TERRACE

The Terrace at 128-132 Grey Street was built in 1868 for Thomas Russell, a produce merchant and auctioneer. The Terrace was designed by architects Crouch and Wilson.

This two storey, three house Terrace is constructed of bichromatic brick. The body of the Terrace is in tuck-pointed brown brick, contrasting to the cream brick piers and cornice. At ground floor level, the Terraces comprise a recessed porch with arched entrance against the party walls and two windows with architrave mouldings. The upper storeys each comprise three windows with moulded cement architraves and hoods below a dentillated cornice and decorative parapet.

Four large rendered brick piers and a wrought iron palisade fence separate the front gardens from the street.

Substantial alterations were made at the rear of the Terrace in the early 1990s, and the original service wings were demolished. However at the front the original interior planning and circulation spaces are still clear and the main rooms are structurally mostly intact. The main facade has been restored to reveal the crisp tuck-pointed polychrome brickwork.

Why is it significant?

The Terrace at 128-132 Grey Street is of architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

How is it significant?

The Terrace at 128-132 Grey Street is of architectural significance for demonstrating a transitional stage in the design and development of Terrace housing. It is an excellent example of the link between the earlier, simpler and more austere Terraces of the 1850s and the more decorated types of the 1870s and 1880s with their profusion of cast iron and classical detailing.

The Terrace at 128-132 Grey Street is unusual as an early example of the use of bichromatic brickwork in a Terrace building. Architects Crouch and Wilson favoured the use of bichromatic brickwork in several of their church designs in this period.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Terrace