Terrace Row

1-7 Miller Street, Essendon, a Victorian terrace row of four houses of unusual typology with Italianate and Art Nouveau references is significant.

Significant fabric includes the:

original built form as a terrace row of four houses and associated roof forms, original pattern of fenestration;

unpainted face brickwork, Italianate parapet and its ornamentation, entrance porches and Art Nouveau timber detailing, original chimneys, and

original window and door joinery, basalt thresholds

The rear extensions to 1 and 7 Miller Street are not significant.

How is it significant?

1-7 Miller Street, Essendon, possesses local rarity value to the City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?

1-7 Miller Street, Essendon, is a rare example of a residential terrace built to the street frontage featuring no setback or verandah. It is an unusually modest example for the period, having been constructed in 1896 when other examples of terraces are feature far more decorative facades and verandahs. Distinguished by their street presence and plain red brick walls with recessed entries, the cement rendered parapets, which are somewhat similar to those of neighbouring 31-33 Flower Street and form a somewhat overblown decorative element on an otherwise plain facade. The terraces at 1-7 Miller Street do not possess the typical polychrome or bichrome brick patterning or cast-iron verandahs commonly seen on other examples of the same period including 208-222 Ascot Vale Road, Ascot Vale, 1892 (HO304), and 5-13 Bank Street, Ascot Vale, 1890 (HO157). The unusually high density of the development at 1-7 Miller Street demonstrates working-class housing and is an expression of speculative development. The houses are unusually small in terms of numbers of rooms and allotment size and without the outdoor space usually associated with terrace housing of this period. (Criterion B)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Terrace