Shop and House

Statement of Significance

The shop and house, at 332 Charles Street, demonstrates the typology of an attached house and shop of the Inter War period remarkably using a Bungalow style for the house.

Physical Description

The shop attached to the single storey dwelling replaces an earlier weatherboard shop. It is narrow fronted in a rudimentary Stripped Classical style. The loss of its canopy exaggerates the narrow frontedness. The shop comprises rendered pillar framing shopfront glazing and a recessed door with fanlight above. There is a high plain parapet between to face brick piers with corbelled tops. The shops were apparently added to the dwelling, during the hard times of the Interwar years, and served the local communities using the public transport along Charles Street.
The dwelling has a full gable roof with front gable detailed with vertical battens. It has a front verandah with rendered balustrade and set of three casement windows. Residential setting to the dwelling- setback with lawns and garden, mature plantings. Shop zero setback. The shop canopy has been removed. The front fence has been replaced.

History

Charles Street, then known as Wanneroo Road became a well-used thoroughfare in the 19th Century as it led to the northern track along which farmers carried their produce from their farms in the north to the Perth markets. In response to this, businesses opened along Wanneroo Road, often in the form of small shops at the front of existing homes or alongside. In this case the owner of the subject house and attached house, Mark Whiskin, would have been catering to the increase in population in the area and the increased spending power during the 1920s World War I boom.

The Perth Water Metropolitan Sewerage Plans indicate that the first building to occupy the site was a weatherboard dwelling that had a nil setback to Charles Street and a verandah to the rear of the property. The Wises Post Office Directories reveal that the weatherboard cottage was vacant for several years from 1923-1926. In 1922 John Gordon was in residence and from 1917 to 1920 Mrs Louisa McNauall is listed as renting the property. In 1916 the dwelling was occupied by Geoffrey Grant then numbered 126 and in 1914 Mrs M McNamara. Prior to this there is no street numbering along Charles Street from Angove to Albert Street, which makes it difficult to decipher the occupants during this time. It can be assumed however that the weatherboard cottage that first occupied the site was constructed at the turn of the 20th century.

In 1920, the Perth rates books listed Mark Whiskin as owning a house on the site, which was rented by Mrs Louisa McNaull until 1921.At that time there were two grocers, two butchers a boot maker and a confectioner between Nos. 300 and 348 Charles Street indicating that a shopping strip was developing. In 1927, a shop and bakehouse were listed for the first time at No. 332 and as being owned and operated by Mark Whiskin.

Mark Whiskin and his wife Elizabeth moved from Victoria to Kalgoorlie in the mid 1890s for a short period before moving to Perth where they initially operated Whiskin's Bakeries in North Perth. Their first store was at No. 5 Kadina Street. The Wise's Post Office Directories indicate that in 1927 the Whiskin's set up the bakery in at the subject place along Charles Street. Mark would not sell the Kadina Street property to Browne's Dairy and his daughter, Alma purchased it for ₤270 in 1927. Mark Whiskin died in the Claremont Asylum and was buried at the Wesleyan Cemetery, Karrakatta in 1931. Following her husband's death Elizabeth lived and worked with her sons in their bakeries at Albany, Norseman and Wundowie. The bakery at No. 332 Charles Street was sold in 1938. Following this time the Wises Post Office Directories indicate that Harvey and Sons Bakery operated at the subject place from 1939 to 1944 when Sexton and Sons operated a bakery from the place. From 1945 to at least 1949 Ivan Velvic was listed as occupying the subject place.

The laneway system at the rear of the house and shoo must have been of some advantage to the bakers for it had two points of access to Angove Street. Also No. 332, being situated close to the corner of Angove Street, meant that any tenant and the residents would have been able to take advantage of the North Perth tram service. The Fitzgerald Street line, which ran along Angove Street as far as Albert Street from 1906, was extended to Charles Street in 1927.

Trams from the city to North Perth ran along Fitzgerald Street from 1900 to 1953. Roads were constructed to provide a firm base for the tracks. The lines entered Fitzgerald Street from Bulwer Street with the first route ending at Forrest Street. The Fitzgerald Street line was continued north along Angove Street with the Albert Street terminus opening in 1906. The line extended to Charles Street in 1927. These extensions led to rapid growth in North Perth. Whereas only 12 per cent had been built on in 1904, this had risen to 36 per cent by 1911.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate to High

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Historic Themes

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