Victoria Park Veterinary Clinic

Statement of Significance

The place has aesthetic value as a inter-war bungalow; and The place has social value for its continuing presence as a veterinary clinic servicing Victoria Park since the 1950s.

Physical Description

Located on the corner of Somerset Street this site comprises of a former residence and a structure to the rear of the lot that addresses Somerset Street. Between the two buildings is a car park servicing the current occupants. The site is bounded to the north by Terminus Lane. The building is a Veterinary Clinic. The former residential building is single storey with a hip roof. The walls are constructed of rendered masonry that is painted. The roof is clad in concrete tiles. Timber windows are casement and double hung. The windows to Somerset Street have timber framed awnings. There are exposed timber rafter ends to the eaves. A rendered chimney has terracotta chimney pots. To the west of the subject site are buildings dating from a similar era. The building has a painted rendered masonry high wall to the boundary. The site has a number of mature plantings and there are two mature street trees to Somerset Street. The building to the rear of the site is a single storey painted brick structure with a parapet and skillion roof. The building has a face brick stretcher bond wall to Terminus Lane. This building is built on the lot boundary to Somerset Street and to Terminus Lane.

History

Post Office directories first list a residence at this site in 1928, when ‘new house’ is listed. At the time, it was number 1172, until numbering changed in the early 1930s to 974. The original occupant was Mrs Esther Cairns, who live there until 1938, probably with her husband George David Cairns. From 1935, Mrs Don Baxter also lived at the home.1 A plan drawn in 1935 shows 974 Albany Highway as an L-shape brick residence with a large verandah/ porch at the south corner. Steps access the front porch from the east, but the pedestrian entrances to the property are at the corner and a rear lane gateway. A driveway accesses a garage within the rear yard, approximately in the location that the customer carpark driveway is now located. The only other outbuilding is a toilet at abutting the rear (laneway) fence.2 The building at the rear of the lot, along the railway, was added between 1935 and 1953.3 Post office directories suggest it was likely erected in 1938. In 1939 and 1940, three occupants are noted as ‘974 –rear’, but as none were listed in the main house it is likely only F. Hall, cabinetmaker, was based in the rear building. He remains recorded at the rear of 974 until 1946, after which no rear tenant is noted. From 1939 through to the last available post office directories in 1949, Mrs Catherine Taylor and John Pope are listed living at 974 Albany Highway.4 Catherine Taylor was still resident at 974 Albany Highway when she died in 1952. Her daughter Ethel was married to Jack Pope – presumably the John Pope of the post office directory listing. It appears Catherine Taylor lived with her daughter and son-in-law following the death of her husband Frederick Taylor.5 The current vet at 974 Albany Highway remembers seeing early clinic records, since destroyed, that suggested the rear building was used as stables for treating horses, but it does not appear to have been purpose-built as stables. In the earlier years of the practice, the district was much closer to surrounding farmland and it is likely the vet clinic catered for large animal medicine such as horses and other livestock.6 The only veterinary practice listed in Victoria Park or nearby districts in 1949 was L.W. Mahaffey at 284 Albany Highway.7 It is believed the first vet at 974 Albany Highway was Dr Lindsay William Spiers.8 Dr Lindsay William Spiers registered as a veterinarian in 1954, at which time he lived in Riverview Road, East Victoria Park.9 He ran the veterinary practice at 974 Albany Highway as Somerset Veterinary Clinic. Spiers died in 2007, aged 81.10 Dr Spiers’ wife Myrtle in 2017 established a memorial prize at UWA in honour of her late husband, awarded annually to a high-achieving student in the Faculty of Science.11 A verandah was added along the northeast elevation of the house by 1961.12 In 1982, the clinic was purchased from Dr Spiers by Rick Fenny. Images taken at the time show the place with a domestic appearance, including the garage and driveway to Somerset Street, suggesting the Spiers family may have also lived at the practice. The front porch was partially enclosed with glass louvres and pedestrian access to the property remained from the corner, as it had been in the 1930s. Incoming owners fully enclosed the front porch, probably as a waiting room, removed the old garage, installed a customer carpark and reoriented both pedestrian and vehicle access to be from Somerset Street.13 Extensions were added along the northwest elevation between 1983 and 1985. A large addition was made to the south corner of the building between 1985 and 1989. A portion of the original porch was removed as part of these works, leaving a much narrower enclosed entry area.14

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update