HOUSE

The property at 81 Newgrove Road, Healesville incorporates a dwelling constructed in 1912-16, on a large and sloping allotment. It is a double-fronted single-storey fibro cement sheet clad building, with an overall bungalow form, and contrasting painted timber strapping to external walls. The residence has hipped and gabled roof forms, including a timber-strapped gable over the entrance porch and a smaller gablet to the rear elevation. The roof has deep eaves and two roughcast rendered brick chimneys. The visible windows are paired and triple double-hung timber sashes. The front porch is framed by painted timber posts and brackets in an Arts and Crafts style; the doorcase is framed by toplights and sidelights. The house is set on a plinth of painted vertical timber boarding which conceals the underfloor area. To the rear of the building, facing out towards the view, is a deep verandah inset beneath the roof line. The garden includes a row of mature cypresses which partly conceal the property from Newgrove Road.

How is it significant?

The property at 81 Newgrove Road, Healesville, is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Why is it significant?

The property at 81 Newgrove Road, Healesville, is of local historical significance. It was built in 1912-1916 by its original owner, Edwin Holland, a Collins Street hair specialist. He had purchased six allotments in the area in 1909. Holland's efforts to have a road made to his property, and water supplied, demonstrate the lack of services in this immediate area of Healesville in this early period. Despite these setbacks, Holland constructed an attractive country house in the Old English Arts and Crafts mode. It may have served, at least for a period, as a holiday house for the city based professional. The property is also of local aesthetic/architectural significance. The dwelling is substantially externally intact, albeit there is a modern extension and the roof cladding is not original, and distinguished by its Arts and Craft influences, seen here in a somewhat simplified and stripped back form. Notable characteristics include the contrasting external timber strapping to walls, in the manner of an expressed frame; the gabled entrance porch arrangement, including the timber posts and brackets with tulip-cut-outs. The use of a plinth with an underfloor area is a common Healesville response to topography and sloping sites; placing a verandah on an elevation other than the front facade, to take in views, is another local characteristic. The garden, particularly the screening row of mature cypresses to the Newgrove Road boundary, also contributes to the setting of the dwelling and enhances the aesthetic significance.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House