Charles Pearsall's House

Statement of Significance

Pearsall House (fmr), Woodvale has historic significance for its associations with the Pearsall family, who had considerable impact on the development of the district. The place has aesthetic significance as an example of an early homestead in Joondalup.

Physical Description

Pearsall House (fmr) is a single storey, former residence constructed of painted limestone blocks and a corrugated hipped iron roof that continues over the verandah. The verandah extends around three sides of the house and is supported by jarrah posts at regular intervals. A concrete floor extends around the entire building, interrupted only by the skillion-roofed addition to the rear. The façade has a centralised doorway entrance with a large lawned area in front, and climbing roses adorning the verandah posts. The building is fenced on three sides with Colorbond. The front of the house is exposed to both the carpark associated with the Church, and the nearby road.

History

The house is the former residence of William Charles Pearsall, known as Charles. The suburb of Pearsall was named after him in honor of his long contribution to the community and his position as a member of the Wanneroo Road Board. Originally from Albury, William Charles Pearsall left Victoria in 1906 when he was 24. He paid his way from Melbourne to Perth by shoveling coal on a freighter. Pearsall met and married Constance Backshall of Leederville in 1908. They lived at 36 Salisbury Street behind the Oxford Hotel. Pearsall had a workshop at 66 Vincent Street (1915), and then 133 Oxford Street (1918) for a plumbing and metal working business with his partner Fred Phillips. Pearsall was skilled in making milk buckets, billy cans and water cans, but developed respiratory problems and was advised by his doctor to move to the country. In 1922 William Charles Pearsall, along with his brother Bert Pearsall and his father-in-law, moved to a seven and a quarter acre lot on Cockman Road, which is now Duffy Terrace and Woodvale Drive. He paid £400 for the acreage and house, which although recently built, was unfinished. The house had a long cement passage, but the other rooms had the more common tongue and groove, jarrah floorboards. The family intended to establish a market garden, but soon found it difficult as when they ploughed the fields, they found ironstone a foot to 18 inches beneath the surface. Water sat on the ironstone and the vegetable crops withered. Disappointed with this venture, William Charles Pearsall returned to metal working. He manufactured cans and water tanks: in those days everyone in Wanneroo needed a water tank. The Pearsall family were the first to screen silent pictures for the community, located in the old Wanneroo Road Board Hall in the mid-1920s.

Condition

Fair - assessed from street view only

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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