Smith Orchard House

The two mature Canary Island palm trees are good specimens of a very fashionable tree during the first decades of the 20th century and are also significant streetscape elements. The weatherboard house is of standard design and one of the very few dwellings of this type anywhere in the rural areas of the Shire of Eltham. The number of pre 1930 dwellings in the Shire is also quite small and most of them are cottages, smaller and more basic in size and design. REVISED STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE (with AHC criteria) Smith Orchard house, with CANARY ISLAND PALMS (2) are significant to the HURSTBRIDGE locality as:

- two mature and well formed Canary Island palms, being a fashionable tree in the first decades of the 20th century but relatively rare in the Shire (Criterion A4, B2);

- significant mature trees in the general landscape (Criterion A3);

- a relatively well preserved example of an inter-war orchardist's house of a conservative design but one of a small group of dwellings of this type in the rural areas of the former Shire of Eltham and larger than the most pre 1930 dwellings which are typically smaller and of a more simple design ( Criterion B2);

Group

Farming and Grazing

Category

Orchard