35 Oswald Street

Statement of Significance

The dwelling is a good representative example of an Inter War Bungalow style of architecture.

Physical Description

The dwelling is a single storey rendered brick and corrugated steel hip roof building in the Inter War Bungalow architectural style. The residence is located on a predominantly single storey residential street and is bounded by a rendered masonry fence with rendered piers.

The dwelling has a symmetrical facade with a verandah that runs the full length of the Oswald Street elevation. The verandah is constructed with timber posts and has a corrugated steel roof that is at a different pitch to the main roof. There is a rendered chimney with chimney pots. The dwelling has timber windows to either side of the central entry door.

There is a dormer window with a small gable roof further to the side elevation. A lean-to garage is located to the side of the property.

Integrity/Authenticity

Post Office directories list a new house at 35 Oswald Street in 1924, as yet unoccupied. From 1925 to 1933, William Burnett is listed as occupying the house. In 1934 and 1935, Andrew Meloncelli lived at 35 Oswald Street. The following year, long-term owner Ern Kutcher is recorded as being in residence.1

A 1934 sewerage plan shows the house as a rectangular brick construction with a verandah across its full front elevation. A large timber outbuilding towards the rear of the block was probably a laundry. It had an attached toilet behind it.2 The footprint of the house shown in 1934 appears relatively unchanged on subsequent aerial photographs from 1953 to 1989, although a rear patio was added in the mid-1980s.3

Ernest E Kutcher married Gladys E Commons in Beverley in 1931.4 Ernest died in 1995, aged 89. Gladys died the following year, aged 91. Both are recorded as living in Victoria Park when they passed away.5

A grand-daughter of the Kutchers remembers them living at 35 Oswald Street into the 1980s. Few changes are believed to have been made to the place during this time, although the front façade was rendered, probably in the 1970s.6

In the early 1990s, the house was extended to the rear, almost doubling its area. The earlier portion was re-roofed, probably replacing corrugated iron with tiles. The roof of the extension, which appears to have removed a rear portion of the original house, was corrugated metal. The front portion of the house was also re-roofed in metal sheeting in 2018.7

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

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.