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

4 Redfern Street was designed as a modest example of a Federation Queen Anne house. Key elements include: • Simple asymmetrical plan, with a projecting wing on the eastern side of the main façade. • Tuck-pointed brickwork to the main façade with a wide rendered string course at window sill height. • Roughcast rendered panel along the eaves line (above the verandah). • Gabled-hipped roof, clad with corrugated metal sheeting. This features louvered gablet vents at either end of the main east-west ridgeline, a tall face brick chimney with a corbelled cap, and a prominent street front gable. The gable end extends over the projecting wing and features a roughcast rendered face, shallow triangular timber baseboard and turned timber finial. • Shallow rectangular window bay to the projecting wing. This features a bank of three vertically proportioned, top-hinged awning windows with traditional chamfered frames, square highlights and a moulded, rendered sill. The form of the window bay is accentuated by the deep eaves on either side of the flying gable. • Raked verandah extending across the full width of the main façade. This has turned timber posts and a paved floor. • Centrally located entrance, to the west of the projecting wing. This door is recessed back from the main façade, behind a semi-circular archway, and features a traditional highlight (with a stained glass panel) and high waisted sidelights. • A second bank of three vertically proportioned, top-hinged awning windows is located to the west of the entry. The house was built up to the eastern boundary and has a parapet wall along this side. It is set approx. 5m back from the front boundary, which is defined by a low limestone block wall. On the eastern of the block a driveway leads to a paved carparking area. • Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in good 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. By 1903, Lots 25 to 30 were all owned by Annie Wilson who, at that time, was living at 12 Redfern Street with her husband Charles (whose occupation was variously given over time as labourer, carpenter and railway employee). According to the Subiaco Rates Books, the property was sold to Mary Hobson in 1910/11 and the Certificate of Title confirms that it was subsequently sold to John Hendy (builder) in July 1915 and to Thomas Stark (contractor) in May 1916 - the latter taking out a mortgage on the property in 1917. The Rates Book of 1917/18 records the owner and occupier of a new house on this site as Elizabeth Sagar, although the title for the property remained with Starks until 1921, when it was transferred to Harriet Eliza Sagar. Thomas Starks trained as a carpenter, but by 1910 was listed in the Post Office Directory under the category Builders & Contractors, with premises in Axon Street, Subiaco. The readily available evidence confirms that Starks was involved in at least some speculative residential development in Subiaco, and houses that can be reasonably attributed to him include 6 Union Street and 4 Redfern Street, both of which were built in 1916-1917. It is also quite possible that Starks built 6 Redfern Street, which was constructed at the same time and is a mirror image of #4 in its external form (although there are variations to the detailing). The available information indicates that Mrs Sagar purchased the property on terms and rented it out until it was sold to William Leunig (produce merchant) in 1927. Leunig had moved into the house with his wife, Dulcie, in c.1925 - about the same time that he ceased a partnership with Charles Leunig, as Produce Merchants at Oxford-street Leederville under the style or firm of 'Western Produce Company'. In c.1936 the Leunigs moved to Nedlands, but they retained ownership of 4 Redfern Street until 1954. During this time the primary tenants were Frederick and Ilma Wilkins, who had been married in Perth in 1931. Frederick enlisted in WWII and Ilma was listed as the primary occupant in the Post Office Directories of this period, living here with her son, George. The Wilkins family had moved away from Subiaco by 1954, when the house was sold to Mavis West, who at that time was working as a shop assistant. Mavis lived here both prior to and after her marriage to Alfred Cole in 1958, also sharing the house with her mother, Agnes West, until 1968. Occupants of the property from its time of construction until c.1980 included: c.1918 Elizabeth Sagar 1920-1921 James Bull (butcher) and Sarah Ann Bull 1922 Charles L Blayden (possibly Charles Louis Bladen) 1923-1924 Richard Thomas Barkla (drapery manager) 1925-1936 William Leunig (produce merchant) and his wife Dulcie Edna Leunig 1937 — Baker 1938-c.1954 Frederick George Wilkins (clerk) and his wife, Ilma Zoe Wilkins c.1954-1958 Mavis Margaret West (shop assistant) 1958-post 1980 Alfred George Howard Cole (public servant) and his wife, Mavis (nee West)

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: The external form and detailing of this place remains consistent with the original design and the key elements of the traditional streetscape.

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

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