Corner Store (fmr) - 135 Heytesbury Road

Parent Place or Precinct

25394 Union and Redfern Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The place has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: • For its aesthetic value as a representative example of a traditional, early Inter-War era corner store with an attached residence. • For its historical value showcasing the development of corner stores in Subiaco in the early Inter‐War period.

Physical Description

135 Heytesbury Road is a single storey rendered masonry residence with a hipped corrugated steel roof designed in the Inter-War Free Classical style of architecture. The residence, a former corner store, is located on the corner of Hensman Road and Heytesbury Road sloping down along Hensman Road. The residence is splayed at the corner with a zero setback and a parapet wall with moulded capping and plain string coursing above. The building has a limestone foundation. Timber double doors with a fixed highlight address the building’s splayed corner. On either side of the corner there are large fixed timber framed windows with narrow highlights and louvres above. A contemporary entrance is located along Hensman Road up a set of concrete stairs. There is a front courtyard addressing Heytesbury Road enclosed by a rendered masonry fence with timber infill and a timber entry gate. A mature Eucalypt partially obscures the place along Heytesbury Road. The place has a contemporary addition that extends along Hensman Road with laneway access to the rear. There is a courtyard with some planting which is enclosed by a rendered masonry fence with Brushwood infill that steps down along Hensman Road.

History

On 13 March 1883, the Western Australian government announced it would survey a section of the Perth Commonage into suburban lots and that these would then be made available for private sale. Perth Suburban Lot 274 appears to have initially been subdivided as Deposited Plan 2405 with a one-acre lot on the SE corner of Heytesbury and Hensman Roads designated as Lot 1. This had been sold to James Chesters (a local land developer) by March 1904, and was later included as part of a residential subdivision under Deposited Plan 3758 (part of which formed 115-135 Heytesbury Road). Lot 31 of DP 3758 remained undeveloped until after it was transferred to Miss Mary Rankin Ford in October 1920. Mary (then aged 32 years) was living with her mother at 123 Heytesbury Road at the time her brother Thomas died in 1916. It is possible an inheritance of £320 she received may have helped her save towards this investment. The available evidence suggests that the corner store was built on this site in 1922 and it may have been the property referred to in the following advertisement (which appears to have been placed by local builder Francis Robbins in August of that year): BRICKLAYERS wanted. Robbins, corner Heytesbury and Hensman rds., Subiaco. From 1923 until 1927 the Post Office Directories listed the occupant of the corner store as Miss Mary Rankin Ford, although she had placed it on the market in as early as 1924: MIXED Business and Freehold for sale, corner, and excellent position, leading suburb. Clean stock, up-to-date premises and fixtures. Apply Corner Heytesbury and Hensman rds., Subiaco. It was re-advertised at various times during 1927, but in January 1928 Mary placed an advertisement withdrawing the ‘property and store business’ from sale. In 1928-1929, the occupant was listed as John Campbell, storekeeper, and the property was formally transferred to him in March 1929. In July 1929, it was on-sold to Albert Henry Thomas Smith and his wife, Frances Ellen Smith - who had previously operated a newsagency in Woolwich Street, West Leederville. Albert (Bert) and Frances, who had married in 1920, remained here until 1949 and for at least part of this time they shared the residence with their three children, Shirley, Audrey and Neil. The property then changed hands six times over the next five years and one of the advertisements placed during that period provided the following information: FOR SALE BY AUCTION. FREEHOLD. VALUABLE BRICK AND TILE SHOP AND DWELLING together with the General Mixed Business, including Plant, Fixtures and Fittings, etc. Sale - Saturday, 5th April, [1952] at 10.30 a.m. ON THE PREMISES: 135 HEYTESBURY RD., SUBIACO (Cor. HENSMAN STREET). Property comp. large Shop, Lounge, Kitchen, 2 Bedrooms, Bathroom (gas heater), Garage, Deep Sew., all cons., and is particularly sound and well kept. Plant includes Counter, Refridge, Scales, Slicer, etc. Stock approximately £350 to be purchased at valuation. A later notice relating to this sale stated that it had sold after auction for more than £4,000. In advertisements placed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, 135 Heytesbury Road was variously referred to as a ‘Handy Food Store’, ‘General Mixed Business’ and ‘Freehold Mixed Business’ – which confirms that it was a typical corner store that stocked a wide range of goods for the local community. A comparison of current and historical aerial photographs (the earliest of which is dated 1948) suggest that the place was designed as two intersecting hipped pavilions with a skillion roofed area at the NE corner (possibly part of the original attached residence). The place also had a verandah that wrapped around the corner of building and extended over the footpath (this was clearly in a 1964 aerial photograph, but the area is obscured by trees in later views so it is not clear when it was removed). Major additions were undertaken in c.2006, which retained the former corner shop, but extensively redeveloped the remainder of the site. These works included the removal of the skillion roofed section and major alterations and additions on the rear portion of the site (facing Hensman Road). The primary occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1950 included: • 1923-1927: Mary Rankin Ford (storekeeper/music teacher) • 1928-1929: John Campbell (storekeeper) • 1929-1949: Albert Henry Thomas Smith and his wife, Frances Ellen Smith, (storekeepers) Note: In 1930-1933 the Post Office Directories listed the occupant as ‘E Smith, grocer’, but the only listings in the Electoral Roll of 1931 were for Albert and Frances, suggesting that the initial was incorrect. • 1949-1950: Charles Austin Frederick Cross (carpenter) and Freda Reha Cross (storekeeper) Of the following owners it has not been determined who lived at 135 Heytesbury Road: • 1950: Sold to James Frederick Hodge (clerk) and Mary Loretto Hodge (December 1950) • 1951: Sold to David Claude O’Keefe, salesman (April 1951) • 1951: Sold to William Charles Simpson, carpenter (December 1951) • 1952: Sold to Arthur Rothery, grocer, and Rose Ellen Rothery (April 1952) • 1953: Sold to Margaret Campbell Harvey (December 1953). On-sold by February 1954.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - medium Authenticity - Medium: This aspect of the significance of the place has been diminished by alterations and additions to the building including the removal of the verandah and its adaptation into a private residence.

Condition

Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in a good condition.

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update