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

Brick and Colorbond single storey dwelling. Although a recent construction, the design of the house incorporates many of the traditional details seen in the original building stock along Rawson Street. The asymmetric plan form incorporates the traditional projecting wing and recessed remainder of the façade. The gable detail is boarded with timber battens above a two casement windows. Two tall windows which reflect the patterning in the front door punctuate the other part of the façade.

History

In June 1903, Sydney accountants William James Douglas and Frank Dyson purchased PSL 254 and portion of PSL 253. The land was subdivided into 36 lots and in August 1903, the pair divided the ownership of the lots evenly. Each owned half of the properties facing Rawson Street, Hamersley Road and Heytesbury Road. The lots were sold from 1904 onwards and the first home on Rawson Street, the subject area, was built by 1904. From the available evidence Douglas and Dyson never visited the properties in Subiaco and the sale of the land was managed by local land agents, Ebernezer Allen & Co. This site formerly had two weatherboard cottages numbered 16 and 18 Rawson Street. In 1930, one of the former cottages was described as: No 16 Rawson Street Subiaco on which is erected a three roomed J.W.B cottage, lath and plastered, iron roof, electric light and all conveniences with a frontage of 28.8 links by a depth of 227.3 links; rented at 14s per week. The house that occupies Lot 17, no. 18 Rawson Street is not the original property. Originally it was a pair of jarrah houses, nos. 16 and 18 Rawson Street that had been constructed in 1906/07 but was replaced by a residence in the late 1960s which was subsequently demolished to enable the construction of the current house in 1996.

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update