Fairmount Park Estate Precinct

Fairmount Park Precinct, comprising 18-32 Barkers Road, 3-35 &2-26Elm Street, 3-7 Findon Street, 3-6 Myrtle Street, and 1-33 &2-32Oak Street, Hawthorn, is significant. The precinct contains predominantly brick dwellings from thelateVictorian and Edwardian eras, with some later interwar houses and flats. Original front fences are contributory (at 25 Barkers Road; 7, 9&10 Elm Street; 2, 18-20 & 26A Oak Street), as is the early lamp standard on Barkers Road (behind 5 Elm Street) and the bluestone laneways and kerbing.
The following properties are Significant to the precinct: HO436 -32Barkers Road, 15 Elm Street, HO41 - 22 Elm Street, 3 FindonStreet,HO467 - 19 Oak Street, HO468 - 25 Oak Street, 29 Oak Street, and30-32Oak Street.

How is it significant?

Fairmount Park Precinct is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

Historically, Fairmount Park Precinct is a tangible illustration of Hawthorn's transition from an early rural settlement to Victorian garden suburb, sparked here by the subdivision in 1880 of Crown Allotments 27and 28 into 112 suburban building blocks. Development wasslow until theVictoria Street Bridge was opened in 1884, providing ready access to Melbourne (via Richmond). As development stagnated in the 1890s, due to the depression, the area was only fully developed in the prosperous Edwardian period, with minor infill and replacement of dwellings during the interwar period. (Criterion A)
Architecturally, Fairmount Park Precinct demonstrates middle-class housing types from the late Victorian and Edwardian periods, and the interwar period to a lesser extent. Due to the relative prosperity of the owners and occupiers, most of the houses are free standing, witha few duplexes (some disguised as more prestigious double-fronted houses).It was only at the end of the interwar period that living in flats was considered reasonably acceptable in middle-class areas, hence the appearance of up-to-date Moderne examples in 1940.(Criterion D)
Aesthetically, the Significant houses in the precinct exhibit fine architectural design, a strong visual presence and high level of intactness.They include a number of late Victorian Italianate villas(32Barkers Road, 22 Elm Street, 19 & 25 Oak Street), Federationvillas(15 Elm Street, 29 Oak Street) and Federation Bungalows (3FindonStreet, 30-32 Oak Street). Overall the streetscapes of gracious houses behind consistent garden setbacks are also of aesthetic significance.(Criterion E)

Grading and Recommendations

Recommended for inclusion in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Boroondara Planning Scheme as a precinct.

For a full list of individual place gradings within the precinct, please refer to the attached PDF citation, or individual child records attached to this parent record.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct