Dwelling

History/Notes
In 1912-13, the site at 55 Upper Skene Street formed lot 6 of the Newtown Tram Estate that had previously formed Henry King's "Sunnyside" property. It was purchased by William McRorie who, in 1924, sold it to Harry Denno, builder. Denno built this house in 1925 (along with a number of other houses in Upper Skene Street in the 1920s). He sold it to Robert Wood, a railway employee formerly of Roxby Stret, Manifold Heights. Wood lived there with his wife, Margaret Theresa Wood (nee Ward) until his death in 1971.

Robert William Wood was born in Geelong in 1891, the son of Richard and Elizabeth (nee McKay) Wood. With Margaret, they had a son, Robert Michael Ward Wood in 1919. On Wood's death in 1971, the property at 55 Upper Skene Street was described as including 'a five-roomed Weather Board dwelling house with garage and fowl pens all in bad order (bathroom and wash house floors both gone through)', valued at $8000.

The timber interwar Californian Bungalow styled dwelling is predominantly intact when viewed from the front. The original features include the main gabled roof and front verandah gable supported by timber posts with streamlined timber fretwork between. This and other detailing is similar to the neighbouring dwelling at 57 Upper Skene Street also built by Denno. There is also a timber verandah balustrade. Other original features include the broad eaves, gable infill (including the ventilator in the verandah gable end), timber framed double hung windows (with leadlighting in the upper sashes) and the front doorway. The gabled carport at the side was built in 1999 while the rear additions were constructed in 2004. There is a timber post and woven wire fence that is characteristic of a type of fence once common for an interwar era of the dwelling.

References:
Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages Indexes, Dept. of Justice.
Newtown Rate Books, 1925-1935, Geelong Library & Heritage Centre.
Newtown Building Permit, 1925, City of Greater Geelong.
Building Permits, 746/1999, 40160/2014, City of Greater Geelong.
Certificate of Title, vol. 4943 fol. 598.
R.W. Wood, Probate Administration files, 1971, VPRS 28/P5 Unit 1069 PROV.
Newtown Tram Estate subdivision plan, 30 March 1912, Alfred Deakin Library, Deakin University, 333.337099452 Gre/Pos.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House