Leslie Street Precinct, Hawthorn

The Leslie Street Precinct is very large and comprises almost the entire area between Burwood Road, Glenferrie Road, Auburn Road and The Boulevard. This is a 'super precinct' that was originally identified and assessed as three parts in the 'Hawthorn Heritage Study' (M Gould, 1993). From north to south they were: The Civic Precinct (along the axes of Burwood Road and Oxley Road), Urquhart Street Precinct (along Swinburne Avenue, Urquhart Road, and The Boulevard); and Leslie Street Precinct (just Leslie Street, at the south-east corner of the super-precinct). The three sections are of a contrasting character as the Urquhart Estate at the centre was developed in the interwar period, dividing the Victorian and Federation development in the Civic Precinct and Leslie Street.

The assessment of the Civic Precinct (M Gould, 1993, Vol 1, page 85) summarises it as follows: Representative of the early years of Settlement 1835-1855, the growth of Hawthorn as a Victorian Garden Suburb 1856-1900, particularly local government and the Growth of the town and growth of Commercial Shopping Centres; and Edwardian Prosperity 1901-1919.

Among the Civic Precinct's 'common characteristics' are: Generally detached, sometimes attached residences, sprinkled between churches and other civic facilities . Shops generally two storey. Houses single storey generally .

The Urquhart Street Precinct (M Gould, 1993, Vol 1, page 86) is noted as: Representative of changing patterns 1920-1930. Its history is presented as follows:

The Urquhart Street area remained in the ownership of the family of the first purchaser until 1919, and was leased for agricultural purposes. Subdivision of the last substantial landholding in Hawthorn in 1919 sought to continue the established Hawthorn garden suburb image. It protected the character of the new residential area with covenants requiring: minimum 30 feet garden setbacks, 10 feet between houses, and only private dwellings. Council reinforced these by proclaiming the subdivision a "brick area" and prohibiting iron roofs.

The section of the 'common characteristics' of the precinct includes: single detached residences. Due to the covenants on this subdivision, no semi-detached dwellings were permitted.

A consolidated statement of significance was prepared for what is now known as the Leslie Street Precinct (HO164) as part of the 'Review of Heritage Overlay Precinct Citations' (Lovell Chen, 2006). It reads as follows:

The Leslie Street Precinct, Hawthorn, which includes both Leslie Street and the Urquhart Estate and Oxley Road precincts, is an area of heritage significance for the following reasons:

- The place illustrates most of the significant development phases affecting Hawthorn including the early years of settlement (1835-1855), the growth of Hawthorn as a Victorian garden suburb, the Federation-era prosperity of 1901-1919; and interwar concepts of the garden suburb.

- The place contains a number of individually significant buildings exemplifying High Victorian and Italianate design, the Federation style in its formative phase, and a series of characteristic interwar designs.

- Individually significant buildings in the Oxley Road precinct include institutional buildings such as St Columbs Church, Auburn Uniting Church and its accompanying buildings, and notable houses including Terrick Terricks and Auburn House.

- The place has a particularly well-preserved and notable collection of the prevailing house styles of the 1880s through to the 1930s, with homogeneous concentrations of style in several streets. The interwar Old English and Mediterranean is particularly well represented in Urquhart Street and Swinburne Avenue and homogeneous arrays of 1920s Bungalows are found in The Boulevard and Lyall Street. Oxley Road, Elmie and Goodall Streets have a good variety of Victorian and Federation houses. Leslie Street is a homogeneous run of 1880s workers' cottages, and Minona Street has a relatively intact group of small late interwar housing units.

-Through the road layout, the footpaths transecting parts of the precinct, the broad street lawns in the Urquhart Estate component, mature street trees and other landscape features, and concrete road paving (Swinburne Avenue), the place clearly demonstrates the application of the 'garden suburb' ideal as variously interpreted in the later nineteenth century, Federation and inter-war periods. In Hawthorn the precinct compares interestingly with its primarily Victorian and Federation predecessor, the Grace Park Estate (HO152). The Urquhart Estate component (Urquhart Street, Swinburne Avenue, and The Boulevard) was the last substantial land holding in Hawthorn to be subdivided for residential purposes (in 1919).

Extension character of Area 1

There are two distinct areas proposed as extensions to the large HO164. As they are different in character as well as geographically separated, they will be discussed individually.

The first area proposed as a precinct extension is on the east side of the current HO164 precinct: 198-218 Auburn Road.

This row of residential buildings includes: three Victorian houses at Nos. 202-206 Auburn Road (see MMBW plan, below); two Edwardian villas at Nos. 198 & 200 Auburn Road and a semidetached pair at Nos. 208 & 210 Auburn Road; as well as three interwar villas at Nos. 212, 216 & 218 Auburn Road. There is a very new two-storey house at No. 214 Auburn Road (Non-contributory).

The precinct extension adjoins the HO164 precinct to the north, at 186-196 Auburn Road. The two-storey terrace row at Nos. 186-190 and the two villas at Nos. 192 & 194 (double and single-storey) date from the Victorian era, while the southernmost house - at No. 196 - is a single-storey Edwardian villa.

The housing stock in the proposed precinct is very similar in type and quality to that in the existing precinct boundaries. The bichrome brick Italianate villas at Nos. 202-206 are of particular note. Two of the Edwardian dwellings - Nos. 200 and 208 - have been altered, but are still recognisable as dwellings of that era.

The south end of the extension was subdivided as part of the Urquhart Estate (L.P. 8025). These blocks are larger and the houses are interwar bungalows with generous side setbacks, in keeping with the covenanted requirements. The three surviving houses are masonry with tiled roofs, also as required, with an Arts & Crafts influenced roughcast render finish to the houses at Nos. 212 & 218.

