May Street Precinct

The May Street Precinct, comprising 5-45 and 10-50 May Street; and 134-144 Wellington Street, Kew, is significant. It was subdivided as part of three different estates in 1885 and 1886. About half of the houses along May Street were built during the nineteenth century, and tend to be modest single-fronted houses, mostly of timber with a few brick examples. The second half were built mostly from 1910 to 1920, including the three semi-detached pairs on Wellington Street.

The following properties are Non-contributory to the precinct: 22, 25, 31, 33 & 40 May Street. The remainder are Contributory.

How is it significant?

The May Street is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

The May Street Precinct is of historical significance as a tangible illustration of the late nineteenth-century subdivision pattern seen in Kew. The slow development of transport to the suburb meant that the area was characterised by large blocks of land and mansion estates for most of the century, with small suburban subdivisions occurring from the mid-1880s. May Street, which is only a single block long, illustrates this process as it was subdivided bit by bit, as part of three estates: Auburn Grange, Omnibus Reserve and Wellington Reserve estates. This piecemeal progression is demonstrated by the kink in the May Street roadway, which indicates the boundary between two of the estates. (Criterion A)

The precinct is of architectural significance for its collection of houses that represent the dwellings erected in the more modest parts of Kew during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These include a large collection of single-fronted Italianate timber cottages with typical features including hipped roofs with bracketed eaves, rendered chimneys with a cornice, simple front verandahs, and double-hung sash windows, some with sidelights. The Edwardian houses are Queen Anne in style and range from single-fronted cottages with a half-timbered front gable, to double-fronted samples with an asymmetrical facade. A number of early interwar houses have very similar designs, including the gable-fronted form and casement windows. (Criterion D)

The precinct is of aesthetic significance for a number of unusual or particularly ornate examples of Victorian and Edwardian dwellings, in particular the pair of bichrome brick semi-detached Victorian dwellings at 36 & 38 May Street with raking parapets ornamented with blind Serlian arches, and the two pairs of semi-detached Edwardian Queen Anne timber dwellings at 138-144 Wellington Street which have elaborate timber fretwork, leadlight windows and half-timbered gables with an Art Nouveau influence. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct