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PREFABRICATED COTTAGE

Other Name Singapore Cottage Location 17 COVENTRY PLACE SOUTH MELBOURNE, PORT PHILLIP CITY File Number HER/2000/000272 Level Registered

[1/4] PREFABRICATED COTTAGE SOHE [2/4] 1 prefabricated cottage [3/4] Prefabricated Cottage Post [4/4] prefabricated cottage plan

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
'Portable' or prefabricated buildings from a variety of overseas were imported to Victoria during the gold rush period to satisfy the great demand for housing and other buildings. The variety known as 'Singapore cottages' were probably prefabricated by Malay carpenters from tropical timbers for Chinese traders in Singapore, and were commonly available for sale in Melbourne from as early as 1853.

The allotment covering 17 Coventry Street was part of block 4 of the Emerald Hill sales of Crown land commenced in 1852. This subdivision was set up to enable the construction of cheap buildings outside the limitations of the Melbourne Building Act. A larger than usual proportion of the buildings erected there were either prefabricated or portable types, mostly from Britain with a lesser number from Singapore. From a handful of houses in 1853, there were around 660 rateable dwellings there by 1854. In that year the buildings on the 17 Coventry Place site were described in the rate book as a four-room weatherboard house and stable. The skillion to the rear may have been added c 1859 when rate book entries describe the dwelling as having five rooms and a zinc roof.

Of the several Singapore houses known to have been erected in South Melbourne in this period, this is the only known standing example. It is also likely that the house is standing on its original site. The three other known Singapore houses of similar type in Victoria have all been dismantled and moved in the last few years.

The four roomed cottage with central corridor of 6 x 9 metres has a skillion extension to the rear divided into two rooms. The most intact component is the frame of heavy timbers, although the external bottom plates and the lower sections of main upright frame members at and below ground level are heavily rotted. The joinery in the roof space is the most intact and illustrates characteristic features of Malay carpentry such as the row of king posts, a sub ridge beam, and painted markings on various frame members. The exterior has been rendered with resulting deterioration of timber cladding beneath. No original windows, window openings or doors remain. There is an early brick fireplace in the south-east room. Scattered sections of early internal cladding and wallpapers, some of which may be original, remain.

How is it significant?
The Prefabricated Cottage, South Melbourne is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Singapore Cottage at Coventry Place is of historical significance as a rare surviving prefabricated 'Singapore' house which demonstrates the unusual economic and cultural conditions of gold rush Victoria.

The Singapore Cottage at Coventry Place is of historical significance as a rare surviving prefabricated 'Singapore' house which demonstrates the wider phenomenon of the international pre-fabricated building trade in the mid nineteenth century.

The Singapore Cottage at Coventry Place is of historical significance as a rare surviving prefabricated 'Singapore' house which demonstrates the accelerated development of this part of South Melbourne during the gold rushes.

The Singapore Cottage at Coventry Place is of scientific significance as a rare surviving prefabricated 'Singapore' house which displays unusual framing and jointing design based on traditional Malay building techniques. The frame of the building also demonstrates the use of timbers from the Malay Peninsula such as dedaru and meranti.