Note that properties to the south between Urquhart and Leslie streets, 226-254 Auburn Road, were also considered as a possible part of the HO164 precinct extension. They comprise three pairs of semi-detached interwar shops at 226-236 Auburn Road, as well as a row of semi-detached California Bungalows that are massed below a single gable-fronted roof at 238-248 Auburn Road, and two detached brick bungalows at 250 and 252 Auburn Road. The final shop at 254 Auburn Road is contemporary.

While the interwar era of this row of shops and residences corresponds with the development period of the adjoining Urquhart Estate, subdivided in 1919, it sits outside the subdivision proper and has a noticeably different character. In particular, the requirement for detached single-family houses with 10-foot (3-metre) setbacks between buildings does not extend to this part of Auburn Road. Looking at the current (2006) statement of significance for the consolidated HO164 precinct, the properties at 226-254 Auburn Road do not 'demonstrate the application of the "garden suburb" ideal' like the Urquhart Estate. For this reason, they have not been included in the proposed precinct extension.

Extension character of Area 2

The second area proposed as an extension is at the north-east corner of the existing precinct: 1-17 & 6-12 Edlington Street and 170-178 Auburn Road. This area adjoins the HO164 Leslie Street Precinct to the south and west (14-16 Edlington Street and 184 Auburn Road), and also HO220 Auburn Village Precinct at the north (574-590 Burwood Road). As the proposed extension is predominantly residential, it is a more logical extension to HO164, whose character is primarily residential with some commercial.

At the north end of the precinct extension is a bluestone pitched laneway, running east-west. It was built as part of the nineteenth-century commercial development along Burwood Road, though it also serves properties in the precinct extension.

Edlington Street was formed on the site of the entrance drive to the substantial 'Edlington House (demolished)', which is depicted on the 1903 MMBW Detail Plan No. 1502. The street was created around 1910, with all eight dwellings on the north side of the street listed in the 1912 Sands & McDougall's Street Directory. 'Edlington House', occupied by Robert Cochrane, was still the only occupant on the south side. The houses on the north side of the street comprise three Queen Anne semi-detached pairs and one detached villa (No. 1), all of which have repeating roof forms and decorative details that suggest they are the work of a single designer-builder. No. 7 was originally part of this group, but was demolished in 2016.

It was not until the late interwar period that the south side of Edlington Street was developed, presumably shortly after the mansion was demolished. Between 1938 and 1942, Winton Flats (No. 2-6 Edlington Street), Edlington Court Flats (No. 8) and a brick semi-detached pair (Nos. 10 & 12) were built, as well as Cliveden Manor Flats at the east end (178 Auburn Road). All but Edlington Court were constructed of clinker brick, as was typical of the time. Edlington Court Flats is of red face brick with brown manganese brick banding. All of them have tiled hipped roofs and timber double-hung sash windows with a variety of details. In keeping with their very late 1930s date, they are all rather austere with little applied ornament. Cliveden Manor, at the corner of Auburn Road, is the largest and most interesting particularly in its complex plan form with multiple angled bays projecting to the north, south and east sides.

The development on Auburn Road to the north of Edlington Street began at the same time as the adjoining north side of the new street. The 1915 Sands & McDougall's Street Directory shows all three properties built and occupied, with a dressmaker's at No. 168, a fishmonger's at No 172, and a surgical dentist at No. 176. All three properties also served as residences. These three buildings illustrate the various types of commercial built forms popular in the early twentieth century, with a standard commercial two-storey building at No. 168 (residence upstairs), a bungalow with shopfront projecting from the facade at No. 172, and a fully integrated residence and surgery at No. 176 as was typical of doctor's and dentist's surgery-residences.

Conclusion

The Victorian, Edwardian and Interwar villas and semi-detached dwellings in the Area 1 precinct extension - at 198-218 Auburn Road - comprises an area that is geographically and physically in keeping with the properties that contribute to the existing HO164 precinct.

In keeping with the 2006 precinct statement of significance, the extension contains 'particularly well-preserved and notable collection of the prevailing house styles of the 1880s through to the 1930s'. The southern section (Nos. 212-218) is an original part of the Urquhart Estate and contains the houses types that characterise that subdivision.

The Edwardian dwellings on the north side of Edlington Street, the late Edwardian shop-residence buildings on Auburn Road (Nos. 168-176), and the late interwar flats and duplex on the south side of Edlington Street (incorporating 178 Auburn Road on the corner) in the Area 2 precinct extension comprises an area that is geographically and physically in keeping with the properties that contribute to the existing HO164 precinct.

Together, they correspond with the 2006 precinct statement of significance, containing a 'particularly well-preserved and notable collection of the prevailing house styles of the 1880s through to the 1930s'.

The semi-detached house form is seen elsewhere in the HO164 precinct, including rows of 1930s semi-detached houses at 472-482 and 528-538 Burwood Road (plus 2 Hepburn Street) and 1-13 Minona Street (plus 4 Hepburn Street), all of which are Contributory to the precinct.

Flats developments are not addressed in the precinct statement of significance and are not common in this area, though the other intact example of 1930s flats at 2A Lyall Street are graded Contributory to the HO164 precinct.

The buildings at 168-176 Auburn Road illustrate the transition from the commercial Auburn Village to the residential areas to the south of it. The northernmost building, No.168, has a typical two-storey shop-residence form, though with larger side setbacks, while the former dentist's surgery at No. 176 is indistinguishable from purely residential bungalows of the 1910s.

A full list of individual gradings within the precinct can be found in the child records, or the attached PDF of the precinct citation.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct