37 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 terracotta tile house.

The house is of brick construction with rendered and rough-cut limestone to the lower section, facebrick with tuckpoint finish to the middle section and roughcast render above.

The house presents in an asymmetric planform with a staggered gable roofline. The street facing gabled section contains a square bay with three section window and tiled awning. The panel below the window is limestone which has been painted. The windows are timber framed casements with integral highlight panes.

The gables are clad with fibro sheeting and timber battens.

The main entrance is located to the rear of the corner verandah, consisting of a timber and glass panelled door, narrow sidelights and a fanlight. The verandah canopy is a skillion form supported on a limestone wall and timber posts. The deck cannot be seen but is likely to be painted concrete.

The garden is enclosed by a timber picket fence. A driveway along the south west boundary leads to a garage at the rear of the site.

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.

Lot 19 was transferred to Myra Gertrude Crook of NSW in 1896 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.1929.

It is probable that this house was one of group of houses (HN35, 37, 39, 41 and 43) that were designed and built by the same developer because of their similarity. It has not been established who was responsible for the design or construction of these homes.

The Rate Books contain the following listings:
• 1929/30 & 1936/37 Cecil Coombs (civil servant) – owner/occupier

The PO directories list the following occupants:
• 1929 New House
• 1930 – 1949 Coombs, Charles

From the above information this property has been closely associated with the Coombs family since its construction in 1929. In that year the electoral roles record civil servant Cecil John Edwin Coombs (c1906-1986) living at the house with his mother Alice Henrietta Coombs (c1872-1952). Cecil and his wife Margaret (c1911-1981) lived at the house until their deaths.
Aerial photographs indicate that this residence had a skillion roofed addition at the rear of the property until the late 1990s when a large terracotta tiled extension was constructed at the rear of the residence. There have been no major changes to the form or extent of the building since that time.

Integrity/Authenticity

The house presents with a high degree of authenticity and the original design intent remains clearly discernible.

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.