Two Houses

Statement of Significance

The place is of aesthetic significance as an example of a residential building dating from around the turn of the century, prior to the period of commercial expansion that followed the gold rush. The place is of aesthetic significance because it contributes to the visual quality of its location. The place is of aesthetic significance as an integral component of a group of residential buildings representing the pattern of settlement in Perth from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The place is of historic significance because it reflects the way of life of the working people of Perth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Physical Description

External - 66-68 Goderich Street was designed as a two storey semi-detached terrace, but has been adapted as 4 self-contained flats (now known as units 2, 3, 4 and 5 of 70 Goderich Street). The building features a simple symmetrical main façade faced by a verandah/balcony. The front portion of the building is set under a hipped roof with a short east-west ridgeline, while the attached rear wings are set under a pair of gable roofs (with a lower eaves height). The whole of the roof is clad with Zincalume. There are two large chimneys to the main roofline (set either side of the front ridgeline). Each of these was constructed of face brick (now painted), with a rendered moulded cap. The rear wings each have a smaller plain chimney located towards the northern end. The balcony to the main façade has a raked roof (springing from the eaves line of the main roof), square timber posts, and a cross-timber balustrade. The balcony floor is finished with timber boards while the soffit over the ground floor is clad with mini-profile corrugated sheeting. At ground floor level, brick paving extends from the front fence to the front wall of the building. The detailing of the balcony suggests that it has been partially or fully reconstructed. The main façade appears to have been constructed of face-brick in Flemish bond, but has been heavily painted. The other walls were constructed in English bond, now variously rendered or painted. The frontages of the two houses were designed as a mirror image. At ground floor level, each house had a main entrance abutting the party wall. Each of these is now fitted with a six-panel timber door, set under a tall, two-pane highlight. The front room of each frontage has a double hung window with two vertically proportioned panes to each sash, divided by slender mullions. The projecting sills have a simple square profile. At first floor level each frontage has French doors abutting the party wall, with highlight windows over. The windows align with those to the ground floor and have similar detailing, although with four-panes per sash and some modification to accommodate window mounted air-conditioning. Windows facing north and to the first floor of the rear wings have double hung windows with six-panes per sash. Windows to the ground floor of the rear wing have horizontally sliding sashes (also with six-panes per panel). The rear wings are set back from the face of the east and west elevations of the front portion of the building. These set backs accommodate single-storey, raked-roofed verandahs, which return in a continuous line along the rear. The house is set down from the level of the street, with 2 steps to the front yard. The front boundary is defined by a mid-height, flat timber-paling fence (to approx. 1.2m above the footpath), framed by a low face-brick plinth and face brick posts with rendered pyramid caps. Internal - An internal inspection was undertaken of the front room of Unit 2 (the entrance and front room to the original house on the western side), and of the entrance hall and stairwell for Units 4 and 5 (these occupy the upper floor with access from hallway of the original house on the eastern side). This confirmed that the internal layout has been reconfigured as part of its adaptation as a lodging house (from the late 1920s) and more recently as self contained flats, but that the original layout can still be interpreted. It also confirmed that some important original detailing remains intact and that this helps to illustrate the relatively high status of these houses when they were originally built. In particular, this includes the high ceiling level, deep moulded cornices, and the large and ornate ceiling rose to the front room of Unit 2. Other original detailing includes the fireplace surround to Unit 2, and the moulded cornices, high timber skirtings, moulded timber architraves and high level cast iron wall vents, which remain to various parts of the ground floor available for inspection. Alterations to the internal layout include the removal of part of the hallway wall and the blocking up of the hall archway in Flat 2. In the original eastern dwelling, the hallway remains, but beyond the hall archway a more recent, larger stairwell has been created by extending this space into what was originally the adjoining house. Large arched niches and highlight windows remain on the rear wall of this space, but the party wall has been removed and a wide return stair now leads up to Units 4 and 5, which are located across the front portion of the first floor.

