Chatsworth Road Precinct

The Chatsworth Road Precinct is a streetscape of late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential buildings. The land boom of the 1880s provided the initial stimulus for development on Chatsworth Road. A range of dwellings from modest timber villas to substantial one and two-storey terraces and ornate villas survive from this period. Further residential development was undertaken c1900-1910 on sites left undeveloped through the recession of the 1890s. Houses from this period typically occur as semi-detached dwellings.

Elements which contribute to the significance of the precinct include (but are not limited to):

-intactness of the area to its c1910 state arising from the low proportion of modern infill and the absence of prominent modern additions;
-the extent to which Edwardian dwellings such as those at 36-46 and 62-68 Chatsworth Road illustrate the resurgence in building activity after the 1890s depression;
-intactness of individual buildings to their original states. Dwellings typically survive with their presentation to the street largely unaltered retaining verandahs and decorative detailing;
-face brick, timber or render materiality and roofscapes with chimneys and pitched roofs in slate or terracotta tiles or plain galvanised corrugated metal;
-generally uniform front setbacks and modest side setbacks;
-allotment patterns resulting from the original late nineteenth century subdivision; and,
-verdant character arising from the mature street trees and the high proportion of properties retaining undeveloped front gardens.

How is it significant?

The Chatsworth Road Precinct is of local historical and aesthetic significance.

Why is it significant?

The Chatsworth Road Precinct is of historical significance for its ability to demonstrate the nature of middle class housing estates in nineteenth century Prahran and the important relationship between topography and social class in this period (Historic Theme: 8.2.1 Mansion Estates and the Higher Ground - Middle Class Estates in Prahran). The sloping topography of the area resulted in smaller working class cottages on low lying ground to the west and mansions on the higher ground to the east along Grandview Grove, with Chatsworth Road forming a transition zone of somewhat more modest middle class housing.

The precinct is also historically significant as an illustration of the way in which the depression of the early 1890s produced a hiatus in building works which endured for almost two decades. This mechanism was instrumental in creating the mixed character of the Chatsworth Road streetscape with Victorian villas interspersed with Edwardian dwellings of an entirely different architectural expression and no built form to illustrate the transition between the two (Historic Theme: 3.3.5 Recovery and Infill).

The precinct is of aesthetic significance for the quality of its varied late nineteenth and early twentieth century built form and the intactness, integrity and legibility to its mature 1910s state. Dwellings in the precinct typically reflect polite builders' domestic designs although some examples adopt a more refined architectural character, including the double-storey terrace pair at 52-54 Chatsworth Road. The Edwardian semi-detached villas in the precinct are also noteworthy for the extent to which their designers have worked to conceal the dual unit nature of these buildings with the appearance of freestanding middle-class villas.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct