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LocationKEW, BOROONDARA CITY LevelIncluded in Heritage Overlay |
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Precinct character and significance
The Sackville Street Precinct was identified by the 'Kew Urban
Conservation Study' (P Sanderson, 1988); in the report it was called
Urban Conservation Area No. 1 (E). No precinct citations as such were prepared as part of the 1988
study, but there is a brief description of the proposed precinct
focusing on the character of the individually significant buildings:
Sackville and Wrixon Streets contain 8 houses that have been
designated Grade A in the study. Most are mansions of considerable
size built in the late Victorian period, that are set on their
original, Generous allotments of land. Between these there is a high
concentration of Grade B and C buildings. They combine, particularly
at the western end of the street, to form an impressive collection
of large houses, many of architectural distinction. Of the Grade B
and C houses in the area, most were built after the Victorian
period, but they have maintained the architectural distinction of
the street. The Urban Conservation Area is recommended with the
intent to maintain this group of large houses on their original land
holdings. (Sanderson 1988: Vol. 1, 3/21) A statement of significance was prepared for Sackville Street
Precinct (HO162) as part of the 'Review of Heritage Overlay Precinct
Citations' (Lovell Chen, 2006). It reads as follows:
The Sackville Street Precinct, Kew, is an area of heritage
significance for the following reasons:
. The place contains a number of individually significant mansions
generally dating from the late Victorian period, set on generous
allotments. These are supported, visually, by a series of smaller
houses which range in date from the Victorian era to the Federation
and interwar periods. There are several pleasant houses from the
post-WWII period.
. As is the case for Harcourt Street Hawthorn (HO151), the area is
important for its ability to demonstrate a pattern of early mansion
development supplemented by smaller houses added from the Federation
through to more recent periods.
. The area is notable for its imposing envelope of street trees
which arch over the street for most of its length, and for its large
and mature gardens.
The extent proposed in the 1988 study was much as the precinct is
today: a linear extent along the entire length of Sackville Street,
excluding frontages to adjacent streets with the exception of two
properties forming an eastern 'gateway' to the precinct off Burke Road
(1195 Burke Road and 130 Sackville Street). An additional property at 4 Grange Road, not shown on the 1988 map,
has been included in the HO162 precinct. This is an early interwar
bungalow. The area in the precinct around Grange Road was developed
primarily in the early interwar period, including houses at 103, 104,
105, 106, 107 & 110 Sackville Street, as well as 1, 2 and 4 Grange
Road (all Contributory to the precinct, except for the Significant 105
Sackville Street). Another notable change between the 1988 precinct extent
recommendations and the current boundaries of precinct HO162 is that
the properties that are now 6-16 Rowland Street were recommended for
inclusion in the precinct, but are now outside of it. This was due to
inclusion in 1988 of the entire extent of the grounds of the 1888
mansion 'Heathfield' at 39 Sackville Street (Significant in HO162),
which at that time retains its extensive gardens. Since that time, the
gardens have been subdivided, creating new properties at 31 & 35
Sackville Street and 6-16 Rowland Street. While the new Sackville
Street addresses have been retained within the precinct (as
Non-contributory properties with contemporary houses), 6-16 Rowland
Street was excluded from the precinct extent.
Extension character
Area 1: 16 Rowland Street
As noted above, the property that is now 16 Rowland Street was once
part of the grounds of the mansion 'Heathfield' (39 Sackville Street). As noted, the mansion is a Significant property in the HO162 precinct
and retains a small part of it original grounds at 39 Sackville Street. Directly behind 39 Sackville Street, the stables of 'Heathfield'
survive at 16 Rowland Street. They have been converted into a
residential dwelling, and extended to the south (rear) and east. While the mansion is Italianate in style, the stables are Gothic
Revival, with a cross-gabled roof and decorative bargeboards and finials. The walls of the former stables are finished in ruled render, and
windows are both standard rectangular double-hung sashes, as well as
decorative arched windows in the western gable. It appears that all
joinery elements, including ledged and bracketed stable doors on the
west elevation have either been replaced in kind or recently
refinished. Alterations to the former stables include the loss of a verandah on
the west side (where the stable doors are), and the construction of
two extensions. There also appears to be a tiny, flat-roofed extension
along the east elevation filled with timber garage doors. Set further
back from the street is a hipped-roof extension, connected to the
former stables by a narrow link. This building has rendered walls and
quoins at the corners, and a chimney that suggests a 1930s built date.
The garage doors along the west elevation of the stables and this
small dwelling may have been interwar alterations to allow the housing
of cars and the chauffeur. This would coincide with the extensions to
the rear of 'Heathfield' made in 1932 by its then-owners the
Franciscan Order. To the rear is a much larger and more recent extension, with a
double-storey section at the back of the site and a single-storey link
with the stables building. While the use has changed, and it has been
extended, the former stables have a built form that is still
recognisable as such. While horses provided essential transport in the nineteenth and early
twentieth century, only the well-off could afford to have their own
horses and carriage. As expensive and high-status possessions, both
horses and carriages were generally housed in well-constructed,
substantial buildings, second in architectural importance only to the
main house itself. Most stables were two-storey structures with a hay
loft on the top floor, like the 'Heathfield' stables. Though often
converted to motorcar garages in the early twentieth century, thus
extending their usefulness, stables are an increasingly rare building
type. In the Boroondara Heritage Overlay, 19 stables associated with
residential dwellings have been identified. Of them, seven are at
properties (mansions and gentlemen's retreats) of State significance.
Nearly half of them (nine) are located in Hawthorn, Boroondara's
oldest suburb. Three of them are located in Kew: . 6 Studley Park Road, Kew (HO223) - Whitty House, an Italianate
mansion of 1908-09 retains its stables. . 96 Studley Park Road, Kew (VHR H515) - 'Raheen', a mansion of
1868-88, retains a large stable block. . 1 Tennyson Street, Kew (HO349) - timber building of c1917 behind a
significant house and shop of c1916. As an integral part of the 'Heathfield' and a rare surviving stables
building, 16 Rowland Street should be included in the Heritage
Overlay. Considering the changes over time to the building, a
Contributory grade is considered appropriate.
Area 2: 3 & 6-14 Grange Road
Grange Road was created when land to the south-west of the Kew
Reservoir was subdivided in the early twentieth century. It is shown
on a 1913 MMBW plan (Detail Plan No. 1566), but the southern half
shown (1-19 & 2-14 Grange Road) was still vacant at the time, as
was the surrounding section of Sackville Street, between Burke Road
and Edward Street. One of the first houses to be constructed on the street was 12 Grange
Road, an attic-storey Arts & Crafts Bungalow of c1920 (HO308) with
an unusual roof of blue-glazed terracotta tiles. Other houses on the
street were built from the early interwar period (late 1910s) through
to the outbreak of World War II. They form a continuous streetscape on
the east side with the two 1920s bungalows already in the HO162
precinct (2 & 4 Grange Road), and around the south-west corner
(adjacent to 1 Grange Road, which is already in the precinct). Like the adjoining part of the HO162 precinct, most of the houses in
the extension are early interwar attic-storey bungalows, or later
interwar California Bungalows. A Moderne two-storey flats building of
c1940 at 10 Grange Avenue is an exception. Of particular note is a substantial brick attic-bungalow at 14 Grange
Avenue. It has a transverse gable roof which extends over a front
porch supported on brick piers. The central dormer window has an
arched window beneath a tiled hood. There is a smaller dwelling or
sleepout next to the main house, which may have been built at the same
time, judging from the chimney. This chimney is identical in pattern
to those seen on nearby attic-storey bungalows at 130 Sackville Street
(Contributory to HO162) and 1185-1189 Burke Road (in the proposed
HO162 extension), so appears to be the work of the same designer/builder. Of the later houses in the proposed extension, 8 Grange Road is a
classic California Bungalow. The large site allows a sprawling
L-shaped plan with a major and a minor gable to the front and the
front porch tucked into the entrant corner. The walls are of red
brick, with a gable treatment of both timber shingles and roughcast render. The houses in the proposed extension have a high level of intactness,
apart from new French doors to No. 3. The Mintern Abbas Flats at No.
