31 Sadlier Street

Parent Place or Precinct

26270 Sadlier and Redfern Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The Sadlier and Redfern Streets heritage area is of:
Aesthetic Value
• As an aesthetically pleasing streetscape with a strong identifiable character, featuring an avenue of mature street trees, which frame views of the largely Inter War residences.
• For its collection of many good, representative examples of Federation and Inter War cottages and villas which collectively illustrate a range and evolution of detailing between the 1920s and the 1940s.
• For the cohesive streetscape created by a limited palette of materials and styles.
Historic Value
• As a representative collection of houses that illustrate the scale and standard of housing for the homes of unskilled workers to semi-professional and tradespeople, in the early twentieth century.
• For the evidence it provides about the manner in which the residence of semi-professional and tradespeople existed alongside the residences of working people and employees.
• For its association with the subdivision and rapid settlement of the area from the 1920s to the 1930s which demonstrates the rapid change of the district in this period.
Representativeness
• As a good representative collection of early twentieth century housing developed within walking distance of transport and services.
Physical Form in the Public Realm
• The houses, which (with the exception of three modern dwellings) were developed predominantly in the period 1920s to 1940s, have largely retained their original external detailing and form. The defined period and nature of development has resulted in a consistent palette of materials and form, enlivened by diversity of individual details, within a cohesive streetscape.

Physical Description

Single storey brick and iron house with a small brick chimney visible from the Redfern Street elevation.

The house is of brick construction finished with tuckpointing to the lower half of the façade with roughcast render to the upper section. It has a symmetrical façade with a centrally placed entrance flanked by identical windows.

The roof is hipped, continuing down at the same angle to form the verandah canopy which is supported on timber posts with a painted concrete deck which is likely to be a replacement of a timber decking

The windows to the front elevation are arranged in banks of three multi-paned casements with rendered sills. The central door is a simple timber framed glass door divided into five horizontal glass bands with narrow timber glazing bars.

The garden is mainly grass to Sadlier Street, enclosed by a picket fence. Parking is provided at the rear of the property accessed from Redfern Street.

History

This portion of Sadlier Street was subdivided for residential lots in 1891 by owners, the NSW company, Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company. However the lots were not taken up rapidly. In 1896, lots in the Redfern Estate, Subiaco were advertised in the local press as ‘Good Building Lots, near the railway line’. The subdivision was managed by Alfred Axon, the local branch manager for the Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company. Axon was also a significant individual investor in Subiaco property.

Lots 14, 15, 16 and 17 were transferred to Oswald St John, a gentleman in 1891 but there is no evidence to indicate that the land was developed by this owner. It was not until the 1910s that the first lots were occupied in this portion of Subiaco. Analysis of Rate Books and PO Directories indicates that this place was likely constructed c.1924.

The Rate Books contain the following listings:
• 1929/30 & 1936/37 – William Howe (labourer) owner/occupier

The PO directories list the following occupants:
• 1925 Gibson Mrs L
• 1926 Gibson, Hercules
• 1928 -1939/40 Howe, William
• 1939/40 – 1941/42 Howe, William & Jackson Mrs R
• 1942/43 – 1949 Howe, William

William George Howe (c1882-1955) was a labourer and lived at the house with his wife Candace Elizabeth Howe (c1887-1973). The couple had married in 1912 in East Coolgardie.
Aerial photographs indicate that this residence and the adjacent at HN33 were originally similar in roof form and extent indicating that these two were built at the same time by a developer using the same design and builders. This residence has retained its original roof form and the addition to the rear has been in evidence since the mid-20th century.

Integrity/Authenticity

The house presents with a high degree of authenticity. The original detailing has been refreshed and all other details retained with no obvious signs of alteration to the façade.

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.