Ellis House East Augusta

Statement of Significance

Ellis House is of significance: • For its associations with the Ellis family, who were early pioneers of the town and instrumental in the district’s development. • As a relatively rare surviving example of an early twentieth century house in the Augusta area. • For its associations with the former Karridale boarding house (relating to its original location at Karridale and its use as a boarding house for the local timber industry).

Physical Description

The old Ellis House is located on a gentle rise, overlooking the Hardy Inlet at East Augusta. It has a rectangular plan form under a hipped roof, with a face-brick chimney rising from the centre of the main ridgeline. The house has wide verandahs on all sides, under a broken-back extension of the main roofline, with modern bush pole posts and a mixture of timber decking and brick paving. At the southern end, the verandah has been enclosed as an additional room. The external walls are clad with stained, square-edged weatherboards.Two x double doors open onto the front (western) verandah and one matching double door onto the north verandah. Evidence to the main elevation indicates that these were originally taller, single width openings (matching the head height of the adjacent windows). All of the double doors are fully glazed with mid-twentieth century detailing.Windows are double hung to the main façade (with 2 vertically proportioned panes to the upper panel and a single panel to the lower panel), casement to the north façade, and double hung to the rear (the latter including two smaller double hung windows with 6 panes to each panel).

History

There have been several generations of the Ellis family in Augusta, starting with William ‘Skipper’ Ellis who came to settle in the 1860s. The first Ellis family house was a timber slab and shingle cottage, built c 1870. Adjacent to the house was a room used to smoke fish and store meat and fish.The second house on this site, built c1920, was originally one half of the old Karridale boarding house, which Margaret (Maggie) and Anna Ellis purchased between them. The old boarding house was a duplex consisting of four rooms to each side, which had fireplaces opening from a chimney in the centre of the building. Anna had her half erected across the road from the Augusta Hotel and Maggie had her half transported by raft and boat to the other side of the river and rebuilt several hundred yards away from the original family homestead. (Maggie’s house is the subject of this Place Record.)When Maggie died in 1934, her sister Augusta (Gussie) took over the property.The house was extensively renovated in the 2000s.

Integrity/Authenticity

Medium: The use has been altered, but the original use is still clearly evident through interpretation of the fabric.Medium: The place has had some alterations, but the original intent/character is still clearly evident

Condition

Good *Assessed from streetscape survey only

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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