House

Statement of Significance

The house at No. 18 Myrtle Street is a good and intact typical example of a modest weatherboard Federation Bungalow, that informs of development of the area. It has associations with, at least, two generations of the Bayman family.

Physical Description

The single storey, double fronted rusticated weatherboard cottage with a bullnosed verandah and an awning over the window of the gabled projection. The bargeboard of the gable is decorative fretwork and the verandah and awning have a turned post frieze. The window under the verandah is double hung with two narrow side lights. The brick chimney is corbelled. Garden setting behind a timber framed front fence. None apparent

History

Myrtle Street, one of a number of streets in the area with a woman's name, is situated in the area immediately north of Lake Henderson, between Palmerston Street and Randell Lane. In the early years of the 1890s when No. 22 was built, there were few houses in the area and much of this northern side of Perth was still sparsely settled. Market gardening activities had been carried out on the bed of nearby Lake Henderson by the Europeans after it was cleared and drained in the early 1870s. They were followed by Chinese market gardeners who operated until the early 1920s at both Dorrien Gardens (to the west) and Robertson Park (south) where Lee Hop's cottage remains today. The 1890s gold rush changed the situation with the demand for housing for new settlers attracted to WA by the rush, leading to several subdivisions in nearby areas. Although Myrtle Street was always a short, dead-end street running parallel to Bulwer, it was also close to Third Swamp, which would have been seen as a plus following its development as Hyde Park, which began in 1898. Unlike many of the other subdivisions in the area, this section between Bulwer and Randell streets did not have rear laneways. No. 18 Myrtle Street appeared on the 1897 PWD City & Suburbs sewerage plans (Sheet 8, 18.8.1897), together with its neighbours at Nos. 22 and 24. Other houses in the street at this time included a mirror-image pair with bay windows at Nos. 1 and 3, and Nos. 4, 6, 9, 12, and 17. In the 1899 edition of Wise's Post Office Directories the houses were numbered for the first time but No. 18 was then allocated No. 22. The resident was listed as Bernard A. Gallagher who had been shown as living in the street since 1897. In 1902 it was Charles Bayman and then in 1910 it was Mrs Charles Bayman, and Mrs J. A. Bayman in 1915. There were 16 dwellings in the street in 1915 (eight of which were of weatherboard construction) and four vacant lots. In 1925 there were 17 residences occupied and one vacant. No. 18 was occupied by Les C. Mitchell. In 1935 it was still Mr Mitchell and in 1949, the last year of the Directories, it was Hugh Wauhop.

Integrity/Authenticity

Intact

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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Last Update

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