Two Houses

Statement of Significance

The subject dwelling at No. 163 Palmerston Street forms part of a pair with No. 165 Palmerston Street

Physical Description

The subject dwelling at No. 163 Palmerston Street forms part of a pair with No. 165 Palmerston Street which has not been adopted onto the Town's Municipal Heritage Inventory. However for ease of information the subject dwelling has been described as part of a pair. The subject stone, brick and iron semi-detached dwellings at Nos. 163 -165 Palmerston Street, Perth were constructed in the Late Colonial Georgian style of architecture circa 1898. The dwellings, which have a simple, symmetrical front facade, are set back approximately 1.5 metres from the footpath behind a white picket fence. The symmetry is created by two tall chimneys, which service the front two rooms of each dwelling and by the centrally located front entry doors, which are flanked either side by projecting front rooms. The projecting front rooms are headed by hipped gables and have a shared iron skillion verandah. The windows within the projecting front rooms comprise a pair of timber framed sash windows and are covered by a timber and iron skillion awning. The windows of No. 165 Palmerston Street have security grills affixed to them and a roller security screen. The walls of the projecting front rooms are stone with red brick quoining, the side elevations of the dwellings are brick. Building Licence Plans dating from 1989 provide an indication of the internal layout of the dwellings. These plans are contained within the Appendix of this assessment. The plans show the two dwellings having an identical layout with a hallway running either side of the party wall with three entrances, projecting to three separate rooms. A fireplace is located either side of the wall dividing the first and second room in both the dwellings. The plans indicate that the dwellings share a chimney, which services a fireplace located in a third room at the end of the hallway of each dwelling. Access to the rear skillion additions is provided through this third room at the end of the hallway. The subject dwelling is located along the portion of Palmerston Street between Myrtle Street and Bulwer Street in Perth. Along this portion of Palmerston Street there are four lots, two of which contain semi-detached dwellings.

History

The subject dwellings are a semi-detached mirror pair of dwellings located at Nos. 163 and 165 Palmerston Street, Perth. The place is situated along Palmerston Street in the area north of Robertson Park and south of Hyde Park. The Robertson Park area covers part of a large water body previously called Lake Henderson, which once formed part of the series of freshwater lakes stretching from East Perth to Joondanna. Hyde Park was once known as Third Swamp. Perth's northern lakes were subject to flooding during the heavy winter months and the eastern lakes became heavily polluted. By the 1840s both these factors pressured the government to drain the lakes and sell off the land. The drained lakes proved to be ideal for growing vegetables and fruit, which encouraged the development of market gardens in the drained areas. Market gardening activities were carried out on the bed of Lake Henderson in the early 1870s, and the surrounding areas were developed. The market gardens were first established by the British settlers. However, following the arrival of a significant number of Chinese immigrants to Western Australia, they became almost exclusively operated by the Chinese until the late 1920s. Third Swamp or Hyde Park (originally a camping ground for Aborigines) became a duck shooting resort for Europeans and, as late as 1888, drovers used the places as a camp when bringing sheep to Perth. In the mid 1890s the gold boom resulted in the rapid urbanisation of Perth. Initially the immigrant population (which flocked to Perth), sought rental accommodation within walking distance to job opportunities and city services. In response to this increased need for housing, the inner city land was subdivided and then often subdivided again, resulting in an uneven, patchwork pattern of lot sizes in East Perth, Highgate and Northbridge. A small number of builders and investors built pockets of semi-detached houses in and around Perth, Highgate, Leederville, North Perth and Subiaco in anticipation of the development of high density neighbourhoods. The establishment of such neighbourhoods did not eventuate as the availability of relatively inexpensive and larger residential lots within easy access of the city enabled the majority of the population to pursue the popular ideal of a suburban lifestyle. The result of this left a few semi-detached houses isolated amongst detached suburban villas. Wise's Post Office Directories for 1895 did not list any properties along the portion of Palmerston Street between Myrtle and Bulwer Street where the subject semi-detached pair are located. However, they were drawn on the PWD sewerage plans dated 18 August 1897 (Sheet 8). The 1898 edition of the Directories indicated that the semi-detached pair were originally Nos. 135 and 137 Palmerston Street. At this time Walter Gillies was listed at No. 135 (now No. 163) and Daniel J. Molan at No. 137 (now No. 165) and there were only three people in all in the section between Myrtle and Bulwer streets. In 1899, the street numbering for the subject places changed to Nos. 165'“167 but still with Walter Gillies at No. 135 and by then James N. Waxwell was in No. 137. The numbering remained as such until 1907 when it was changed to reflect the current numbering. Walter Gillies remained in residence at what is now referred to as No. 163 Palmerston Street until at least 1910. The place that is now referred to as No. 165 changed frequently up until the second decade of the 20th Century. Occupants of these premises included: Samuel Correl in 1901, Edwin Curtwright in 1903, Mrs Carren in 1904, Michael Dwyer in 1908 and Mary Vincent in 1910. For the second decade of the 20th Century the pattern in occupancy changed between the dwellings as No. 165 was consistently occupied by the same person, John Eddy, and the place at No. 63 had a consistently high turnover of occupants. In 1949, the last year the Directories were published, the occupants were John Cockling at No. 163 and Mrs B. Gibson at No. 165. No original building licences were located to assist the establishment of a precise construction date. However, a set of City of Perth building licence plans dated 1989, document that the owner of the place at the time, K. Roberts, undertook some alterations to the subject dwellings. These works involved the addition of a timber framed skillion structure to the rear of both dwellings, which included a kitchen, bathroom and laundry.

Integrity/Authenticity

High

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