House

Statement of Significance

The house at No. 164 Chelmsford Road is a good example of Federation Arts and Crafts style architecture applied to a standard model of bungalow of the period.

Physical Description

The single storey brick dwelling is elevated across the front on a limestone foundation. The brick walls feature two bands of render, at sill and window head height. The main roof is hipped with an Arts and Crafts style decorative front gable over the protruding front room. The front verandah has a bullnose roof, supported on faceted posts, with a straight spindled valence. The place is assymmetrical typical of the plan form of working class Queen Anne and Bungalow styles. Its style is derived primarily from its geometrically patterned eaves detail and bracketed front window awning. Set back from the street and elevated across the front, by virtue of block sloping down to road. New fence with limestone piers and vertical steel railings. Extensions at rear, new roof, concrete verandah floor, possibly new verandah posts, new fence.

History

Chelmsford Road North Perth was part of the Hyde Park Heights Estate. The eastern end of the subdivision was also referred to as the Tramway Estate, indicating the importance of public transport in attracting residents to an area in the early part of the 20th century. In 1906, the tram service on Fitzgerald Street reached Forrest Street, providing public transport nearby and hastening development in the immediate area. The plans and subsequent work carried out on nearby Hyde Park around 1899 would also have also have increased the attraction of the nearby streets and it did lead to the subdividers using the name in a bid to attract purchasers. No. 164 (Lot 22) was built along Chelmsford Road between Leake (originally known as John Street) and Fitzgerald Streets near the western end of the street. It is one of a number of substantial brick and iron dwellings constructed in the area around this time. The right-of-way at the rear was part of the original survey. These lanes are very common in the North Perth area as they are in many other of the older suburbs of Perth. In 1904 - 05 W.H.C James is recorded in the Rates Books as owning Lots 22 and 23, but in 1905 there are no entries for the western end of Chelmsford Road. This correlates with the Wises Post Office Directories which indicate that the subject dwelling was constructed circa 1910 and those properties to the immediate east and west of the property constructed in 1910. The 1910 Wise Post Office Directories show just two dwellings on the northern portion of Chelmsford Road between what was then known as John Street (now Leake Street) and Fitzgerald Street, the subject dwelling appearing the following year in 1911. At this time three dwellings are listed on the southern side of the street along this portion. The first occupant of the subject dwelling according to the Wises Post Office Directories is Joseph Tobin who resides at the dwelling from 1911 to 1924. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s there are a number of different residents. In 1933 John Teehan and later Mrs Mary Teehan are listed as occupying the subject property until 1947 when Mrs Rose Matheson is listed as the resident. In 1949 the last year of the Wises Post Office Directories, Mrs Rose Matheson remains as resident. In 1990 a Building Licence is issued to Dienelt for additions to the dwelling.

Integrity/Authenticity

High degree

Uses

Historic Themes

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