Boulevard Estate and Environs Precinct

The Boulevard Estate and Environs precinct is significant. The precinct comprises 1447-1495 Burke Road; 1501-1525 Old Burke Road; 2-66 Munro Street; 199-215 Kilby Road; 1-7 and 2-8 Walbundry Drive; 1-7 and 2-8 Inverness Drive; 1-7 and 2-8 Riverside Drive; 1-7 and 2-8 Cascade Drive; and 1-7 and 2-8 Kyora Drive, Kew East. The precinct consists of two subdivisions: the Boulevard Estate (surveyed c.1920, not developed until 1930s); and land fronting Old Burke Road (subdivided 1936). The precinct includes a range of large and smaller family homes built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s in a mix of interwar, late interwar and early postwar architectural styles. The character of the precinct derives from the predominance of late interwar and early postwar Old English revival and Moderne architectural and garden styles and their vernacular variants, punctuated by house designs influenced by International Modernism and its regional expression.

Individually significant, Contributory and Non-contributory places are listed in the Precinct Gradings Schedule below.

Original and early front fences at 209, 213 Kilby Road, 1449, 1471, 1475, 1483, 1498, 1491 Burke Road, 1507, 1511, 1517 Old Burke Road, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 22, 36, 44, 46, 50, 54, 62, 66 Munro Street, 5 and 7 Walbundry Drive, 3, 5 and 7 Inverness Drive, 3 Riverside Drive, 5 Cascade Drive, and 1, 3 and 5 Kyora Drive are contributory elements.

Original and early garages at 1449,1463, 1465, 1467, 1485, 1487 Burke Road, 1511 Old Burke Road, 4, 12, 16, 18, 54 Munro Street, 5 and 7 Walbundry Drive, 1 and 5 Inverness Drive, 3 and 4 Riverside Drive, 5 Cascade Drive, and 1 Kyora Drive are contributory elements.

The row of three mature Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa) at 1489 Burke Road is significant.

The largely intact front gardens at 209 Kilby Road, 1467, 1471, 1475 and 1491 Burke Road, and 36, 46 and 50 Munro Street (east side) make an important contribution to the significance of the precinct. The front garden at 56 Munro Street is sympathetic to style of house and also makes a positive contribution to the significance of the precinct.

Mature ornamental trees and shrubs in front gardens throughout the precinct also contribute to the significance of the precinct. These include Crepe Myrtle and conifer specimen tree plantings, boundary plantings of roses in colourful varieties, and low shrub plantings in combinations of mixed foliage colours and textures.

Non-original alterations and additions to the houses and their gardens are not significant. Carports at 3 Walbundry, 2 and 6 Cascade, 6 and 8 Kyora, and 1511 Old Burke Road are not significant.

How is it significant?

The Boulevard Estate and Environs Precinct is of local historical, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

Historically, the Boulevard Estate and Environs Precinct is significant for the evidence it provides of the pattern of settlement in this part of Kew East during the interwar and early postwar periods, on land that was subdivided from farmland. The Boulevard Estate and Environs precinct strongly illustrates the interwar to early postwar suburban growth and development in Kew East that was spurred on by the extension to Burke Road, Kew East in 1925 then full electrification of the tram connection between the city and Kew in 1927. (Criterion A)

Architecturally, the precinct is significant as a compact and relatively intact collection of domestic interwar and early postwar architectural and garden styles from the 1930s to 1961. The predominant architectural styles within the precinct are the interwar Old English revival and Moderne architectural styles, and their vernacular and postwar variants, but early postwar houses with designs influenced by the cubic geometry and functionalism of International Modernism and regional expressions of Modernism are also represented. Comparatively, the precinct retains a high level of intactness and integrity, including an unusually high number of properties that retain original and early front fences, gates, garden layout and plantings, concrete paths, parallel strip driveways, and garages in various fashionable styles in keeping with the house designs. Through this stylistic diversity and the precinct's overall integrity, the Boulevard Estate and Environs precinct is comparable to other interwar precincts in Boroondara, namely in Kew and Balwyn North. (Criterion D)

1449 and 1491, Burke Road and 9 Cascade Drive are individually significant as fine and largely intact examples of three different interwar and early postwar architectural styles; Old English revival, Moderne and regional expressions of Modernism, respectively. The high level of intactness of 1449 and 1491 Burke Road includes their front fences, landscaping, and the garage at 1449. 9 Cascade Drive, 56 Munro Street, and 8 Cascade Drive are individually significant as an early/late representative example of the work of noted émigré architect Anatol Kagan. (Criterion D)

Aesthetically, the row of three mature Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus torulosa) at 1489 Burke Road is significant as mature examples of trees popularly planted in interwar gardens as a hedge, and as good specimens of a maturity that suggests they were an early or original garden planting contemporary with the house. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residential Precinct