House

Parent Place or Precinct

25394 Union and Redfern Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The Union and Redfern Street Heritage Area is significant for:
Aesthetic Value:
The area contains aesthetically pleasing streetscapes with a strong heritage character. In particular, cohesive streetscapes have been created by a limited palette of materials and styles.
The area contains many good, representative, suburban examples of Federation Queen Anne houses and Federation Bungalows. These include both gentlemen’s villas and modest suburban houses, and collectively illustrate a gradual evolution in architectural detailing of these places between 1899 and the early Inter-war years.
Historic Value:
The residential subdivision of this area represents the early development activities of Sydney and Melbourne based real estate agents and property developers. In this context it helps to illustrate the status of Western Australia as a place of opportunity during the gold rush era of the late nineteenth century – attracting significant interest and investment from the eastern states.
The collection of houses in the heritage area helps to demonstrate the manner in which the family residences of professional men and business owners (such as senior civil servants and merchants) existed side by side with the smaller houses of semi-professional and tradespeople.
The collection of houses in the heritage area helps to illustrate the scale and standard of housing considered appropriate for these families in the early twentieth century.
The area was a place of residence for a number of people who were prominent in the local business community or were otherwise public identities of the early to mid-twentieth century.

Physical Description

No. 7 Rawson street is obscured from clear view by a high masonry wall which limits its contribution to the street. Access onto the property was not obtained but the glimpsed views show that it is of rendered brick construction with red tin roof with twin gables above the front verandah. Symmetrical front elevation with the central door flanked by window openings. The bullnose verandah sits below the eaves, supported on turned timber columns.

History

In June 1903, Sydney accountants William James Douglas and Frank Dyson purchased PSL 254 and portion of PSL 253. The land was subdivided into 36 lots and in August 1903, the pair divided the ownership of the lots evenly. Each owned half of the properties facing Rawson Street, Hamersley Road and Heytesbury Road. The lots were sold from 1904 onwards and the first home on Rawson Street, the subject area, was built by 1904. From the available evidence Douglas and Dyson never visited the properties in Subiaco and the sale of the land was managed by local land agents, Ebernezer Allen & Co.

This house was constructed in 1906/07 for William E M Brown who resided in the house until 1912 when it was leased to Arthur Henderson (clerk) who called the house ‘Glen Dhu’. There were various occupiers after this date until the house was purchased by Louis Pryor (butcher) who owned and resided there until 1941. Following this, Mrs Bladen is listed as living at the house until 1949.



Occupants
1908-1912 Mr and Mrs William E M Brown
1913-1915 Arthur Henderson (clerk)
1916-1920 R Hall
1921-1925 John C. Bell
1926-1927 Henry J Laker
1928-1940 Louis Pryor (butcher)
1941-1949 Mrs V A Bladen

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: the high brick wall on the front property boundary obscures the building and therefore reduces its contribution to the street. The residence appears to have retained the original design and detailing and the red roof is consistent with the colours used in the early 20th century.

Uses

Historic Themes

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.