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 10 & 12 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 have tuck-pointed brick faces and stepped, rendered caps. The street-front gable features vertical timber battens (partly concealed by a bougainvillea). Surviving evidence 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 10 & 12 has now been painted. The main entrance is accessed by a narrow pathway along the side boundary, with the door set under a raked awning with plain mini-orb 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 no decorative detailing. The house is set approx. 2.5m back from the front boundary, which is defined by a low timber picket fence.

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). These were first listed in the Subiaco Rates Books in 1904, when the owner of Nos 10 & 12 Campbell Street was listed as a Mrs Prosser. As a different owner was listed for Nos 6 & 8, it seems likely that they had been built as a speculative development in 1903/04, and offered for sale as an investment opportunity. Nos 10 and 12 both had a high turnover of tenants through until at least 1949 (with the majority staying here for only 1-4 years) – which suggests that the place remained a rental property throughout the first half of the twentieth century. Occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1950 included: 1906 P Mayman, clerk 1907-1910 Duncan Carlton 1912-1914 Thomas William Coad, draper 1915 Ernest Oates 1916 Clark Moore, railway employee 1917 Frank Smith, labourer 1918 Mrs Isabella Easton 1919-1923 Alfred Powell, French polisher 1924 Clifford Bache, shop assistant 1925-1927 Vacant 1928 Mrs Elizabeth Coulthard 1929 Herbert Muller 1930 George Armstrong 1931-1932 Herbert Wood 1933-1936 Horace C Wilson, contractor 1937 Peter W Learmonth & Horace Walker 1938 Eric Walker 1939-1940 Albert Smith 1941-1942 Mrs Eileen Liddiard 1943-c.1950 Elizabeth Alice Burtenshaw and Richard David Burtneshaw (retired railways employee)

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: The painting of the main façade has impacted on the authenticity and traditional character of the place. 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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