Back to search results »

Back to search page »

HO47 - House, 2-180 Davis Road, Diggers Rest

Other Name 2-180 Davis Road, Diggers Rest (Lot 4, LP 6069) Location 2-180 Davis Road DIGGERS REST, Melton Shire File Number 075 Level Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2] House [2/2] House

Statement of Significance

The house at 2-180 Davis Road, Diggers Rest, is significant as one of the most intact and refined examples of a timber Federation style in the Shire and for its early setting amongst mature cypresses and other exotics, the front being defined by the timber picket fence. The house was built c.1914 on one of the allotments sold in the break-up of the massive Clarke pastoral estate. It appears to be substantially intact with the interior of the house intact with all its period detailing. The house at 2-180 Davis Road is architecturally significant at a LOCAL level (AHC D.2, E.1). It demonstrates original and outstanding design qualities of a Federation style. These qualities include the steeply pitched hipped roof form, together with the minor gables that project at the front and side that are linked by a broken back return verandah. Other intact or appropriate qualities include the single storey height, horizontal timber weatherboard wall cladding, unpainted galvanised corrugated steel roof cladding, broad eaves, five face brick chimneys with multi-corbelled tops, stop chamfered timber verandah posts with decorative incised bands, arched decorative solid timber fretwork valances with fan-light motifs, projecting rectangular bays on the gable ends with banks of three timber framed casement windows having highlights above, corner window bay with similar timber framed casements and highlights above, bracketed timber window hoods above the projecting bays, timber framed door opening with sidelights and highlights, and the decorative gable infill (stucco panelled and vertical timber battening). The mature cypresses and other exotic trees, and the front timber picket fence, contribute to the significant setting of the place. The farm buildings on the west side of the driveway contribute to the setting of the place and to an understanding of its significance as a working farm. The house at 2-180 Davis Road is historically significant at a LOCAL level (AHC A4) as a representative example of one of the many small to medium sized farm homesteads established as a consequence of the historic break-up of the large pastoral estates in Melton Shire in the early twentieth century, in particular the Clarkes' vast Rockbank estate. It is also expressive of the new farming prosperity in that period. Overall, the house at 2-180 Davis Road is of LOCAL significance.