Back to search results » Back to search page »

Woods' Hill Estate

Other Name

Precinct

Location

2 & 1-19 HILLSIDE TCE, 19-33 HUNT CR, 2-46 HURTLE ST, 321-329 MARIBYRNONG RD, and 1-17 & 2-18 WOODS ST, ASCOT VALE, MOONEE VALLEY CITY

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2]
Woods Street.JPG
[2/2]
Woods Street

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Woods Hill Estate (Hurtle Street) precinct is a residential area, almost exclusively comprising Edwardian era timber houses. The Contributory houses within the precinct are of one or two almost identical designs. They are generally of the timber Queen Anne suburban domestic type consisting of a gabled room bay set against the main hip-roofed and verandahed body of the house. The division of each house into repeating elements is amplified by the rising terrain in each street. Each site, particularly in Hunt Crescent and Hillside Terrace, is elevated and juxtaposed against its neighbour, at a different height, to give a picturesque, stepped effect which changes with the slow curve in some of the streets. Ornament varies from the earlier cast-iron verandah frieze to the slatted timber variety but the weatherboarding, corrugated iron roofing and slatted window hoods are typical as are other distinctive features are the brick and rendered chimneys with terracotta pots, half-timbering to the gable ends, timber balustrades, double hung sash windows either paired or joined under the verandah, and arranged as triple casements with coloured top lights in the projecting bay. The following buildings and elements contribute to the significance of the precinct:

- The Contributory houses at nos. 2, 3-9 & 13-19 Hillside Terrace, 19-31 Hunt Crescent, 8-28, 32-38 & 42-46 Hurtle Street, and 1-7, 11-17, 16 & 18 Woods Street
- The visual coherence of the precinct created by the similar style, scale, siting and detailing of the houses with development in one period clearly evident.
- The relatively high integrity of the majority of Contributory houses when viewed from the street.
- The small amount of later development.

Non-original alterations and additions to the Contributory houses, and other houses and building are not significant.

How is it significant?
The Woods Hill Estate (Hurtle Street) precinct is of local historic and aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?
Historically, it is significant as evidence of the early twentieth century suburban development encouraged by the construction of the first stage of the electric tramway network in 1906. (Criterion A)

Aesthetically, it is significant as a visually cohesive timber Queen Anne styled housing precinct which possesses the detail and the picturesque massing common to the style and is greatly enhanced by the hillside siting of much of the precinct, the almost identical form, materials and detailing of the Contributory houses, and the general absence of redevelopment. (Criteria D & E)

Group