West Hawthorn Precinct

The West Hawthorn Precinct was identified by the 'Hawthorn Heritage Study' (M Gould, 1993). A half-page precinct citation is found in section 4.2.6 (pages 84-85) of Volume 1 of that report, which is reproduced here:

West Hawthorn Precinct.

Representative of the Growth of Hawthorn as a Victorian Garden Suburb 1856-1900, particularly Workers Cottages and Associated Industrial areas.

Brick making has been the single major industrial activity for the Municipality throughout its development. Several pits with associated workers housing occurred throughout the Municipality. The best example of this theme of development in Hawthorn is at West Hawthorn, centred around previous clay pits at Smart Street Reserve, Mason Street Reserve and Fashoda Street Reserve. In line with the high status of Hawthorn, the housing here remains better than for similar Industrial developments on the opposite riverbank and points to another socio economic level of the garden suburb ideal, seeking refuge from the low urban amenity of the unsewered workers accommodation in the inner city.

West Hawthorn is locally significant as an illustration of: the influence of the brick industry; of workers housing; and of the garden suburb ideal for the less affluent.

A revised statement of significance was prepared for the West Hawthorn Precinct (HO220) as part of the 'Review of Heritage Overlay Precinct Citations' (Lovell Chen, 2006). It reads as follows:

The West Hawthorn Precinct, Hawthorn, is an area of heritage significance for the following reasons:

- The place is a large and varied concentration of brick and timber Victorian worker's cottages and modest residences. Connell and Mason Streets have a good proportion of brick residences, while College, Fashoda, Spencer Streets have a higher concentration of timber workers' cottages.

- The place is representative of the growth of Hawthorn as a Victorian garden suburb from 1856-1900, particularly the use of the garden suburb ideal through the incorporation of parkland in order to improve the amenity of workers housing.

- The precinct also includes a mix of late Federation and interwar houses and flats.

This is reflected in the current extent and valued buildings within the precinct, which are predominately modest Victorian-era houses of brick and timber, some of which are quite early (1850s or '60s), with Edwardian and interwar houses and flats scattered among them.

The current boundary of HO220 West Hawthorn Precinct is adjacent to the proposed precinct extension with interwar flats at 3-3A Lennox Street adjoining the proposed extension, as well as Victorian and Edwardian houses at 50-86 Denham Street.

To the east the extension borders on HO152 Grace Park & Hawthorn Grove Precincts at 78-104 Elgin Street. The main focus of this precinct is the Federation-era development in the curvilinear Grace Park subdivision, and the Victorian-era development to its north (Hawthorn Grove). It is not clear from the precinct description in 'Hawthorn Heritage Study' (M Gould, 1993) or the 2006 statement of significance why it has been extended to the west of Power Street as far as Elgin Street (bordering HO220 West Hawthorn Precinct).

Extension character

The buildings in the proposed extension along Lennox Street, west of Elgin Street, comprise a mix of housing types - from timber cottages and brick houses, to terrace rows and flats - and built dates among the Contributory properties ranging from the 1850s to the outbreak of World War II.

The Victorian-era dwellings in the extension include two early timber cottages at Nos. 14 and 24. It was built in the mid-1850s for Major Charles Newman, making it the oldest surviving house in the original Hawthorn village block. The two dormer windows at the front of the hipped roof were added in the 1980s (Pers. Comm., Hawthorn Historical Society, 2017).

There are also two pairs of semi-detached brick houses at Nos. 16-22 that have a shared hipped roof, not divided by a central party wall, indicating a pre-1885 date. There are other brick and timber Victorian houses at Nos. 4, 19, 21, 28 & 34, and a late-1880s single-storey terrace at Nos. 37-47 (the work of the same builder as the two-storey terrace around the corner at 78-104 Elgin Street in HO152). 'Ventnor' at No. 34 was built in 1883 as the home of Charles Baker, who was a councillor and mayor of Hawthorn in 1872-73. He had a shop in Burwood Road to the rear of his home (Pers. Comm., Hawthorn Historical Society, 2017). The intactness of the Victorian dwellings is good to fair, with many alterations to verandah detail and a few to windows. This level of intactness is superior to much of what is seen among nineteenth-century houses in the current extent of HO220, for example those to the north on Denham Street.

There is a lesser amount of Edwardian development, along the north side of Lennox Street. These include a large brick villa at No. 9 and two semi-detached pairs at Nos. 29-35. The semi-detached dwellings are particularly attractive, with paired half-timbered gables and large round-arched front windows. The pair at Nos. 29-31 are identical in design to 70-76 Denham Street at the rear, and the whole group was clearly built as a single development. The Denham Street pairs are Contributory to HO220 West Hawthorn Precinct.

Interwar dwellings on Lennox Street are the smallest in number, most of which are already in the Heritage Overlay. The late 1930s brick two-storey maisonettes at 3-3A Lennox Street are Contributory in HO220, and Lennox Court flats at 11 Lennox Street, built in 1939-40, have an individual HO (HO457).

The only interwar dwellings not yet in the Heritage Overlay are the group of four single-storey flats at 5-7A Lennox Street, built of dark brown manganese bricks and massed to look like a semi-detached pair (the last two flats are hidden at the rear).

On Denham Street there is a single property currently left outside the HO220 precinct boundaries: Denham Court Flats at 48 Denham Street. This L-shaped block of red-brick flats were listed in the 1942 Sands & McDougall's Street Directory, so are interwar in date.

Conclusion

In the proposed Lennox Street part of the extension, there are 26 dwellings fronting the street that would be Contributory to HO220 West Hawthorn Precinct plus one that would be Significant (11 Lennox Street, HO457), and 11 that would be Non-contributory. This is an overall 71 percent of properties that are Contributory or Significant. As noted above, their intactness is comparable or better than those seen in the existing HO220 Hawthorn West Precinct.

The proposed Contributory (and Significant) buildings correspond with the categories set out in the HO220 statement of significance: 'brick and timber Victorian worker's cottages and modest residences' and 'a mix of late Federation and interwar houses and flats'. The early houses at 14 and 24 Lennox Street are of particular interest.

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

Group

Urban Area

Category

Boundary Feature