Millowen

The property at 347 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, dates from c.1927 and is a double-fronted weatherboard house with a projecting verandah over part of the principal facade, covering a recessed entrance. The building is elevated and the verandah is accessed by a short flight of timber steps with painted timber handrails. The house has a large single hipped roof clad in corrugated steel, and a single brick chimney to the rear north-west corner. The house has wide eaves with exposed rafters, and the roof slopes down to incorporate the front verandah. The windows to the facade are paired double-hung timber sashes and the front door has a multi-paned clear glazed sidelight to its east side. The front door is a ledged painted timber door and incorporates multi-paned glazing to its upper section. The verandah is supported on paired square-profile painted posts and the balustrade is also of painted timber with non-original painted timber trellis panels beneath the balustrade. Another verandah runs along the rear elevation to the full width of the house, the roof of which is clad in clear laserlite. The house has a mature garden setting, including a prominent Canary Island Palm and a windmill palm.

How is it significant?

The property at 347 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Why is it significant?

The property at 347 Maroondah Highway, Healesville, is of local historical significance. The dwelling was constructed in c.1927 in a subdivision which, being north-east of the Graceburn River was outside the original town reserve of Healesville. The house is significant for its association with the State Savings Bank of Victoria's scheme to finance and build affordable houses in the post-WWI period. While the majority of these houses were built in Melbourne, this property is an example of one in a country area. The dwelling is believed to be a design of architect G Burridge Leith, who contributed designs to the State Savings Bank of Victoria book, Design Book Timber-Framed Dwellings containing 56 standard types; the latter included houses considered suitable for country districts. Of added historical interest is the fact that there was not a large number of State Savings Bank houses constructed in Healesville, although some local residences have features which are characteristic of the designs. The house is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance. While a comparatively modest house, and simply detailed, it is a substantially externally intact example of a 1920s weatherboard bungalow, with an asymmetrical verandah over a recessed entrance, a large single hipped roof which slopes down to incorporate the verandah, and wide eaves with exposed rafters. This aspect of significance is enhanced by the mature garden setting, including a prominent Canary Island Palm. It is also a representative example of the State Savings Bank house type, with elements of Burridge Leith's designs evident in the dwelling including the asymmetrical front verandah associated with the entry elevation; the hipped roof including its pitch; the exposed rafter intervals; window proportions; and the window and door spacing.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House