The houses of the Victorian/Pre-Federation Houses Group are located in Anderson Street, Beresford Road, Castella Street, Cave Hill Road, John Street, Maroondah Highway and Wilsons Lane, Lilydale. They are typically common nineteenth century house types, although not all were built in the nineteenth century, with some constructed in the first years/decade of the twentieth century. This is evidenced by the date range of the 1890s through to 1910. The properties have, variously, deep front setbacks with gardens, as well as spacious side setbacks and side driveways; in some cases due to generous allotment sizes and placement of buildings within the allotments, views of side elevations as well as the front facades. There is a diversity of non-original fences including timber picket fences, and simple timber and wire 'hair-pin' fences. The presentation of the properties is also enhanced by the presence of mature trees and vegetation in some cases, and visible original roof forms (if not necessarily roof cladding) and original chimneys.

The houses of the Victorian/Pre-Federation Houses Group are of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Historically, the houses which date from the period of the 1890s through to 1910 are significant for demonstrating residential development in Lilydale in this period, and the preferred or typical residential housing types. At this time, spurred on by the arrival of the railway in the 1880s, Lilydale was undergoing a transformation from rural township to commuter suburb, the latter eventually cemented by the electrification of the railway line in 1925 which shortened the journey time to the city. This shift was also reflected in the housing which gradually evolved from the earlier, simpler and more modest forms predominantly found in rural towns, and evidenced by some of the dwellings in this group, to the later Federation houses and then bungalows and other interwar housing types more typical of Melbourne suburbia. The houses are additionally significant for being associated with a particular phase of growth and development in Lilydale. Again, following the arrival of the railway, the population increased, holiday-makers and tourists arrived in the area, growing prosperity brought new businesses to the town, manufactories opened, and many of the larger properties surrounding the town were subdivided. While the economic depression of the 1890s brought a stop to this growth, prosperity had returned by the 1910s, again reflecting or encompassing the period of development of the subject properties.

Aesthetically and architecturally, while the houses are typically modest in design and architectural expression, and often constructed of timber, they are nevertheless comparatively intact examples of common nineteenth century housing types, albeit some were constructed in Lilydale in the first years/decade of the twentieth century. The subject properties include examples of double-fronted houses with front verandahs and symmetrical arrangements of windows and central door, this being one of the simplest nineteenth-century Victorian house types; narrow single-fronted worker's cottages with a longitudinal hipped roof; and houses with an L-shaped plan and a projecting room or bay to one side, which reflects an early Federation approach.

Assessment Against Criteria

The following modified Victorian Heritage Council/HERCON criteria are used in the assessment of cultural heritage significance.

The houses of the Victorian/Pre-Federation Houses Group are of local historical significance. The houses date from the period of the 1890s through to 1910, and help demonstrate residential development in Lilydale in this period, and the preferred or typical residential housing types. At this time, spurred on by the arrival of the railway in the 1880s, Lilydale was undergoing a transformation from rural township to commuter suburb, the latter eventually cemented by the electrification of the railway line in 1925 which shortened the journey time to the city. This shift was also reflected in the housing which gradually evolved from the earlier, simpler and more modest forms predominantly found in rural towns, and evidenced by some of the dwellings in this group, to the later Federation houses and then bungalows and other interwar housing types more typical of Melbourne suburbia.

The houses are additionally significant for being associated with a particular phase of growth and development in Lilydale. Again, following the arrival of the railway, the population increased, holiday-makers and tourists arrived in the area, growing prosperity brought new businesses to the town, manufactories opened, and many of the larger properties surrounding the town were subdivided. While the economic depression of the 1890s brought a stop to this growth, prosperity had returned by the 1910s, again reflecting or encompassing the period of development of the subject properties.

