House

Parent Place or Precinct

26002 Kershaw Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

The Kershaw Street Heritage Area is of cultural heritage significance within the City of Subiaco for the following reasons: • As an aesthetically pleasing streetscape with a strong heritage character, featuring a narrow avenue of mature street trees, which frame views of the largely intact Federation and early Inter-War vials. • For its retention of many good, representative examples of Federation Queen Anne villas (which collectively illustrate a gradual evolution in architectural detailing between 1904 and c.1918). • For the cohesive streetscape created by a limited palette of materials and styles. • As a representative collection of houses that illustrate the scale and standard of housing considered appropriate for the families of professional men, such as merchants, bankers and civil servants in the early twentieth century. • For the evidence it provides about the manner in which the residences of senior professional men and business owners existed side by side with the smaller residences of more junior employees in early twentieth century Subiaco. • For its association with the subdivision of this area by James Chesters, an investor from Melbourne, in 1892. In this context it also represents the status of Western Australia as a place of opportunity during the gold rush era of the late nineteenth century – attracting significant investment from the eastern states. • For its association with the efforts of James Chesters as a local land agent and property developer, following his move to Western Australia in 1905. • For its association with Joseph (Joe) Totterdell, who was responsible for the construction of many Subiaco houses (including some in Kershaw Street), and who, for a brief period (1916-17), lived at 25 Kershaw Street (one of his development properties).

Physical Description

65 Hamersley Road, Subiaco, was designed as a single storey Federation Queen Anne style villa. It has red, stretcher-bond, face-brickwork and a complex gabled-hipped, corrugated metal roof, the latter featuring tall painted brick chimneys with wide, projecting moulded caps and terracotta pots. The main (Hamersley Road) façade is asymmetrical with a projecting wing on the eastern side and a return verandah addressing the north-west corner. The walls to both street facades are tuck-pointed, with a plain rendered stringcourse at window sill height. At eaves level there is another rendered stringcourse, this one featuring eaves brackets over a moulded bottom edge. Under the verandah, further interest is added by wall niches with curved heads and rendered surrounds. The verandah has raked roof (springing from the bottom of the eaves string-course), a concrete floor, turned timber posts and simple timber brackets. It is accessed from the garden by a splayed set of concrete steps. The main entrance to the house is located at the head of these steps, adjacent to the eastern wing. This features a six-panelled door with a glazed highlight and narrow, half-glazed sidelights. A secondary door, double with a segmental head, is located at the far end of the return verandah. The projecting wing at the eastern end of the main façade features a prominent gable with a roughcast render and half-timbered effect to the face, and a turned timber finial. The triple casement window to this wing has plain glazing, square highlights, a moulded projecting sill (along the string line), and a raked awning supported on decorative timber brackets. A matching window under the verandah is set in a shallow projecting bay, with a matching gable over the verandah roofline. Comparable detailing is repeated on the Kershaw Street frontage, to the projecting wing at the southern end of the return verandah. The alignment of the return verandah is set back approximately 6m from both Hamersley and Kershaw Streets. The spacious front yard has a combination of paving and specimen plantings, and is bounded by a picket fence with ball-capped square posts. At the rear of the house, and extending towards Kershaw Street, modern additions have been constructed in face-brick, with detailing referencing the original part of the house. The extensions include a single garage with a high, gabled roof, which has been built up to the Kershaw Street boundary. This garage is linked to a smaller garage (at the south-western corner of the block) by a high, rendered boundary wall. The house retains a high level of original external detailing, although the extensions have modified the form of the building to the rear (including raising the roofline above the original east-west ridge). Based on a streetscape inspection the building appears to be in good condition.

History

James Chesters, an investor from Melbourne, purchased Perth Suburban Lots 249 and 250 in 1891. In the following year he had this area laid out as a new residential estate (Deposited Plan 504), which included the creation of Lots 159 and 160 (65 Hamersley Road). In 1907, James Chesters was listed in the Western Australian Post Office Directory as a ‘House & Land Agent’ with offices in Rokeby Road and a residential address in Hamersley Road. Chesters applied for a separate title for the double allotment in March 1906, presumably shortly before or after the house was built. Records indicate that he lived at #65 from 1907 until late 1910, when he moved to a new house he had built at 59 Hamersley Road. The property was transferred to Agnes Monck on 15 November 1910. The Monck family lived here until 1922, during which time the property was known as 'Crossmore'. Later purchasers included Elizabeth Rosam, 1922; Thomas Canvin (wine saloon proprietor) & his wife, Elizabeth, 1936; and May Chinnery (of 9 Kershaw Street) & her daughter, Olivia Fernihough (nee Chinnery), 1957. Occupants of the property from its time of construction until 1949 included: 1907-1911 James Chester (House & Land Agent) 1912-1922 Louis Ozmond Monck (Civil Servant) 1923-1930 George Rosam (Retired Shopkeeper, formerly of Norseman and Geraldton) 1931-1936 Elizabeth Teresa Rosam 1937-1949 Thomas Canvin (Wine Merchant). Following Thomas’ death in 1941, his widow, Elizabeth, remained here until the mid 1950s.

Integrity/Authenticity

While the place has been extended, it retains clear evidence of the original design and detailing.

Condition

Good

Uses

Creation Date

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