10 retain their original garages at the rear, divided track driveway,
and low brick front fence. No. 8 also retains an original clinker
brick front fence (though it was damaged when viewed in 2017).
Area 3: 1185-1189 Burke Road
As noted in the HO162 precinct background, only the two corner
properties at the intersection with Burke Road were included in the
original (and current) extent of HO162 Sackville Street Precinct. The
property on the southern corner, 130 Sackville Street, is a
Contributory attic-storey bungalow, which faces Burke Road. Like other Contributory and Significant houses in the east end of the
HO162 precinct, which was undeveloped by 1913, 130 Sackville Street is
an early interwar attic-storey bungalow with a strong Arts &
Crafts stylistic influence. The same is true of the three houses to its south, at 1185-1189 Burke
Road. Judging from the street directories, the entire row (including
130 Sackville Street) was built between 1917 and 1920. Judging by
their details, the four houses were designed by a single person. Three
of them (130 Sackville Street, 1185 & 1187 Burke Road) have the
same unusual chimney design: a slender brick shaft with a smooth
rendered top punctuated by two projecting headers on each face. The
house at 1189 Burke Road has a different chimney top, with indented
rectangles in the render, but other details, such as windows, suggest
it was designed by the same person as 130 Sackville Street. The three houses in the extension all have brick walls, with the
major and minor gables filled with simplified half-timbering
(fibro-cement with timber straps) or timber shingles in the gables.
Windows are in box frames with simple leadlights, and more elaborate
Art Nouveau lights to the front door and surrounds. All have at least
one bay window with a simple hood ornamented by expressed rafter
tails. Porches are supported on dwarf brick piers with a timber post
on top, or on heavy brick piers. Nos. 1185 and 1187 are both
gable-fronted with a minor gable and attic sleepout within the roof
form. No. 1189 has a transverse gable roof, and a large half-timbered
dormer dominating the facade. It is similar in form to the dormer on
the Sackville Street elevation of 130 Sackville Street. The three houses at 1185-1189 Burke Road are highly intact as viewed
from the street, with various rear extensions visible in aerials.
Conclusion
The proposed extension of HO162 Sackville Street Precinct at 16
Rowland Street will allow the protection on an original outbuilding
associated with the Significant mansion formerly known as
'Heathfield', already in the precinct. As noted above, stables are an
increasingly rare building type, in Boroondara and elsewhere. Stables
of prestigious residences, such as 'Heathfield', were not just
utilitarian outbuildings, but were architecturally designed in their
own right, especially when they were on public view. The 'Heathfield'
Stables are a good example of this as the fronted Rowland Street, and
were designed in a picturesque Gothic Revival style. The proposed extension to the precinct at 3 & 6-14 Rowland Street
contains properties that continue the area of interwar development
seen in the east end of the precinct. They make a logical continuation
northward, as 1, 2 & 4 Grange Road are already in the precinct.
The houses in the extension are of a comparable size, intactness and
design quality as those already in the precinct, with 14 Grange Road
particularly distinguished. As noted in the current precinct statement
of significance, in Clause 22.05, interwar houses are part of the
valued character of the precinct. The proposed extension at 1185-1189 Burke Road also contains
substantial and intact dwellings of the early interwar period that
would be Contributory to HO162 Sackville Street Precinct. They both
continue a streetscape that is already in the precinct, extending
south from 1195 Burke Road, and also figuratively reunite a row of
unified houses designed and built as a group. Their contributory
nature to the precinct is clearly demonstrated by their similarity to
130 Sackville Street (Contributory), which stands at the start of the row. For a full list of individual gradings within the precinct, please
refer to the PDF citation.
Residential buildings (private)
Residential Precinct