. However, his daughter, Florence Evelyn Morrish (a nurse), was the only member of the family to use this address in the Electoral Rolls (starting in 1916) and it is not clear if Charles actually lived here.
In September 1918 the house was advertised for sale:
SUBIACO, for sale, tiled roof Villa, conveniences, good locality, close tram, school, terms. Owner, 9 Union-st.
Thomas and Ethel Coatham then lived here for about two years, before it was purchased by Fanny Bardwell in December 1920. In the Electoral Roll of 1916, Ethel’s husband, Everett Bardwell, was listed as a solicitor of Geraldton. By the time they settled at 9 Union Street, Everett was 65 years of age, so this move may have been associated with his retirement. After Everett Bardwell’s death in November 1932 it appears that Fanny subdivided the house and let half out as a flat:
HALF Unfurnished House, 2 good rooms, kitchen, 15/, adults. 9 Union-st, Saturday afternoon (1934)
and
HALF House unfurn., 2 rooms, kitchen, gas, wood stoves, heater, close gardens, charries, trams, adults. 9 Union-st., Subiaco [1936]
* Note: ‘charries’ was possibly slang for charabanc, an early term for a motor coach or bus
Fanny moved to Barker Road in about 1943 and the house then had at least two short-term occupants through until 1949. In 1950 it was again (or still) being sub-let:
FRONT Room, suit 2 bus. girls, own kitchen and all cons., handy transport, Apply 9 Union-st., Subiaco.
Historical aerial photographs indicate that a carport or garage had been added on the southern side of the house by the 1960s, but the main roofline was not extended over this structure until the early twenty-first century (when the tiled roof was reclad with corrugated steel sheeting). Major additions were also made at the rear of the house at that time.

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: The replacement of the traditional terracotta tiled roof with grey corrugated metal sheeting, the removal of the chimneys, and the extension of the main roofline in a continuous raked alignment over an attached garage has impacted on the traditional character of the place.
Note: This place has some historical significance as an example of the speculative development undertaken by James Chesters within parts of his residential subdivisions.

Condition

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