Hawkesbury

Statement of Significance

129 Coghlan Road, is of cultural heritage significance:
 For its aesthetic and historical value as a place that demonstrates the skill of the original owner-builder, William Thomas Ball.
 For its aesthetic value as a good representative example of a Federation Filigree house (a style that is unusual in Subiaco).
 For the manner in which its design as a relatively large two storey house illustrates the development of the immediate area as “one of the best residential portions of the suburb” in the first decade of the twentieth century.
 For its historical value as a place that helps to illustrate the transition of private maternity services from an unregulated cottage industry to a government-managed profession under legislation that required any commercially operated lying-in home to be licenced (State Children’s Act, 1907) and midwives to be suitably trained and licenced (Health Act, 1911)
 As one of the first two dedicated maternity hospitals opened in Subiaco (together with Nurse Lloyd’s “Hawaii” which operated at 23 Coolgardie Street in 1909-1936).
 For the historical value arising from its association with three women (Alice Morlock, Frances Hodges and Mary O’Brien) who established themselves in business as the managers of private hospitals in an era when nursing was one of the relatively few ‘respectable’ professions commonly available to women.
 For its historical and social value for the families of those who were born at 129 Coghlan Road during its use as a private hospital in 1909-1915.

Physical Description

129 Coghlan Road was constructed in the Federation Filigree style (as typified by the iron lacework to the balcony/verandah and the ‘classical’ parapet detailing).
Key elements of the current place (as visible from the street) include the:
 Asymmetrical, two-storey plan.
The house has a narrow front façade with a projecting parapet wall at the southern end. The leading edge of this wall has stucco decorations in line with both the balcony and verandah friezes.
On the northern side of the front façade there is a deep setback to a projecting rear wing (which includes the entry vestibule).
 Roof concealed from public view behind parapets.
To the main eastern façade the parapet has an open balustrade of rendered balusters flanking a centrally positioned, raised triangular pediment. The open balustrade returns along the main northern façade and then returns again over the eastern façade of the projecting rear wing. Along the northern face of the rear wing the parapet has a closed rendered face.
Along the southern side of the house a utilitarian brick parapet steps down at the front to match the line of the bullnose balcony roof.
Immediately behind the front façade a single chimney with a projecting rendered cap aligns with the side wall.
 Tuck-pointed face brick walls.
Return verandah, starting at the projecting parapet wall along the southern boundary and returning along the northern side of the house to abut the rear wing.
The balcony balustrade is made up of alternating iron lace baluster panels and balusters under a plain timber rail. The former have a distinctive asymmetrical, sunflower and trellis design, which matches a design registered in Victoria in 1887 by J Cochrame & G Scott (Registration No 444) (Brian Turner, Australia’s Iron Lace (Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp 183-184). Australia’s Iron Lace also includes a photograph of a Western Australian example of this panel (using a very similar baluster) at 79 South Terrace, Fremantle (p.102).
The top of the balcony is framed by a fringe panel and matching brackets.
At ground floor level the verandah has a deeper scrolled frieze, over a fringe panel and brackets that match those to the balcony.
Both levels have turned timber posts.
 Matching double hung windows to the ground and first floor levels of the front façade.
The single opening at each level has brick voussoirs forming a shallow arched head and what appears to be a moulded rendered sill.
Each of the wide, deep openings has a large central double hung window (with clear glass) flanked by narrow double hung windows (with textured green glass), divided by wide flush architraves.
 Two sets of French doors opening onto the balcony along the main northern facade, both with highlights and moulded timber architraves.
 Single opening onto the verandah along the main northern façade (largely concealed from public view by the high front fence and garden planting).
 Entry vestibule at the southern end of the return verandah (housed in a portico under the balcony).
Glimpses of the top of this entrance suggest that this has distinctive stained glass panels to the highlights and sidelights and possibly to the upper panel of the door.
A tall rendered boundary wall and panelled gate screen the grounds and most of the ground floor facades from public view.
The surrounding streetscape is mixed, with a mixture of modern and contemporary houses (to the north and south), a modern office building (at the corner of Coghlan and Bagot Roads) and the Wandana Apartments (opposite).

