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Kell's Cottage

Location 14 William Street,, PORT FAIRY VIC 3284 - Property No B7263 File Number B7263 Level State

[1/1] B7263 Kell's Cottage

Statement of Significance

What is significant? The four roomed timber cottage is understood to have been constructed in the 1840s for Andrew Cowan Kell. The cottage has two distinct sections, thought to have been constructed at the same time. The front two rooms are constructed on a stone plinth with a hipped roof over and the rear two rooms have a skillion roof. The front verandah has limestone flagging and simple timber posts with decorative brackets. It is possible that the structural timbers are imported including the unusual wide double rebated weatherboards.
How is it significant? The cottage is significant for architectural and historical reasons at a State Level. It may also be of technical significance due to the imported timbers.
Why is it significant? The building is of architectural and historical significance as a rare surviving example of a 1840s timber cottage in Victoria. It is particularly important for its intactness and lack of later additions of which few examples remain. The cottage demonstrates the humble living conditions of the early settlers. The cottage is one of the early private buildings constructed in Port Fairy following the Atkinson lease or freehold sale of land in the early 1840s.
The cottage may have scientific interest in terms of the structural timbers which are thought to be imported and the unusual double rebated timber lining boards.
Classified: 08/09/2004