WAR SERVICE HOMES PRECINCT

The War Service Homes Precinct, 1-13, 2A-12 Acacia Street, Camberwell is significant. Part of the Highfield estate subdivided in stages from 1886, Acacia Street was formed in the latter stages of the land releases during the 1920s and the houses reflect the War Service Homes Commission requirements for new homes. Nos 8 and 9 are non-contributory (9 as a result of a large second storey addition), but all other places within the precinct are contributory.

How is it significant?

The War Service Homes Precinct is of local historic, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

Acacia Street is historically significant as part of a group of 100 houses built as Group 29 under the Housing and Reclamation Act 1920 and the War Services Home Act 1918-20. The War Service Homes Commission was an important part of the social welfare net in Australia, being responsible for the construction of over 20,000 homes throughout Australia by 1929, and continuing in several different formats until well into the 1960s. Historically, the War Service Homes precinct in Acacia Street Camberwell forms part of the Highfield Estate subdivided in a number of different land releases from 1886- 1927. The precinct is associated with the War Service Homes Commission established in 1918 that enabled ex-service men and women to secure loans for the purchase of homes at concessional rates. Acacia Street is significant for its association with the first phase of the scheme whereby the homes were built by the State Savings Bank but owned by the Commission. Houses in Acacia Street are from the period before 1927 when all War Service Commission Homes were under the ownership of the State Savings Bank and illustrates a number of the house designs published in catalogues by the State Savings Bank in the 1920s and 30s. Criterion A)

The timber residences constructed in Acacia Street represent a range of house designs selected from the Sate Savings Bank catalogues in the 1920s and 30s, and built within the £800 limit imposed by the Housing and Reclamation Act loans. Theses include a number of the popular designs including the 'cottage' and the 'bungalow', described as having five rooms (kitchen, dining or breakfast room, lounge room and two bedrooms) with a wide central passageway, and an internal bathroom and external toilet. The War Service Homes Precinct is notable for its representative house designs including the T7, T10, and T9. (Criterion D)

The War Service Homes Precinct Street is aesthetically significant for its notable consistency in the dwellings' size, scale, style and materials, with varying combinations of transverse gabled roofs and hipped roofs, projecting gabled wings or entry porches; and with a mixture of both asymmetrical and symmetrical designs. There is a rhythm and pattern to the street that is evident through the same architectural vocabulary adapted in different combinations. The timber weatherboard walls and terra cotta tile roof combination is highly consistent and decorative interest is provided through the use of overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends, pillars to the porch, timber framed windows with multi-paned top sashes, eaves brackets and the sparing use of timber shingles as cladding to specific elements. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House