History

On 13 March 1883, the Western Australian government announced it would survey a section of the Perth Commonage into suburban lots and that these would be made available for private sale. The subject site subsequently formed part of Perth Suburban Lot 217. Part of PSL 217 was later subdivided as Deposited Plan 1601, which included residential lots with frontages to Coghlan Road and Bagot Road. Another part was subdivided as Deposited Plan 1173, which included residential lots with frontages to Coghlan Road and Tischler Street (later renamed Park Street).
In 1898, Lot 1 of DP 1601 was sold to “Annie Maria Ball of Subiaco, Married Woman”. The property then remained in her ownership until the time of her death in March 1937, which confirms that the Ball family were responsible for the construction of the house that forms the subject of this report. It can be assumed that Annie Maria Ball also purchased the adjacent Lot 9 of Deposited Plan 1173, as these lots later created what is now known as 129 Coghlan Road (although the house was largely located on Lot 1).
The Post Office Directories listed Annie’s husband, Thomas William Ball, as resident of Proclamation Street, Subiaco, by 1897 and he was identified as a ‘carpenter’ of that address in the Electoral Rolls of 1903 & 1906. In 1910 he was listed in the Post Office Directory under the category Builders & Contractors, with premises at 21 Proclamation Street, Subiaco (since demolished). It is therefore reasonable to assume that Ball was responsible for the construction of 129 Coghlan Road and that it was initially used as an investment property before becoming the Ball’s family home.
There were no listings for 129 Coghlan Road in the Post Office Directories of 1908-1911. However, in September 1908, a mortgage was secured over the property for the sum of £756, which suggests that some development had been undertaken by that time. An architectural plan held in the City of Subiaco Museum Collection includes a pencil note: “Started Sept 17/’08”, and a stamp from what appears to be the Metropolitan Water Board, which is dated 14 September 1908. The title of the drawing is “Proposed Villa Residence Coglan (sic) Road, Subiaco, for Mrs Ball”. The only other name on the drawing is a small pencil note “Withman”, but no references have been found for an architect by this name.
This drawing shows the exterior of the place much as it is today, although the proposed balustrade (shown as a timber lattice), the northern elevation of the entry vestibule and the detailing of the front windows were altered as part of the construction. The drawing also indicates that the roof was designed as an open terrace, accessed by the main staircase (although the rooftop entrance is not apparent on the 1948 aerial photograph of Subiaco).
The house may have been finished off at the end of that year when the following advertisement was placed (although it cannot be confirmed that this was for the same property):
PLASTERERS Labourer wanted. Apply R Bartlett, Ball's job, Coghlan-rd Subiaco.
The house had certainly been completed and rented out by mid-September 1909, when the following advertisement was placed:
NOTICE is hereby given that we, ALICE MORLOCK and WILHELMINA WILTSHIRE, Midwifery Nurses, of "Hawkesbury," Coghlan-rd., SUBIACO, intend to APPLY to the SUBIACO LOCAL BOARD of HEALTH for REGISTRATION as PRIVATE HOSPITAL of those premises situated at Coghlan-rd. Persons desiring fuller information can obtain same on application at the Council Office, Subiaco. ALICE MORLOCK. WILHELMINA WILTSHIRE. September 17, 1909. N.B. The premises to be used solely for Midwifery cases.
The proposal was initially approved by the Subiaco Council, but at the end of September Cr. Solomon presented a petition signed by 40 ratepayers protesting against the proposal on the grounds that the by-laws had not been complied with. The matter was deferred and when the Council considered a new application in mid-October, Cr. Solomon’s only objection was that:
… the establishing of a maternity home in one of the best residential portions of the suburb was likely to depreciate the value of property.
After “a brief discussion” the licence was again approved and family notices for the birth of children at Nurse Morlock's, “Hawkesbury”, began to appear in December.
The use of the premises for this purpose reflects a landmark change in the period 1907-1911, which saw the transition of private maternity services from an unregulatedcottage industry to a government-managed profession under legislation that required any commercially operated lying-in home to be licenced (State Children’s Act, 1907) and midwives to be suitably trained and licenced (Health Act, 1911). Hawkesbury was one of the first two dedicated maternity homes opened in Subiaco, together with Nurse Lloyd’s “Hawaii” which operated at 23 Coolgardie Street in 1909-1936 (with other local lying-in facilities of that era typically offering a room in a private family residence).
By April 1910 management of the premises had been taken over by Nurse Frances Hodges and towards the end of that year by Nurse Mary Mildred O’Brien:
MISS M. M. O'BRIEN, Certificated Nurse (Member of A.T.N.A. and I.T.N.A.), has Superior Accommodation at her Private Maternity Hospital, 'Clareen,' Coghlan-road, Subiaco, near King's Park, Perth. Moderate terms, Tel. 673 (Dec 1910)
The private maternity home then continued to operate until 1915, with the last family notices being placed in April of that year:
BATES.—On April 12, at Nurse O'Brien's Private Hospital, Clareen, Coghlan-road, Subiaco, to Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Bates, of 62 Robinson-Street, North Perth — a daughter.
In May 1915 the contents of the house were offered for sale and Mary O’Brien was subsequently listed in the Electoral Rolls as an orchardist of St Anne’s, Kelmscott.
In the Electoral Roll of 1916, Thomas and Annie Ball were listed at 16 Grant Street, North Perth. However, entries in the Post Office Directories suggest that they settled at 129 Coghlan Road at about that time, and the family was still living here when Thomas died in November 1919 (aged 66 years) – at which time he was still described as a builder.
Following Thomas’ death the house was rented out for 4-5 years and may have been used as a boarding house during that time. By 1925 Annie and her children had returned to 29 Coghlan Road and were listed in the Electoral Roll as follows:
 Annie Maria Ball, home duties
 Thomas William Ball, carpenter (born c.1893, married mid-1930s)
Note: In c.1931 Thomas took over management of the Subiaco Garage (220 Rokeby Road) in partnership with his future brother-in-law, Norman Logie. They continued to operate these premises until at least the 1950s.
 Maud Beatrice Ball, home duties (born 1897)
 Ruby Luscombe Ball, milliner (born 1900, married mid-1930s)
Following Annie’s death in 1937 the house was transferred into the ownership of her daughter Maud, but it continued to be the family home for all three siblings for the rest of their lives, together with Thomas’s wife, Ella, and Ruby’s husband, Norman.
Beatrice Ball and Ruby Logie both died in 1977, ending the long association between the Ball family and 129 Coghlan Road.
Historical aerial photographs (dating from 1948) show that the main building envelope has remained largely unchanged, although there have been some additions/alterations at the rear. In c.2005-2006 the large side garden was re-landscaped and the main roof replaced.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High: The place continues to be occupied as a private residence.
Authenticity - High: The original external detailing of the building is largely intact and/or sympathetically restored/extended, and the place has been well maintained.
Rarity/Representativeness - 129 Coghlan Road is a good representative example of a large Federation Filigree house. This style was unusual in Subiaco, where large single storey Federation Queen Anne villas were more typical for a house of this size and quality.

Uses

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.