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House
Location20 Wallace Avenue TOORAK, STONNINGTON CITY LevelIncluded in Heritage Overlay |
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Statement of Significance
What is significant? It was occupied from 1931by William Dunstan (1895-1957) who won the Victoria Cross (VC) for his heroism at Gallipoli. Dunstan became the general manager and director of the Herald newspaper. It was later the home of his son, well-known journalist Keith Dunstan OAM (1925-2013). It remained in the Dunstan family for almost thirty years. It is significant to the extent of its nineteenth century external form and fabric. The modern additions to the rear and front fence are not significant. How is it significant? Why is it significant?
The villa at 20 Wallace Avenue, Toorak is significant. It was constructed in 1890 and comprises a single-storey house of rendered masonry which combines elements of the Italianate and Swiss Chalet styles. The facade is symmetrically massed and rendered with a high hipped roof, return verandah and gablets to mark the central entrance.
The villa at 20 Wallace Avenue, Toorak is of local aesthetic significance and rarity value to the City of Stonnington.
Aesthetically, 20 Wallace Avenue is a very unusual and creative blend of the Italianate style with Swiss Chalet detailing, illustrating a transition from the Victorian period to the Federation. The treatment of the walls below the verandah is typical of the Italianate style, which so dominated the Victorian era, with rendered masonry, a moulded beltcourse at impost level, segmentally arched windows and doors with hood mouldings. The rendered chimneys with cornices are also typical of that style. The house departs from the Italianate norm, however, in its roof and verandah. Instead of the low-line M-profile hipped roof, typical of the Italianate, it has a striking high hipped roof with a flat top and exposed rafter tails, in keeping with the steep pitched roofs used for Swiss Chalet houses. Other Swiss Chalet features include the use of multiple projecting gables to mark the entrance and to side elevations, ornamented with exposed purlins and decorative eaves brackets. Of special note is the return verandah. The verandah gablet has decorative trusswork, as did the main gables (mostly lost). The timber posts have deeply chamfered sides and nail-head motifs at regular intervals. The deep eaves of the verandah pediment are supported on decorative timber brackets which are a particular identifying feature of the Swiss Chalet style. Between the posts of the pediment and the rest of the verandah are intricate scrolled timber brackets. While not a full-fledged example of a Swiss Chalet, it is a rare example of a Victorian house exhibiting this style both in Stonnington and Victorian more widely. (Criteria B & E)
Group
Residential buildings (private)
Category
House