History

This property is located on part of original Town Lot E28. When street numbers were first allocated in c.1897, the property was known as 122-124 Goderich Street. Then from 1900 it was No 56-54, before being given No. 68-66 from 1908 onwards. It now forms part of a larger residential complex known as 70 Goderich Street. In the Rate Books of 1886 Perth Town Lots E28 & E29 were described as vacant ground owned by George Taylor, builder. By 1887 the site appears to have been subdivided, with a person by the name of E. Connor shown as the owner of several residential properties along the Wellington Street frontage, and George Taylor as the owner of two houses (on Lot E28) and a hotel (the Star and Garter Hotel, Lot E29) on the Goderich Street frontage. The rated values indicate that these were both relatively substantial properties and it is almost certain that this was when the large two-storey, semi-detached house was built at what is now known as 66-68 Goderich Street. [Note: The entries in Rate Books over the next few years are difficult to decipher with numerous amendments to the information regarding lot numbers, occupants and primary street address.] In 1892-1893 one house was occupied by James Thompson (civil engineer), followed by W Weidenbach (merchant). The other house was occupied by M Friedman (dealer), followed by W. Miller (clerk). A look at tenants and their occupations suggests this property was designed to a style and standard suitable for a high-class clientele. For example, in 1903 one resident was a gentleman, Doctor Dixie Paumier Clement, and another long-term tenant was Thomas Stratham, who was the proprietor of the Darling Range Quarries. At the time of his death in 1918, it was reported that he was the: … proprietor of the Darling Range Quarries and Fire Brick Company … a member of the Perth City Council for three years [councillor for the East ward, c.1903], and a partner in the Wooramel Pastoral Company. (The West Australian 12 March 1918 p 4.) In 1905, E. A. Stone purchased the two-storey terrace at 66-68 Goderich Street from George Taylor. He had previously built five cottages c.1897 on Lot E30; two fronting Goderich Street (these were Nos. 56 and 58) and three fronting Wellington Street (three attached houses at No. 51, 53 and 55 Wellington Street, demolished c.1996). Sir Edward Albert Stone (c.1844-1920) was Clerk of the Legislative Assembly from 1870-1874; was appointed to the Supreme Court Bench in 1884; was Chief Justice of WA from 1901-1906, during which time he was knighted; and was Lieutenant-Governor from 1906 to 1920. Edward Albert Stone remained the owner of 66-68 Goderich Street until his death in 1920. It was then offered for sale as part of his estate: Nos. 66 and 68 Goderich-st., Perth. Part of E28 41ft. 6in., by 201ft to r.o.w., with substantial pair S.D. Brick Houses, each 6 rooms, kitchen, bathroom, washhouse, etc., sewered, rentals £117 p.a. A good sound city investment. (The West Australian 1 June 1921 p 2.) They were sold to Joseph Edmund Whitworth but passed the following year to Bernard Ferstat. Two years later he also bought the adjacent house at No. 70, and retained all properties until 1927, when they were sold to Simeon Epstein. In the mid-1920s, No. 68 began operating as a boarding house, run by Mary Munro. (The West Australian 29 May 1924 p 11.) A few years later, No. 66 was also a lodging house. This continued up to the mid-1950s, as indicated by numerous advertisements placed for rooms in newspapers. Aerial photos from 1948 show that the front portion of the building had a hipped roof with two chimneys and there were two rear wings under what seemed to be a lower pitch hipped roof, also with two chimneys. The 1954 sewerage plan shows a symmetrical plan. The terraces are a mirror image, with full length front verandahs, a projecting room to the rear (bath), and verandah to each side at the rear, and each residence has a water tank. Brick wc’s are at the far north of the lot, against the boundary fence. A 1985 photograph (313924PD SLWA) shows the building with a rendered front wall, face brick to the west wall, and short sheet corrugated galvanised iron to the roof. Chimneys visible to the front part of the hipped roof are face brick with rendered moulded caps. The upper floor verandah has a raked roof that extends from the eaves line. The balcony is semi-enclosed with what seems to be fibrous cement or timber panelling. Photographs from 1993 (BA1530/5632 & BA1530/5671, SLWA) show that the enclosed balcony has been removed and replaced with a criss-cross timber balustrade. More noticeably, the face brick walls have been painted and the roof replaced with modern, long-sheet corrugated profile roof cladding. Aerial and street photographs show that, between 1986 and 1992, a large public housing development was built, now known as 70 Goderich Street. It comprises a total of 105 units in a variety of buildings ranging from two to eight stories. Demolished for this redevelopment were two houses at 68 and 70 Bennett Street, Chevron Flats on the corner at 72-78 Goderich Street and Virginia Court at 60-62 Goderich Street, (both built in 1938 by architect Harold Krantz) and a house (74 Goderich Street). The c.1885 cottage at the original 70 Goderich Street and the two-storey terrace, 66-68 Goderich Street were retained and incorporated into the public housing complex. While the external form remains largely intact, internally, the terrace was adapted into self-contained flats.

Integrity/Authenticity

High integrity. Authenticity - detached house can still be readily understood and interpreted.

Condition

66 - Fair, 68 - Good

Uses

Creation Date

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