HOUSE

The property at 2 Westmount Road, Healesville, comprises a single-storey double-fronted weatherboard late Federation style residence of 1922, on a diagonal plan. The house has a large low-pitched pyramidal roof with a smaller gable to the bay at the north-east corner of the building; and a deep verandah which returns from the north facade to the west elevation. The verandah roof is integrated with the main roof slope, with the roof clad in corrugated iron; a prominent double brick chimney is located on the west roof plane. The bay at the north-east corner of the house is gable-ended, with a boxed bay tripartite casement window with coloured glass toplights, sunhood/awning over, and painted shingles to the gable face behind a painted timber screen. The weatherboards to the base of the building and mid-height are also notched to emulate shingles. The windows to the verandah are tripartite casement forms, with those to the west elevation being paired timber-framed double-hung sashes. The verandah has a simple frieze of timber slats intersticed with simple cutout timber panels, and is supported on painted timber posts with timber brackets. The balustrade is of vertical timber slats, also intersticed with cutout timber panels. The verandah floor is timber boarding. The house is sited on a sloping block, from east to west; the undercroft to the west side is concealed by painted horizontal timber boarding. The property also has a lawn area and some trees to the front (north) setback, and a larger grassed expanse with trees to the property boundary on the south side of the house.

How is it significant?

The property at 2 Westmount Road, Healesville, is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Why is it significant?

No 2 Westmount Road, Healesville, is of local historical significance. The dwelling was constructed in 1922, on an allotment which was part of an earlier subdivision outside the original town reserve of Healesville. Westmount Road was originally a private road built in 1911, to service several guesthouses along its length. The street's elevated position, with views of the surrounding countryside, made it a popular location for guesthouses, and several flourished in this area in the first decades of the twentieth century. The subject property, due to its comparatively modest size, is not believed to have operated as a guesthouse. The property is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance, as substantially externally intact, late Federation weatherboard building, with a large spreading, low-pitched roof, and a deep return verandah with a comparatively simply detailed verandah frieze and balustrade. Elements of note include the diagonal planning as emphasized by the return verandah; projecting east end bay incorporating a boxed bay with a tripartite casement window with coloured glass toplights, sunhood/awning, and painted shingles to the gable face behind a painted timber screen; and weatherboards notched to emulate shingles. Elements in common with other houses of the general period in Healesville include the projecting gabled wing coupled to either a straight or return verandah (as here); the verandah roof integrated with the main roof form; and the straight-newel verandah railings, timber verandah posts and boarded up undercrofts.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House