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39 The Avenue

Location

39 The Avenue Windsor, STONNINGTON CITY

Level

Incl in HO area Significant

Statement of Significance

What is significant?

The Avenue Precinct, Windsor, is a small residential area of freestanding Victorian villas developed from the early 1880s to 1900.

Elements that contribute to the significance of the precinct include:

The consistent construction dates. The consistent open setbacks of the villas. The detached form and generally consistent scale of individual villas. Few prominent additions and alterations. All the buildings along the eastern side of The Avenue within the precinct are of high individual distinction and have been identified as significant buildings under the City of Stonnington Planning Scheme. These villas remain largely intact to their original states, and typically survive with their presentation to the street unaltered retaining verandahs and decorative detailing. Few examples of non-contributory modern infill development with the exception of the developments at 35, 37 and 49 The Avenue. Face brick or rendered masonry materiality, and roofscapes with chimneys and pitched roof forms clad in slate or tiles. Garden setbacks to the street which are generally (with the exception of 46 and 54) free from prominent vehicle accommodation. A number of buildings along the east side of The Avenue retain original fences to the street. All of the buildings have fences that are sympathetic to the late Victorian character of the precinct. The large plane trees in the median strips along both sides of The Avenue.

How is it significant?

The Avenue Precinct, Windsor, is of local historical (HERCON Criteria A, C, & F) and aesthetic significance (HERCON Criteria B, D, & E).

Why is it significant?

The Avenue Precinct is of historical significance retaining remnants of one of the earliest and most elegant streets in the former City of Prahran (8.2 Middle-class suburbs and the suburban ideal). Development in the area generally derives from the surge of building construction which swept across South Yarra, Prahran and Windsor during the land boom which continued into the 1880s and beyond (3.3.1 Crown Land Sales, 3.3.3 Speculation and land boomers). The Precinct is unusual for the extent to which development proceeded unabated during the recession of the 1890s. The Precinct is of some additional interest for its associations with noted developer, Henry Cheel, and with St Matthew's Church.

The Avenue Precinct is of aesthetic significance for its collection of late Victorian buildings set on large garden allotments. Many of the villas on the eastern side of the street are unusually grand by local standards, reflecting the stature of their original occupants (8.4.1 Houses as a symbol of wealth status and fashion). This small sequence provides an intact example of the former character of The Avenue prior to the major flat and institutional redevelopment. Such consistently high levels of individual significance are rarely encountered within Council's Heritage Overlay areas. Areas of this level of intactness to their early state are becoming increasingly rare.

On the western side of the street, the Victorian villas that remain contribute to the character and significance of the area despite their generally lower level of intactness and architectural distinction. Although there is some non-contributory infill development on the western side of The Avenue, the streetscape's legibility to its late-nineteenth century state has not been unduly compromised.

Mature plane trees along the both sides of The Avenue provide a garden setting for the group (8.7.1 Creating leafy suburbs). The established gardens and remaining examples of palisade fencing are also important streetscape attributes.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct