HOUSE

How is it significant?
The house at 685 Park Street, Brunswick, is of historical, representative and aesthetic significance to the City of Moreland.

Why is it significant?
It is historically significant as a fine example of the substantial houses erected for prominent citizens along Park Street, which demonstrates its prestigious status as a residential address due to the proximity to Royal Park and Princes Park and the more desirable suburbs of Parkville and Carlton. This house, built in 1917, demonstrates the second wave of development following the re-subdivision of some of the original estates in the early twentieth century. (Criterion A) It is significant as an intact and well-detailed example of a Federation bungalow of the attic type with characteristic form and detailing simple symmetrical massing with a dominant roof clad in tiles with terracotta ridge capping and finials, a prominent gable with attic room set within the roof space, several tall chimneys with stringcourses and cornices and terracotta pots, a deep verandah that is enclosed by the main roof form, and a projecting portico with a low-pitched gable fronted roof with deep eaves and terracotta ridge capping. It is distinguished by its substantial scale and fine detailing, which includes paired Tuscan columns and the verandah beam, which is shaped with shallow arches or slight steps between the columns, red brick straight and arched balustrades with bullnose coping and cornices, the recessed, double entrance doors with large circular windows of mottled glass (this circular detail is carried through on the timber detailing to the solid lower panels of the door) and a highlight window with leadlight glass, and the flanking bow windows comprised of timber casements with highlights, both with leaded glass (those to the right feature swallows or bluebirds, while those to the left have floral motifs) with roughcast render above. The slightly elevated position within a generous garden setback also enhances the setting of the house and increases its prominence within the streetscape. (Criteria D & E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House