House

Statement of Significance

156 Hensman Road, Subiaco is of some cultural heritage significance as a representative example of a modest Federation Queen Anne house that was adapted and extended in a compatible style as part of the gentrification of Subiaco/Shenton Park area, and the emerging appreciation of its heritage character, in the 1970s-1980s.

Physical Description

The extant detailing suggests that 156 Hensman Road was designed as a modest Federation Queen Anne house. The main façade originally featured tuck-pointed face brickwork (still visible with a painted finish above the west verandah), but this was later concealed by a thrown, roughcast render finish (in a style consistent with the mid-twentieth century).
The hipped roof is clad with corrugated profile sheeting and features a gablet vent to the street frontage, finished with metal louvers, pressed metal panels, scalloped gable boards and a plain timber finial. There are two face brick chimneys, both with curved metal cowls, evidence of former tuck-pointing, and bulbous roughcast rendered caps framed by plain rendered corbels.
The house was built up to the northern boundary and features a parapet wall along this side. The main entrance, which is located on the northern side of the main façade, is set within a recessed porch with a semicircular head. The five-panel door has heavy, late-Victorian style moulding and is framed by stained glass highlights and sidelights (in a Art Nouveau style). To the south of the entrance hall, the front room has a pair of full-height double hung windows opening onto the front verandah.
The place originally had a simple front verandah only, but now features a c.1981 return verandah with a bull-nosed roof, turned timber posts and metal lacework brackets (to the south-west corner). One of the two original double hung windows along the southern façade has been cut down as a door onto the side verandah.
Rear additions, believed to also date from the 1980s, created a projecting rear wing that features a stained glass window and a corbelled parapet wall at the eastern end of the return verandah. Both the original southern wall and those parts of the addition visible from the street have plain stretcher-bond brick walls and projecting, square profile, rendered window sills.
As noted above, the original section of the house was built up to the northern boundary and occupied less than half the width of the block. In the 1980s a large face-brick garage with a room over was constructed on the open southern part of the site.

History

The documentary evidence suggests that this place was constructed in c.1910 for the owner, Margaret Campbell, and her husband, Percy Campbell (a bootmaker). The Campbells occupied the house until c.1915 when they moved around the corner to 107 Nicholson Road, where Margaret ran a confectionary store until c.1927. Despite this move, Margaret Campbell remained the owner of 156 Hensman Road until her death in 1953. During this time it was rented out to a series of tenants, including:
1916 Arthur Charles Turrell, Engineer
1918-1924 Frederick Evington Harrison, Insurance Agent
1925 Frederick Edward Gaved, Watchmaker
1926 Frank Alexander, Labourer
1927 Hugh S Leckie and Miss Iris Dixon
1928 William Metherell
1929 Henry C Mills
1930 Claude Carter
1931-1938 Mrs Isabel McDiarmid
1939-1940 Cecil White
1941-post 1951 Frederick James Holland Barnes, Contractor.

Margaret died intestate and the property was subsequently managed under Letters of Administration by her son, George and, following his death in 1958, by Cyril Cotter – neither of whom appear to have lived in the house. By 1958 it had been occupied by Alfred Girling (a welder) and his wife Alison, and it was this couple who were the next owners, purchasing the property in 1962. It then changed hands a further three times in the 1960s before being purchased in 1970 by Sidney Donald Bradshaw (Chair of Zoology, University of WA, 1976-2004) and his wife, Jillian. The Bradshaws were responsible for a number of major alterations and additions over the next twenty years, including the construction of the two-storey garage/study, rear kitchen/bathroom extensions and the addition of the side verandah. These works, which responded to the heritage character of the place, reflected the gentrification of Subiaco/Shenton Park area and the emerging appreciation of its heritage character during that period.
Note: The original house occupied less than half of the width of the block and it is possible that this was to provide an opportunity for the site to be subdivided and a second narrow house built at a future date. If this had eventuated, it would have been similar to other speculative development in Subiaco, such as the pair of houses built at 7-9 Kershaw Street in c.1904.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High: The place continues to be occupied as a private residence.
Authenticity - Moderate: The original/significant external fabric of the building can still be readily understood at close inspection, although the detailing and form has been modified by alterations and additions.
Rarity/Representativeness - The underlying form and detailing of the place provides a representative example of the many modest Federation Queen Anne houses built in the Subiaco district in the early twentieth century. It has, however, been modified by major alterations and additions since the mid-twentieth century.

Uses

Creation Date

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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.