114 Redfern 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 that has been substantially enlarged, situated on a triangular shaped lot with dual frontage to Sadlier Street.

The house is of brick construction which would originally have had a tuckpoint finish which has been rendered over. A roughcast render strip is visible above the window awnings and verandah canopy.

The house is of asymmetric planform with a projecting wing to the eastern corner of the façade.

The roof is hipped with a gable to the projecting wing. A gablet has been added to the ridgeline of the main roof and a series of complex hips to the rear addition. The chimneys to the north and south planes of the roof have been removed but one rendered corbelled chimney remains extant on the west plane.

The verandah canopy is separate from the main roof, positioned below the eaves. It is of skillion form, supported on turned timber posts with timber frieze between the posts. The raised deck has a limestone plinth and timber deck.

The windows are arranged in pairs of timber framed 1-over-1 sashes and the front entrance doors is a traditional timber and glazed panel doors with sidelights and fanlights.

The garden is enclosed by a timber picket fence.

History

This portion of Redfern Street was subdivided for residential lots in 1893 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.

Three lots 78, 79 and 80 of this subdivision were purchased by Alfred Gray in 1894. There is no reason to believe the land was developed during his ownership of the land. The lots were likely to have been transferred to boiler maker, Leigh Montague Ellis Henderson sometime between 1906 when he was living in Barker Road and prior to 1910 as he was recorded as living at this site in the 1910 Electoral Roles. Also at the house was spinster Catherine Henderson.

Rate Book research indicates that a house had already been constructed on this lot in 1910-11 with the owner/occupier listed as L M E Henderson. In 1912/13 the owners were listed as L Henderson and E Green (engineer) and the following year (1913/12) the owner/occupier was listed as G H Green (surveyor).
In 1917/18 George Green was listed as the owner and John Wilcock (drapers assistant) as the occupier and the following year (1918/19) George Green was again the owner/occupier.

The 1929/30 Rate Books listed Alexander Haig (agent) as the owner/occupier and he was still the owner/occupier in 1935/36.

The PO directories list the following occupants:
• 1916 – 1917 Hepburn, William
• 1918 – 1920 Green, George
• 1921 – 1925 Larwood, Harold D
• 1926 – 1949 Haigh, Alex

From the above information it seems probable that the residence was constructed in c1909 for Leigh Henderson. Little has been found about him in this research although he does seem to have spent his early years in Victoria and settled in Melbourne by 1914. Marine engineer, George Henry Green was associated with the property during the 1910s and he is recorded in the electoral roles living at the residence with his wife Queenie Green.
The lot to the west (80) was separated from the original parcel sometime in the 1950s and a new residence constructed on that lot.

Aerial photographs indicate the place has undergone major additions and alterations since the mid-20th century. The most significant being in the 1990s and 2000s. The form of the original house is difficult to determine from an aerial view.

Integrity/Authenticity

The finishes to the house have been altered impacting on its authenticity. The rear addition impacts on the side street views.

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.