Dwelling - Baillieu

History/Notes
In 1912-13, the site at 57 Upper Skene Street formed lot 6 of the Newtown Tram Estate that had previously formed Henry King's "Sunnyside" property. It was purchased by Walter McNamara who, in 1925, sold it to Harry Denno builder. He built the existing dwelling at this time, along with a number of houses in Upper Skene Street in the 1920s. In 1926, Denno sold the property to Laurence Willey, a farmer from Lethbridge. He lived there with his wife, Ruby Mabel (nee Hibbert) Willey until his death in 1976.

Laurence Everard Willey was born at Bellarine in 1893, the son of Gilbert and Louisa Ann (nee Tucker) Willey. Laurence Willey's occupation as a farmer at Bellarine was interrupted following the outbreak of World War One. He enlisted with the A.I.F. in February 1916. A year later in 1917, he was admitted to hospital with an illness and in the following year he was wounded in action (gassed) and taken the Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul, France. Willey later named his house in Upper Skene Street presumably in gratitude to the medical staff who tended to him. In late 1918 he contracted influenza and was admitted to a hospital in Corsham, then Dartford England. He returned home in April 1919, and married Ruby soon after. They initially set up family life farming at Lethbridge and were involved in the Lethbridge Methodist Church.

The single storey, timber interwar Californian Bungalow styled dwelling is reflective of its original design when viewed from Upper Skene Street. This includes the main single storey gabled roof form and the projecting verandah gable supported on square timber posts with streamlined timber fretwork between. This and other detailing is similar to the neighbouring dwelling at 55 Upper Skene Street also built by Denno. Other original features include the timber framed double hung windows (with leadlighting in the upper sashes), front doorway, broad eaves with exposed timber rafters and the gable infill (include the bellcast base to the verandah gable). At the rear are alterations and additions first carried out in 1997 and again in 2006 and 2011. There are high capped timber picket front fence and gates.

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, 1445/1997, 4026/2001, 791/2006, 3345/2011, City of Greater Geelong.
The RAMC Casualty Clearing Stations 1914-1918 online at http://www.1914-1918. net/ccs.htm
L.E. Willey A.I.F. Attestation Paper, National Archives of Australia. Information kindly provided by the owner, 2015.
Geelong Advertiser, 13 March 1922, 23 December 1925.
Certificates of Title, vol. 4029 fol. 630, vol. 4977 fol. 265.
Newtown Tram Estate subdivision plan, 30 March 1912, Alfred Deakin Library, Deakin University, 333.337099452 Gre/Pos.
S.I. Cook, Portarlington Remembers 1914-1918, Portarlington & St. Leonards R.S.L. Sub Branch, Portarlington, 2016

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House