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Litchfield

Location 89 Primrose Street ESSENDON, MOONEE VALLEY CITY Level Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2] 89 Primrose Street Essendon [2/2] 89 Primrose Street Essendon

Statement of Significance

What is Significant?

89 Primrose Street, Essendon, a late Victorian era Italianate villa built in 1892 is significant.

Significant fabric includes the:

single-storey asymmetric built form with two projecting bays (on eastern and southern elevations);

main hipped roof form and slate roofing;

unpainted polychrome brickwork and basalt-edged tessellated-tile verandah floor;

original chimneys and eaves detailing;

original pattern of fenestration, elements of window and door joinery and encaustic tile panels beneath the windows; and

original setback at the front.

The non-intrusive rear extension is not significant.

How is it significant?

89 Primrose Street, Essendon, is of local architectural (representative) significance to the City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?

89 Primrose Street, Essendon, is significant as a Victorian-era Italianate villa. Double fronted detached houses are a common typology in the City of Moonee Valley, with terraces and mansions also well represented in the Victorian era. Most Italianate villas are of brick, either plain or polychrome using one or more contrasting brick colour for a patterned effect. Comparable examples within Moonee Valley on the Heritage Overlay include 3 Aberfeldie Street, Essendon, 1892-1897 (HO143); 23 Brown Avenue, Ascot Vale, c.1891 (HO392); and 28 Nicholson Street, Essendon, 1891 (HO265). 55 Holmes Road, Moonee Ponds, 1898 (HO322) is a double-fronted villa occupying a corner site like 89 Primrose Street and providing scope for the expression of both a side and front elevation.

89 Primrose Street, Essendon, is a richly decorated and intact example of the Italianate style with its asymmetrical form and projecting bays, walls of polychrome and plain brick, slate roof, patterned chimneys and decorative detail in encaustic tile panels beneath the windows. It possesses a relatively high integrity with very few changes visible to original or early elements of the place. The building retains its original building form and much of its original roof form, verandah, and fenestration. 89 Primrose Street is distinguished by its elaborated detailing such as its decorative tiled panels and decorative mouldings under the eaves. It is a good representative example of the Italianate style with a high decorative quality. (Criterion D)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House