Duplex

The semi-detached pair at 2 and 4 Ngarveno Street, Moonee Ponds, is significant. The pair was constructed for, and likely by, Robert James Wilson, builder and carpenter, in 1909, and number 4 was then occupied by his son.

The two dwellings are significant to the extent of their 1909 fabric. Significant fabric includes the:

Single-storey, semi-detached built form;

timber block front and weatherboard cladding;

shared pyramidal hipped roof of corrugated iron (with a west-facing gablet to the ridge),

unpainted brick chimneys;

detailing to the porch, gable ends;

original pattern of fenestration, elements of window and door joinery, and decorative leaded glazing; and

original building setbacks.

The rear extension to number 2 not significant.

How is it significant?

The pair at 2 and 4 Ngarveno Street, Moonee Ponds, is of local aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?

The semi-detached pair at 2 and 4 Ngarveno Street, Moonee Ponds, is of aesthetic significance for its massing of two mirror-image dwellings under a dominant shared roof to appear like one, large detached villa; a more prestigious type of building. While this approach was seen during the Edwardian period in some of Melbourne's eastern suburbs, it was an unusual approach in the City of Moonee Valley (then the City of Essendon) at the time. The design is successful, thanks to its exuberant decoration, including half-timbering in a king-post pattern, above a bow window with a roughcast render neck above and shingled skirt below, and a deep fretwork frieze and intricate brackets both with a curvilinear Art Nouveau influence. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House