SCOTT STREET

8-30 Scott Street, Essendon, a small residential area comprising a short row of timber Edwardian and early Interwar-era dwellings built c1910-c1923, is significant.

The following features contribute to the significant of the precinct:

. The houses constructed c1910-c1923, as shown on the precinct map.

. The overall consistency of housing form (complex roof form, asymmetrical form), materials and detailing (weatherboard external cladding, gable end decoration), and siting (elevated siting, consistent front setbacks).

The house at 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 30 Scott Street are Contributory.

Non-original alterations and additions to the Contributory buildings are not significant.

The house at 10 Scott Street is Non-Contributory to the precinct.

How is it significant?

The Scott Street Precinct, Essendon is of local historical, representative (architectural), and aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?

Historically the Scott Street Precinct, Essendon, is significant as an illustration of what was a typical pattern of development in Moonee Valley, when larger estates were subdivided in the late nineteenth-century land boom, but where most development occurred between c.1905 and the 1930s. This pattern of development demonstrates the accelerated suburban growth of Essendon and of the municipality during the interwar years, encouraged by improved transport connections, including the introduction of electric trams along Mt Alexander Road in 1906, and other important services such as being sewered and having made roads. (Criterion A)

The houses in the Scott Street Precinct, Essendon, are representative of early twentieth-century housing in this part of the municipality, all of which exhibit a high level of intactness. They demonstrate the principal characteristics of their architectural style and original fabric: most of the dwellings have characteristic massing with an asymmetrical form set beneath a dominant and complex roof form, incorporating hips, gablets and projecting gables, and porches beneath the main sweep of the roof. Each dwelling is of timber construction, some have walls clad with weatherboard and notched detailing, and others have timber boarding to simulate ashlar stonework. Verandahs to many of the Edwardian-era dwellings retain turned timber posts with Art Nouveau-style decorative timber frieze and brackets. The Interwar-era houses have an asymmetrical bungalow form, with a broadly pitched roof of terracotta tile, weatherboard-clad walls and a dominant porch supported on timber posts atop heavy masonry piers. (Criterion D)

Aesthetically, the Scott Street Precinct is significant because of its picturesque streetscape, afforded by the shared distinctive roof forms and stylistic details, elevated siting and consistency of setbacks and scale of the dwellings. The row of free-standing Edwardian-era and early Interwar dwellings of timber construction built c1910-c1923, present a visually unified streetscape, distinguishing the Scott Street Precinct with a high level of visual cohesiveness. The high level of intact detail across most of the dwellings, particularly to the gable ends, verandahs, and door and window joinery, enhances the precinct's picturesque quality and overall visual unity. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House