Cottesloe Civic Centre

Child Places

• 18556 Overton Lodge

Statement of Significance

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
Cottesloe Civic Centre, a substantial two-storey, Inter-War Spanish Mission style house of rendered stone, brick and concrete with a tiled roof, a single-storey brick and tile hall, a single-storey brick and tile dwelling and substantial walled gardens, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
*the place has great importance to the broad community for its aesthetic characteristics as a well composed set of places in a grand, walled, garden setting and for the aesthetically pleasing character of the whole experience;
*the place contributes significantly to Cottesloe due to its strategic location and landmark qualities which make a significant contribution to the townscape of Cottesloe and as a significant component of an important precinct containing several other important heritage places;
*the place has importance for its associations with a past lifestyle and its very strong association with that of its most important and charismatic owner, Claude de Bemales, as a symbol of the second mining boom which saved Western Australia from the severest hardships of the Great Depression when his mines employed a significant number of people. Its associations with the Hon. Mr Justice Pennefather, Laurence Gadsdon, Mayor of Cottesloe, architects Sir Bernard Evans, Samuel Rosenthal, Harold Boas and John OIdham and several generations of the Cottesloe Councillors are also of importance;
the buildings and grounds demonstrate artistic achievement manifest in the principal characteristics of the Inter-War Spanish Mission style of architecture, with vestiges of the earlier concepts by Pennefather, where the overall aesthetic impact is considerably more important than the sum of the individual components;
*the place has a high degree of social value and, since its adaptation in 1950 to a civic centre, has continued to fulfill an important social role in the local and State community; the place is a strong presence in the context of Cottesloe and contributes significantly to the community's sense of continuity and place;
*the place is representative of the Inter-War Spanish Missionary style and is important in Western Australia for its large-scale use of the style and its comparative scarcity; and,
the place is representative of a large-scale culturally modified landscape of a type and order that is unusual in Western Australia.