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The houses of the Victorian/Pre-Federation Houses Group are of local aesthetic and architectural significance. While they are typically modest in design and architectural expression, and often constructed of timber, they are nevertheless comparatively intact examples of common nineteenth century housing types, albeit some were constructed in Lilydale in the first years/decade of the twentieth century. The subject properties include examples of double-fronted houses with front verandahs and symmetrical arrangements of windows and central door, this being one of the simplest nineteenth-century Victorian house types; narrow single-fronted worker's cottages with a longitudinal hipped roof; and houses with an L-shaped plan and a projecting room to one side, which reflect an early Federation approach.

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Physical Conditions: The houses of the Victorian/Pre-Federation Houses Group serial listing are located in Anderson Street, Beresford Road, Castella Street, Cave Hill Road, John Street, Maroondah Highway and Wilsons Lane, Lilydale. These are typically nineteenth century house types common to homesteads and rural centres, although they were not all built in the nineteenth century, with some constructed in the first years/decade of the twentieth century. In Lilydale, the subject houses variously date from the period of the 1890s through to 1910.

The houses are on individual allotments, or in the case of cave Hill Road, in a small contiguous group row.

The properties also have, variously, deep front setbacks with gardens, as well as spacious side setbacks and side driveways; in some cases due to generous allotment sizes and placement of buildings within the allotments, views of side elevations as well as the front facades; and generally an absence of high solid front fences, and in fact a diversity of non-original fences including timber picket fences, and simple timber and wire 'hair-pin' fences. The presentation of the properties is also enhanced by the presence of mature trees and vegetation in some cases, and visible original roof forms (if not necessarily roof cladding) and original chimneys.

All the houses referred to are listed and illustrated in the Schedule of Properties.

The double-fronted house with a front verandah is one of the simplest nineteenth-century Victorian house types, with formal origins in the 1840s and 1850s, and replicated variously for many decades. These were common among small properties in Victoria. This type comprises a straight front with a central doorway and two flanking (typically double-hung sash) windows either side, a verandah across the full front, often set below the main roof eave, two full width transverse gables with a valley intersection, and a shed-roofed rear component sloping toward the rear of their sites. Examples in Lilydale include 5 Wilsons Lane which is weatherboard with a rusticated timber front to suggest stone. 58 Castella Street, another house with all-weatherboard elevations, turns its paired gables round toward the street, so that the roof valley linkage is juxtaposed against a hipped verandah. The main chimney, in exposed brick, sits next to the valley. The verandahs on 6 John Street and 5 Wilsons Lane are all fairly simple timber posted types. 22 Cave Hill Road and 58 Castella Street have metal lacework added to their timber frames. All the verandahs in these houses are held clear of the main roof cladding; they also appear to have been rebuilt, as is common given the timber material. The chimneys in these houses are simple exposed brick types with stepped cornices, some with a single string course around the stack.

Of these, 22 Cave Hill Road is an individual example, being a single fronted worker's cottage type in brick with a hipped roof longitudinal to the street; the verandah appears to have been renewed in a different, plainer style than would have been employed previously. Its chimney was overpainted later.

The others in this group have verandahs that are kept separate from the main roof eaves, in the manner of middle and later nineteenth century houses. 49 Castella Street and 18 Beresford Road have transverse hipped roofs and intermittent scroll brackets under boxed eaves. The verandahs have been rebuilt, with new posts, friezes and roof cladding, and the chimneys are simple stacked cornice types in exposed brick.

L-shaped types

The remaining nineteenth century house types, which may also date from the early Federation period, are L-shaped in plan/massing, with a room-width wing projecting forward on one side. 53, 55, 57 and 59 Cave Hill Road are of this type and possibly by the same builder. They are brick, with identical window and chimney details, floating frame-bargeboards (missing on 53), and similar side elevations. 14 Maroondah Highway has paired main eave brackets with hipped roofs, brick walls and stucco surfacing. The verandah posts may be long standing and their collars suggest cast iron lace was once fitted. 91 Anderson Street is believed to date from about 1905, although its eave brackets are combined oddly with an array of Federation details and turn of the century side window hoods. Its chimney appears to date from the 1900s.