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

Nos 6 & 8 Campbell Street were built under a single hipped roof with a central triangular gable element spanning the alignment of the party wall at the main facade. The roof is clad with corrugated metal sheeting and there are two chimneys along the main east-west ridgeline (showing that the place was designed with back-to back fireplaces along the party wall). These chimneys are fully rendered, but comparison with Nos 10 & 12 indicates that they originally had red brick faces with stepped, rendered caps. The street-front gable has a turned timber finial and plain panelled face (probably originally featuring vertical timber battens, as existing for Nos 10 & 12). Surviving evidence for the matching pair of buildings indicates that they had tuck-pointed face-brick facades, with plain rendered string-courses at window sill height and door head height. However, the façade to Nos 6 & 8 has now been fully rendered. The main entrance is accessed by a narrow pathway along the side boundary, with the door set under a raked awning with decorative timber side panels. Along the main facade there is a centrally located, full-height, double hung window. This is flanked by a pair of wall niches with moulded heads and plain projecting sills. There is also a full height recess with a semi-circular head, set into the face of the party wall to the verandah. The verandah has a dropped, bull-nosed roof with plain timber posts and an inverted, curved picket valance. The façade is partly concealed behind a high, solid masonry fence with a full height timber gate.

History

Perth Suburban Lot 253 was purchased by John Brandon, John Thomas Lawler and Thomas Tate of Sydney in October 1889 and, about six months later, it was transferred to Thomas Read of Sydney, solicitor. Read did not develop the 5 acre site and it was on-sold to the Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company of Sydney in October 1897. Building lots in Deposited Plan 1933 began to be sold along the Rokeby Road frontage of PSL 253 from May 1898. The first sites to be sold along Campbell Street were Lots 31 and 32, which were transferred to George Percival Stanley (a resident of NSW) in June 1899. However, it was not until c.1904 that these were developed with a matching set of semi-detached terraces (6 & 8 Campbell Street and 10 & 12 Campbell Street) – the first houses to be built in the street. These were first listed in the Subiaco Rates Books in 1904, when the owner of Nos 6 & 8 was shown as Alexander Wilson (although this may have actually been David Alexander Wilson who was living at #8 by 1913). As a different owner was listed for Nos 10 & 12, it seems likely that they had been built as a speculative development in 1903/04, and offered for sale as an investment opportunity. While the Rates Books confirm that the house had been rented out by 1905, the first resident identified in the Post Office Directories was Joseph George Oliver (labourer). Under the electoral roll entry for his wife, Frances, the name “Ryall” was used for 8 Campbell Street during this period. By 1913 the house had been occupied by David Alexander Wilson (mining engineer) and his wife, Amelia (who was then identified as the owner in the Rates Books). For most of the next 19 years David was identified in the electoral rolls (and in newspaper articles) as a mine manager in Kalgoorlie, and Amelia was the only member of the family listed at 8 Campbell Street. During this period the house may have been maintained as the city residence for their young family as, in 1931, the occupants were listed as Amelia Wilson, David Alexander Wilson (engineer) and their sons, Harry Banks Wilson (student) and Hugh McLean Wilson (student). In the period from 1933 until 1940, 8 Campbell Street appears to have been rented out to a series of short-term tenants, before it was occupied by Lewis and Mary Christmass, who remained here from c.1941 until the mid 1950s. Occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1954 included: 1905 W Jones 1906-1912 Joseph George Oliver, labourer (by 1913 Joseph Oliver had moved to 82 Heytesbury Road) 1912 Mrs Mateham 1913-1915 David Alexander Wilson, mining engineer and mine manager 1916-1932 Mrs Amelia Wilson 1933-1934 Stephen William French, bricklayer 1935-1936 Richard Gregory Bruce Oldfield, labourer 1936-1937 Frederick Rhys Glasson, boilermakers assistant 1938-1940 Robert Miller 1941-c.1954 Mary Amy Elizabeth Christmass and Lewis Eldred William Christmass, labourer

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: The rendering of the main façade has impacted on the authenticity and traditional character of the place and the high, solid masonry fence is intrusive. However, the underlying form and detailing remains consistent with the original design and the key elements of the traditional streetscape. As a group, 6-12 Campbell Street help to represent the early development of the street with a number of modest investment properties – which is an important aspect of the history of this area.

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

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