Wrights Tce - Pridham St - Bayview St

The Wrights Terrace Precinct is a residential area comprising most of the properties in Bayview Street, Pridham Street and Wrights Terrace, Prahran. These streets had been laid out by the mid 1850s although development proceeded slowly until the land boom of the 1880s.Speculative development during this period saw the construction of rows of near identical single-storey timber workers cottages and modest villas. Development halted abruptly with depression of the early 1890s leaving a number of vacant lots. Building activity resumed in the early 1900s and by c1920 the precinct was effectively fully developed. The area remains largely intact to this c.1920 state.

Elements which contribute to the significance of the precinct include (but are not limited to):
-high degree of intactness of the area to its c1920 state arising from the low proportion of modern infill;
-intactness of individual buildings to their original states. Dwellings typically survive with their presentation to the street largely unaltered retaining verandahs and decorative timber or cast iron detailing;
-consistent single-storey height and modest scale of built form;
-face brick, timber or render materiality and gabled or hipped roofscapes with chimneys and slate or terracotta tiles or plain galvanised corrugated steel;
-generally uniform pattern of small front and side setbacks;
-consistent low fence height in most sections of the precinct;
-road alignments and allotment patterns resulting from nineteenth and early twentieth century subdivisions; and,
-the almost total absence of vehicle accommodation in front or side setbacks.

How is it Significant?

The Wrights Terrace Precinct is of historical and aesthetic significance at a local level.

Why is it Significant?

The Wrights Terrace Precinct is of historical significance for its capacity to illustrate the two major phases in the development of Prahran during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Rapid speculative development in 1880s created densely packed rows of near identical cottages and modest villas. The second phase of development took place in the early 1900s when housing activity resumed after the 1890s depression. This cycle of boom then bust then recovery is made apparent by the high proportion of building stock surviving from the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods of development (Historic Theme: 3.3.5 Recovery and infill 1900-1940). The urban form of the precinct, including the narrow street pattern, high density and housing typology also provides evidence of Prahran's important role as an artisan or working class area (Historic Theme: 8.5.1 'Struggletown' - working class housing in the nineteenth and early twentieth century).

The Wrights Terrace Precinct is of aesthetic significance for its substantially intact sequence of representative late nineteenth and early twentieth century workers' or artisan housing, including rows of single-storey, single-fronted timber cottages, modest double-fronted villas and later brick semi-detached pairs. The precinct is of particular note for the repetitive character of its early housing stock, consistent single-storey height and uniformly small front and side setbacks. The high density, narrow streets and long vistas within the precinct also create a distinct urban form which is in contrast to the grander mansions and villas found on wider streets to the east and west.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct