Residence "Keyham" prefabricated timber house including interior

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The prefabricated timber house 'Keyham' in Newtown is one of a large number of portable houses imported to Geelong in the 1850s by local merchant Frederick Bauer and others to meet housing exigencies during the Victorian fold rushes. Most probably 'Keyham', named by it's original owner John Buckland after a place in Leicester, was manufactured in Germany or Switzerland. Markings can be seen on roof timbers. The original four room house of wide ship-lap weatherboards, slate roof and chinoserie style verandah is of archaeological importance as a rare survivor and intact illustrations of a once common building.

RECOMMENDATIONS: PROTECTIVE MEASURES

Geelong Regional Commission Register.

Historic Buildings Council Register.

National trust of Australia (Victoria) Register.

Australian Heritage Commission Register of the National Estate.

REFERENCES

Geelong Advertiser - 19 January, 1929 - reference to house being prefabricated from Swiss Oak, imported to Geelong in sections from John Buckland - article by JH Botterell.

Brownhill, W. R. - A History of Geelong and Corio Bay, Wilke & Co., Melbourne, 1955, pp. 106,160,264-265,546.

Seaton, G - Model Borough - An Introduction to Old Newtown and Chilwell.

City of Newtown 1983 p.p. 106-107 fir reference to SV Buckland.

For a discussion on prefabricated timber houses of German origins see.

Huddle, Lorraine - 'The Heights' A Conservation Analysis, national Trust of Australia (Victoria), Unpublished report 1984.

Geelong Historical Society Investigator - Vol 1, 1965-66, p.5, Vol 6, No 2, June 1971, p.53, Vol 10, No 3 September 1975 p 66.

For reference to SV Buckland and originals of legal firm Taylor and Buckland.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House