Myrniong

Statement of Significance

Myrniong, 50 Beach Road (1925), a single storeyed brick and tile Federation style Bungalow residence, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons;
the place is a fine, late example of the Federation Bungalow style, displaying well considered form and fine details and a landmark quality;

the place is a good example of the work of prominent regional architect, Eustace Gresley Cohen; and,

the place contributes to Bunbury’s sense of place as an intact example of early Twentieth Century domestic architecture.

Physical Description

Myrniong, 50 Beach Road is a large single storey, brick and tile house with an asymmetrical facade designed as a late example of the Federation Bungalow style of architecture.

Myrniong is located on the north-east corner of the junction of Beach Road and Palm Street, Bunbury. The walls are painted brick. The roof is hipped with a prominent and finely detailed gable to the main frontage and clad with tiles. The verandah has a broken back tiled roof and is supported by timber posts with a simple scalloped timber valance between posts. There is a timber and glass door at the side entrance and timber framed windows along the front façade. There is a limestone pillar and iron wall to the front boundary line. There is a chimney with chimney pots evident. Both street frontages of Myrniong have a large garden with rose bushes, mature trees, numerous shrubs and an extensive lawn.

The place is included in the Heritage Council's State Register of Heritage Places and a section of the physical evidence description (compiled by John Loreck Architect in 1999) included in the assessment documentation is included below as it includes a detailed description of the interior of the place:

"Internally, the finishes consist typically of carpeted floors, plastered walls and fibrous plaster ceilings, without cornices. The windows have curtain pelmets of timber with a central simple geometric motif. The main rooms are embellished with timber shelves on decorative brackets. The entrance hall addresses Palm Street, is aligned east-west and is entered through a pair of doors with leadlight in the upper panels. On the south wall, about 1.6 metres above floor level, a timber shelf, with a double bullnose, is supported on simple timber brackets. A picture rail is located 2.7 metres above floor level. The hall has a segmented arched opening, the springing points and head being about 2.1 metres and 2.4 meters above floor level, respectively. Immediately beyond the arched opening are two doors to the right leading, respectively, to the second and main bedrooms. At this point the hallway ends and a passage runs off it at 90 degrees. About halfway along the passage are two doors, leading to the third bedroom and bathroom, respectively. At the end of the passage is a door leading to the dining room. The second bedroom has exposed tongue in groove floorboards, and a pair of sliding sash windows with six panes per sash. The main bedroom has a pair of windows identical to those in the second bedroom. Both pairs of windows are arranged to each side of the gable addressing Beach Road, reinforcing the symmetry of the Beach Road elevation. A pair of French doors lead on to the east verandah. The French doors have four panes across, two for each door, and five panes high. The top two panes have a segmented arched head, with timber spandrels to each side, with a horizontal door head. In the south-west corner of the main bedroom is a timber shelf, similarly detailed to the hallway shelf. The third bedroom has a pair of French doors, identical to those in the main bedroom. The bathroom has a carpeted floor with a quarter round skirting. The walls to the shower recess are tiled up to a height of about 1.8 metres above floor level. A laminated plastic splashback is located over the basin and the same material is also used on the basin side of a partition that separates the basin from the toilet. On the toilet side of the partition, wallpaper has been applied. A sliding sash window is located in the eastern wall and has four obscure panes per sliding sash. By proceeding left or north from the entrance hall, one arrives in the living room. The living room is aligned with the axis running east-west. The hallway door has, on the living room side, a decorative cornice at head height, as do the adjacent French doors that lead on to the front verandah, near the entrance doors. The cornices consist of a double bullnose shelf supported by console brackets. Centrally located on the wall addressing Palm Street are two narrow sliding sash windows, with four panes per sash A split-system air conditioner has been mounted in recent times halfway between the pelmet and the ceiling. Centred on the north wall is a brick fireplace with a jarrah chimneypiece. The chimneypiece consists from bottom to top of a lower shelf sitting directly on the top course of brickwork, another shelf about 200mm higher supported on console brackets, and jarrah panelling surmounted by an a cornice at door head height. To the east of the fireplace is a shelf detailed similarly to the hallway shelf. Adjacent to the shelf is a timber door, leading to the dining room, with the bottom two panels identical to the other internal doors. The upper part of the door has eight glazed panels arranged in two rows of four, one above the other. At the end of the passage, is the dining room, with exposed floor boards about 100mm wide. The window to the north has two horizontally sliding sash windows each side of a central fixed sash. All three sashes have three panes, one above the other. The kitchen, located to the east of the dining room, and built in the 1940s, has a timber floor over which vinyl has been applied. The plaster ceiling is formed into square panels by 75mm by 25mm timber cover strips, and contained by plaster cornice. The walls are finished with wall tiles or plaster up to about 1.8 metres above floor level, over which is a textured render, similar to that used on the external walls above head height, indicating that the wall between the dining room and kitchen was an external wall. It is likely that the kitchen was originally a verandah or sleepout. To the west of the dining room is a bedroom, which was probably the original kitchen. A fireplace on the south wall, adjacent to the fireplace on the north wall of the living room, has been converted into a low wardrobe. North of the dining room is a sunroom. The tongues in groove timber floorboards are about 100mm wide, and have a quarter round timber skirting. In the north wall is a continuous window, which consists of horizontally sliding sash windows, with six panes per sash. The walls below will height are lined with vertical tongue in groove boards, and clad externally with weatherboards. The timber lining also continues above window head height for about 300mm, above which is a fibrous cement lining. The fibrous plaster ceiling is raked. To the west of the sunroom is a small room used as a study. The floor is concrete, over which carpet has been applied. A timber shelf, similar to but not identical to the shelves in the living, dining and main bedrooms, is located in the south-west corner. The pair of casement windows in the west wall have six panes per sash. The ceiling is raked and in the same plane as the sunroom ceiling, indicating that these two rooms, and , as previously stated, the kitchen as well, where originally part of a verandah that extended for almost the entire perimeter of Myrniong. A laundry with a concrete floor has been added to the north of the study, and is entered from an external door on the east side. Internally, the south wall is painted and the other walls are rendered. The ceiling consists of raking fibrous cement. The external walls are painted and the roof is tiled. A garage is situated to the east of the kitchen, and a garage that forms a separate element to the main roof of Myrniong. To the north of the garage is a bathroom and toilet. Circa 1960 a narrow garage with a flat roof was added to the 1940s garage Circa 1975 a garage addressing Palm Street was also added. The rear of this garage is about two metres to the west of the window of the fourth bedroom."
The place is included in the Heritage Council of Western Australia's State Register of Heritage Places.
The register documentation can be access at www.heritage.wa.gov.au

Note this place was not reinspected internally in 2010.

History

Myrniong was built in 1925/26 for Maria and George Rose. It was named after Myrniong, a small town between Melbourne and Ballarat in Victoria.

The land was originally part of Lot 105 which was subdivided in 1897 to form Lots 106 and 107. Although the land changed hands a number of times, it was not developed until it was purchased by Maria Rose and her brother-in-law George Rose in July 1925. By September 1925, the land was solely in Maria’s name.

Maria commissioned architect Eustace Cohen to design a house and the contract for construction was awarded to local builder, J G Hough and Sons. The house had three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, living room and dining room. It was completed in 1926.

Eustace Cohen (born London, 1881) was articled to Thomas Lockwood and Sons at Chester before working for Guy Dawber. He emigrated to Western Australia due to ill health in 1904 and set up practice in Bunbury and Busselton (1906-1913). He moved to Perth in 1914, where he formed a partnership with Joseph Eales, trading as Eales and Cohen. Cohen was instrumental in bringing the Arts and Crafts movement to Western Australia. The earliest examples of his work in Bunbury and Busselton display his interpretation of vernacular homes in the Arts and Crafts manner.

Maria Rose died on the 24 August 1943 and Myrniong was left to her son, Robert Henry Rose III and John Strachan. In 1945 they sold the house to Ivor Thomas Williams, a farmer from Boyanup who had lost his right hand in a Volunteer Defense Corp activity and decided to retire to Bunbury. Williams did not stay retired for long and opened a toy shop and became a joint owner of Julianne restaurant. As a result he sold Myrniong in August 1946 to be closer to both businesses.

The new owner was Forrest Ramsay Hay, a petrol station owner and a Mayor of Bunbury from 1959 to 1963. Hay renovated and added extra rooms to Myrniong including a laundry and a garage. On 2 May 1949 he sold the place to Rodney Forster Johnston, a nephew of Maria Rose. At about this time Johnston added two new garages. In 1961 the title was cancelled and the lot number changed to 206. In 1998 the house was still owned by Johnston and his wife.

The place continues to be a private residence.

[George Rose was the son of an early Bunbury farmer Robert Henry Rose I and since 1893 had been managing Parkfield, their large family property at Australind. Maria's father was Thomas Hayward, one of the earliest storekeepers in Bunbury and a partner of Robert Henry Rose I at Parkfield. Maria married Robert Henry Rose II in 1883 and they lived on his farm Roelands on the Collie River. After his death in 1900, Maria continued living at Roelands with her seven children. Within two months of purchasing the land in Beach Road, George Rose transferred the property to Eliza who at this time was living on another Rose property called Carlaminda in Ferguson.]

This history is partly based on the Documentary Evidence in Heritage Council of Western Australia, ‘Register of Heritage Places: Myrniong’ prepared by Natasha Georgiou, 1999.

Integrity/Authenticity

High degree of integrity (original intent clear, current use compatible, high long term sustainability).
High degree of authenticity with much original fabric remaining.
(These statements based on street survey only).
Previous notes indicate that the verandah floorboards and posts have been replaced.

Condition

Condition assessed as good (assessed from streetscape survey only).

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

Disclaimer

This information is provided voluntarily as a public service. The information provided is made available in good faith and is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the information is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment of the matters discussed herein and are advised to verify all relevant representations, statements and information.