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House

Location 18 Douglas Street,, TOORAK VIC 3142 - Property No B6786 File Number B6786 Level State

[1/1] B6786 18 Douglas St Toorak

Statement of Significance

A house of State significance containing the only known surviving element in the world of the patent prefabrication system of Robert Walker of Glasgow. Walker's 1852 patent provides for cast iron standards bolted to timber base plates and top plates. The standards are grooved on all four sides to allow the insertion of horizontal timber planks where walls are required. The present structure contains two rooms constructed in this system and two doors and a window relocated in the rear skillion portion. The ledged doors have pintle hinges in cast iron frames and the window a cast iron frame patent but the present roof of slate on a timber frame appears to be much later. The house is presumed to have been imported in the early 1850s , but it is not known whether it was on the present site, and subsequently much altered, or whether it was moved to the site at a later date. The importance of this house is both technical and historical, as a relic of the extensive importations of the Gold Rush period.
Classified: 02/12/1996