AESTHETIC VALUE
The group of buildings and intervening spaces comprising Cottesloe Civic Centre have great importance to the community for their aesthetic characteristics, as a well composed set of places in a walled garden setting and for their aesthetically pleasing characteristics. The group is important for its component parts and the collective effect of buildings and their spatial relationship revealing the function and organisation of the site.
Each building has its own subtly distinctive aesthetic quality and, together, the group and its open spaces contribute to the community's sense of place. It is the illusion of the whole that is important to the community, both the community of Cottesloe and to the wider community of Western Australia.
Cottesloe Civic Centre is important not so much for innovative design, but for the overall aesthetic achievement and for the fact that the aesthetic achievement of the whole place is far more important than a mere sum of the parts. Although not a literal interpretation of the Inter-War Spanish Mission style in all respects, the place conveys a mood, very successfully, that remains little diminished by the steady erosion of
detail and increasingly dense planting.
The landmark value of the place is somewhat diminished by the loss of the foreground of the vacant land between 'Overton Lodge' and Marine Parade that arose from the sale of Overton Estate and the loss of the vertical form of the 'Spanish Tower' on the highest point of the site. However, Cottesloe Civic Centre remains a Western Australian landmark, comprising the large pines, the perimeter walling and the general impression of the house within the grounds from the street.
Because of the size of the site and its context as noted above, the place makes a significant contribution to the streetscape and contributes, m no small part, to the experience of the town. The limestone boundary walls and the Norfolk Island pines are a significant part of the Cottesloe townscape identity and contribute to its aesthetic unity.
HISTORIC VALUE
Cottesloe Civic Centre is an exuberant example of the Inter-War Spanish Mission style on a very large scale and the entire development is a substantial demonstration of the lifestyle of a senior politician and later of the mode of domestic existence of one of the State's most flamboyant and charismatic businessmen in the first half of the twentieth century.
In its first form, the place was a substantial demonstration of the way of life of one of the State's leading politicians. Under the ownership of de Bemales, the place became a demonstration of the way of life of a wealthy and flamboyant mining speculator and became a large scale symbol of his success and wealth.
The place has important associations with a number of eminent persons, such as its first owner, the Hon. Mr Justice Pennefather, its second owner, Clause Albo de Bernales, Laurence Gadsdon, the Mayor of Cottesloe, who oversaw the purchase of the place by the town, architects Sir Bernard Evans, Samuel Rosenfhal, Harold Boas and John Oldham and several generations of the Cottesloe Councilors.
The place was not at the leading edge of design when constructed, but rather it exploited an already well established school of design. Using the imported style, the conservative Federation Queen Anne style house, by then known as 'Overton Lodge', was transformed mto an Inter-War Spanish Mission styled place on a
grand scale and to elegant effect.
SOCIAL VALUE
As with many places in the public domain, the social value of the place is high. It is and has been accessible to the public for alnost 50 years and plays a strong part in the life of the Town ofCottesloe and, through its popularity for use as a place for functions and wedding receptions in particular (up to 1,000 per annum), the place has a relatively high social value on a State level.
With its pleasing streetscape setting, buildings, landscape setting, large individual trees and limestone walls, the place is a familiar part of Cottesloe people's existence and contributes to the community's sense of place.
While some prominence has diminished in a visual sense since the loss of the 'Spanish Tower' on the highest part of the site and the development of the Overton Estate, Cottesloe Civic Centre remains one of the town's cultural icons. The story of the place, the interest in its most famous owner and its passing into the hands of the town are part of the town's mythology.
The place is a rare example of an Inter-War Spanish Mission style mansion in Western Australia. Cottesloe Civic Centre, is of a scale quite unlike any other house of this type and period in Western Australia. The place is representative of a particular person's distinctive way of life and is of a particularly grand order as a collective experience and is representative of a way of life not common in Western Australia in the present era. There are no other places in Western Australia, from this period, associated with such a glittering international lifestyle or financial scandal; none so grand or so complete. The place may be said to have a degree of rarity.
REPRESENTATIVENESS
The place is representative of a particularly large-scale privately executed, culturally modified landscape of a type that is unusual in Western Australia, with its combination of natural and terraced gardens m a grand scale conception.
The place is a demonstration of successive owners' ways of life and, with the assistance of interpretation, can be used to teach about the way of like of the owners at various stages of occupation. It is also able to demonstrate, with the aid of interpretation, how buildings may be adapted, when their original purpose is no longer being served, to retain important and useful structures.
CONDITION
Overall, Coftesloe Civic Centre is in good condition.
For detailed tables setting out the condition of the place room by room refer to Considine and Griffiths Architects Pty Ltd: 'Cottesloe Civic Centre Conservation Plan' (prepared for the Town of Cottesloe, March 1996).
INTEGRITY
Although the place is now used as a civic centre, the original intention as a residence on a grand scale remains clear. Cottesloe Civic Centre has a high degree of integrity.
AUTHENTICITY
Overall, the place has moderate authenticity

Physical Description

Built around the original 1889 homestead of Judge R.W. PenneFather, "Overton Lodge" was bought by Claude de Bernales in 1911. Major alterations were commenced in 1936 resulting in the Spanish style mansion we know today. Added to the original house were a study, billiard room, ballroom , and music room as well as kitchens and servants quarters The kitchen boasted an electric . lift in the servery. .*Much use of jarral timber was made in panelling and parquetry Floors. It IS said that much of the timber was from one of the d
old demolished ocean jetties A massive limestone wall, 15ft high and 3000 ft long, complete
with balustrading surrounds the whole grounds. Impressive wrought iron gates are set in high, lavishly decorated gateways *

History

Assessment 1979
The history of the place is divided into the three separate periods, with associated sub periods that relate to a number of important construction campaigns that collectively lead to the Cottesloe Civic Centre being the place that we know today.
The periods are: -
. 1897-C1929 : Judge Pennefather's gracious Federation Queen Anne bungalow
. d 930-1949: Claude AIbo de Bemales' Spanish Mission Style Mansion
Overton Lodge
. 1950-1965
1966-1982
1983-1996
Cottesloe’s Civic Centre and War Memorial Hall

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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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.