Coonil Estate Precinct

The Coonil Estate Precinct is a residential area developed in stages during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Victorian-era houses in the precinct are predominantly detached brick villas dating from the 1880s coexisting with a smaller number of more modest timber cottages. Most of the Edwardian houses in the precinct were developed through the subdivision of the Coonil Mansion Estate as part of a wave of suburban development that occurred in the Malvern area through the early twentieth century.

Elements which contribute to the significance of the precinct include (but are not limited to):

- the Victorian-era houses including the predominantly detached brick villas dating from the 1880s coexisting with a smaller number of modest timber cottages;
- the Edwardian houses and streetscapes developed through the early twentieth century and including fine examples of the 'Queen Anne' revival style and relatively early examples of the bungalow idiom;
- a selection of dwellings from the 1920s and 1930s which are generally sympathetic in terms of their architectural form, scale, and siting, and as such make useful contributions to the early character of the area;
- the predominantly single-storey nature of the precinct. The two-storey scale of the villa, Hadleigh, provides an atypical, but historically important, variation from the scale of the precinct more generally;
- the detached form of the early dwellings with substantial and generally uniform (within each streetscape) front setbacks and side setbacks;
- generous allotments providing landscaped settings for dwellings. A group of modest Victorian cottages in Park Street and semi-detached dwellings in Grace Street form notable but valued variations to the more typical arrangement;
- intactness of built form across all of the periods. Dwellings survive largely unaltered and the area is notable for the absence of prominent additions and alterations. Visible upper level additions to Edwardian buildings are uncommon but typically adopt a discrete dormer form;
- hipped or gabled roofscapes with chimneys and terracotta or slate tiles or plain corrugated galvanised steel cladding;
- the extent to which original detailing survives. Nineteenth century buildings typically retain verandahs, polychrome brickwork and ornamental detailing. Edwardian buildings are generally of note for their ornate timber detailing but in Coonil Crescent, Canberra Grove and Thanet Streets this expression is particularly well-preserved;
- low incidence of modern interventions such as parking provisions in front setbacks (particularly in areas such as Park Street where few crossovers exist at all); and,
- the retention of sympathetic low front fences in some sections of the precinct (most notably in sections of Grace Street);
- street layout and subdivision patterns, in particular, the picturesque curvilinear street layouts of Coonil Crescent and Grace Street;
- mature street trees; and,
- bluestone kerbs, channels and laneways (to the extent that they survive).

How is it significant?

The Coonil Estate Precinct is of local historical and aesthetic significance.

Why is it significant?

Historically, the Coonil Estate Precinct is significant for its capacity to demonstrate important phases of the middle-class suburban development that shaped Malvern during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The earliest parts of the precinct are a product of the 1880s land boom which saw the rapid expansion of suburban Malvern in response to the construction of the railway (Historic theme: 3.3.3 Speculation and land boomers- subdivision from 1880 onwards). The area contains important individual examples of boom period design alongside intact areas of more typical ornamented villas and cottages. The dwellings, typically in landscaped settings on generous allotments illustrate the desire for rus in urbe - city in the country - and life away from the crowed conditions of the inner city (Historic Theme: 8.2.2 'Country in the city' - suburban development in Malvern before 1920). The consolidation of suburban Malvern, assisted by the development of the tramways network through the early years of the twentieth century, is evident as a second wave of development centred on Coonil Crescent. New houses in the Coonil Estate were typically built to a series of strict regulations that prohibited timber construction and set minimum construction costs. As a result, the substantial, but polite, built form underscores the middle class aspirations of Edwardian Malvern. The development of the precinct in two distinct eras, with no built form to illustrate the transition between the two, highlights the impact of the recession of the 1890s on the development of Malvern (Historic Theme: 3.3.5 Recovery and infill 1900-1940). The meandering layout of Coonil Crescent formed to accommodate the retention of the Coonil mansion is a modest reminder of the earliest patterns of subdivision and of the large Victorian properties which were sold off and subdivided to allow modern Malvern to come into being (Historic Theme: 8.1.3 The end of an era - mansion estate subdivisions in the twentieth century).

The Coonil Estate Precinct is aesthetically significant as a substantially intact collection of streetscapes and more substantial housing from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The Victorian streetscapes in the precinct include fine Victorian Italianate villas on Stanhope Street and a largely intact row of brick villas on the south side of Parkside Street. The Edwardian streetscapes constructed as part of the 1910 Coonil Estate subdivision are of particular note for the consistency and quality of the housing stock. They include fine examples of the 'Queen Anne' revival style and relatively early examples of the bungalow idiom both of a type found elsewhere. However, a small number of more substantial attic storey and other less generic or architect-designed villas provide a point of difference from these other areas. Although not central to the significance of the precinct, housing stock from the 1920s and 1930s is generally sympathetic in terms of its architectural form, scale, and siting, and as such makes a valuable contribution to the early character of the area. The aesthetic significance of the Coonil Estate is enhanced by mature street trees and the picturesque curvilinear street layout of Coonil Crescent and Grace Street.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct