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

12 Redfern Street was designed as a modest Federation Queen Anne house. Key elements include: • Symmetrical, double fronted façade. • Hipped roof clad with corrugated metal sheeting. This has an east-west ridgeline and a pair of small gables facing the street. Each of these gables has a lightly textured face overlaid by three vertical timber battens. As part of modern alterations, the main ridgeline has been modified by the addition of a third gable. • Tuck-pointed face-brick façade with plain rendered string courses at window sill height and door head height. • Full-width, bullnose verandah, with a concrete floor, turned timber posts, carved timber brackets and a valance of square timber balustrettes. • Centrally located entrance door, with traditional chamfered architraves, highlight and narrow sidelights (all fitted with modern frosted glass panels). The door, which is a later alteration, also has a full height frosted glass panel. • Slightly projecting rectangular window bay to each of the front rooms (set directly under the original gables). Each of these has a triple casement window with chamfered architraves, square highlights, and a projecting moulded sill. The house was built up to the western boundary, abutting the side lane. It is set approx. 4.5m back from the front boundary, which is defined by a low, solid timber picket fence capped by a horizontal rail. A pair of trees in the front yard significantly reduce the visual impact of the modern, two-storey rear additions. 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 second husband, Charles (whose occupation was variously given over time as labourer, carpenter and then railway employee). The purchase of 6 residential lots and the construction of a well-built brick house suggests that Annie Wilson was a woman of some means (beyond what might be expected for the wife of a labourer). At this stage, no information has been found regarding her early life or first marriage that sheds further light on this. Annie died in 1912 and in 1915/16 the Subiaco Rates Book identified the new owner of Lot 25 (and Lot 30) as Charles Miller (a Harbour Trust employee). This was Charles Henry James Miller, one of Annie’s children by her first marriage, and entries in the Post Office Directories indicate that he continued to live here until c.1918. The house was then acquired by Stephen Ballinger (blacksmith), who lived here with his wife, Adelaide, and their children Leonard and Irene until c.1927 (after which they moved to Gloster Street). By the late 1920s the house had been purchased by Miss Myra Nellie Brown and was being rented out (while Myra was living at 17 Bedford Avenue). In 1930 the house was briefly occupied by Myra and her sister, Mrs Thelma Fisher - whose husband had been tragically killed in an accident in 1929, only one year after their marriage. Myra married Sidney Knight in April 1930 and both sisters had moved to South Perth by 1931. However, the following advertisement confirms that she retained ownership of the property until at least 1947: I HEREBY Withdraw from Sale my Property, 12 Redfern-st., Subiaco, from all Agents. (Signed) M. N. Knight. During early part of this period, newspaper advertisements occasionally appeared under Houses for Let, such as: SUBIACO, brick, four rooms, kitchen, gas stove, handy tram, 'bus. 12 Redfern-st. Key with Meatchem's Store; 22/6. (1932) And SUBIACO. 12 Redfern-st. Brick, 4 rooms, kitchen, gas, close school, tram, bus, 25/; refs. Knight, Taxation Dept. (1934) However, 12 Redfern Street then settled into a long-term tenancy, when it was occupied by William (Bill) Henry Bristow Reynolds (railway employee) and Amy Isabella (Belle) Reynolds – who lived here from c.1935. William and Amy had married in 1932, following the death of Amy’s first husband in 1930, and shared the house with her child from that marriage, Donald Biglowe-Reynolds (born 1924), until at least 1949. Following William’s death in 1952, Amy remained at 12 Redfern Street until, or shortly before, her death in 1956.

Integrity/Authenticity

Note: The external form and detailing of the primary facade remains generally consistent with the original design and the key elements of the traditional streetscape, although the ridgeline has been modified and second storey additions (towards the rear) have altered the building envelope as seen from the street. Note: The place has additional historical significance as one of the first few houses built to the west of Rokeby Road, between Hamersley and Heytesbury Roads, and as such helps to represent the nature of the initial wave of development that followed the construction of the Perth Electric Tramways Company's line through to the corner of Rokeby Road and Broome Road (now Hay Street) in 1899 and up Rokeby Road to Kings Park by January 1900. It also provides an interesting contrast with the very modest timber cottage built opposite in c.1905, which became atypical as the area developed further. Occupants of the current house from its time of construction until c.1955 included: c.1902-1912 Charles Wilson (labourer/carpenter/railway employee) and his wife, Annie Wilson 1912-1916 Charles Wilson (labourer/carpenter) 1916-1918 Charles Henry James Miller (Harbour Trust employee) 1919-1927 Stephen Ballinger (blacksmith) and his wife, Adelaide May Ballinger 1928-1929 Rev. James Hendry (Presbyterian minister) 1929-1930 WE Barblett 1930 Myra Nellie Brown and Mrs Thelma Fisher 1931-1932 William Crerar (caretaker) and Lily Crerar 1933-1934 Robert Leslie Stockbridge (mechanic) and Doris Evelyn Stockbridge 1935-1952 William (Bill) Henry Bristow Reynolds (railway employee) and To c.1955 Amy Isabella Reynolds (widow)

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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