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

The current house was designed in the California Bungalow style. Key elements include: • Asymmetrical façade. • Visually prominent low-pitch roof, clad with terra-cotta tiles and finished with curved terracotta finials. • Wide, battened eaves. • A set of three prominent gables to the main façade, each finished with roughcast render and vertical battens. • Painted brick walls. • Triple casement window to the projecting front wing. • Wide verandah wrapping around the projecting wing. This features robust paired posts set on rendered pylons with flat caps. Low rendered masonry walls, with curved tops, link the pylons and create a semi-private outdoor area. • Open carport set under the main roofline. • Second storey, stepped back from the front façade. The house is set back approximately 6.5m from the front boundary, which is defined by low clipped shrubs. Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in excellent condition.

History

A Certificate of Title for Perth Suburban Lot 256 was issued in the name of The Intercolonial Investment Land and Building Company Ltd of Sydney NSW on 22 August 1890. This was bounded by Hamersley Road to the north, Hensman Road to the west and Heytesbury Road to the south. In June 1896 the whole of this property was transferred to James Thomas Peet and Austin Bastow of Melbourne, Estate Agents, and by August of that year Peet and Bastow had subdivided this as Deposited Plan 938, with Lots 25 to 30 along the northern side of Beryl Street (later renamed Redfern Street) and Lots 31 to 36 along the southern side. Lots 1 to 3, 16 to 18, 28 to 30 and 32 to 34 were all transferred to Austin Bastow’s wife, Mary Ann Bastow, in December 1897. By 1908/09, Lot 33 had been transferred to Joseph Thomas Reilly (printer) of Northam, but Lot 34 was still owned by Mrs Bastow. The latter was offered for sale in 1910 and again in 1911 and, by 1912/13 both lots had been acquired by Thomas Atkinson (a Supervisor in the Public Works Department). Further changes of ownership followed and lot 33 was split into two parts in c.1914. However, it was not until c.1923 that a house was built on the site. The first known occupant was a Jack Symonds and it is possible (but not confirmed) that 5 Redfern Street was initially the city residence of Jack Sherman Symonds, who was a farmer of the Moora district. In 1925, the Electoral Rolls listed James Herbert Etheridge (clerk) and his wife, Mabel Rebecca Etheridge at 5 Redfern Street. However, other evidence indicates that they moved to Kalgoorlie in that year, where James had taken up a position as a ‘civil servant’. The house was then rented out until 1934 when James and Mabel Etheridge returned to Subiaco and established this as their family home - sharing the house for at least part of this time with their sons, Noel (born 1923) and Cedric. Following James’ death in 1956, Mabel remained at 5 Redfern Street until the late 1950s, after which she moved to Joondana. Research undertaken by the current owners indicates that significant alterations were made to the house in the 1980s, including the addition of a decorative, Federation Queen Anne style verandah. Further alterations were undertaken in c.2000 when one side of the verandah was filled in to create an en-suite bathroom and large two storey additions were built. Over an extended period of time ivy had also caused structural damage to the western wall and extended into the roofspace. By 2010 all of these works had combined to remove and/or damage original fabric and to significantly alter the character of the place. As part of the major works undertaken in 2011 the surviving original fabric to the central projecting wing was retained and conserved and the house was reconstructed using detailing and techniques based on the California Bungalow style.

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: While the recent development of this place has been carefully designed to contribute to the urban character of the street and to use detailing derived from the California Bungalow style, the progressive adaptation of this house since the 1980s has left little of the original fabric intact. Occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1958 included: 1924-1925 Jack Symonds 1925 James Herbert Etheridge (civil servant) and his wife, Mabel Rebecca Etheridge 1926-1929 Edgar Java Dix (Motor Painter) and his wife, Clara Dix 1930 W Parry 1931-1932 John Angear (shop assistant), his wife Jane Angear 1933 Vacant 1934-1956 James Herbert Etheridge (civil servant) and his wife, Mabel Rebecca Etheridge Through until c.1958 Mabel Rebecca Etheridge (widow)

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

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