House

Statement of Significance

House, 336 Wharf Street, Queens Park, a timber-framed, fibrous cement clad and terracotta tile roofed house, is significant for the following reasons:
It is an example of a State Housing Commission prefabricated house built to a standard plan, that was in private ownership either from construction, or purchased soon after, under the 1956 Housing Agreement Act;
It is an example of prefabricated housing built in the Post-War period of material shortages and austerity; and,
It contributes to the community’s sense of place as a tangible reminder of the City of Canning’s growth in the Post-War period.
Aesthetic Value:
House, 336 Wharf Street makes little aesthetic contribution to the streetscape in its current form.
Historic Values:
House, 336 Wharf Street is an example of a State Housing Commission standard plan pre-cut house, either built by the SHC and purchased by a private owner soon after; or built by a private owner, using the State Building Supplies 1959 booklet that shared housing plans to the public as to encourage affordable building and home ownership in the 1950s.
House, 336 Wharf Street is representative of the period of growth in Queens Park immediately following World War II when the suburb grew rapidly, and prefabricated housing was a viable and affordable solution.
Social Values:
House, 336 Wharf Street contributes to the community’s sense of place as a tangible reminder of the history and development of the City of Canning.
Scientific Values:
House, 336 Wharf Street demonstrates the type of prefabricated technology the State Government adopted to build houses quickly and economically in the Post-War period.
Rarity:
The place is a reasonably intact example of a Post-War timber framed, timber clad, prefabricated house, which are becoming increasingly rare.
Representativeness:
The place is a representative example of a Post-War Austerity Cottage typical in Queens Park built during the 1950s and 1960s.

Physical Description

House, 336 Wharf Street is a timber framed building on stumps, clad in fibrous cement sheeting, with a simple hipped, terracotta tiled roof. The composition of the street facing facade is asymmetrical with a verandah covered by the main pitched roof form. The windows are timber framed casements. There is no boundary fence.
A ramp has been added to the front of the building to provide access from ground level to the verandah. There is a garage to the western side contemporary with the era of construction.

History

Queens Park was originally called Woodlupine, after Woodlupine Creek. This was named by colonial British settlers in recognition of the heavily treed woods and an abundance of lupin flowers. The railway station opened in 1899. The suburb’s name changed in 1912 to Queens Park, said to honour Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII. Later, some of it became East Cannington and St James.
The Queens Park Primary School opened in 1906 to serve children of the surrounding area, which was made up of rural properties such as poultry farms, piggeries, market gardens and orchards. Sister Kate’s was established in 1934, at that time only accessible via a sandy track. It was not until the Post-War period that the rural nature of Queens Park changed
into the residential suburb, with rapid growth and development occurring from 1950 into the 1960s.
Aerial photographs show that 336 Wharf Street was built between 1953 and 1965. It is a typical Post-War house, modest in scale and materiality, reflecting a period of austerity and materials shortages, especially those built by the State Housing Commission (SHC). Queens Park was one of several ‘Housing Commission sponsored areas’ in the metropolitan area,
developed in a decade where around 73% of SHC homes were timber framed, rather than of brick construction.
House, 336 Wharf Street is typical of the 1950s-style SHC pre-cut, timber framed homes. These were being produced by mid-1951 for country towns, and typically comprised two or three bedrooms, kitchen, living room and sometimes a dining room, with wood or fuel stoves, fireplaces and laundry. Influenced by Modernist design, they lacked decoration, but sold well due to their affordability.
Since the pre-cut housing worked so successfully in country areas, the scheme was initiated in the Metropolitan area from 1954. In the first six months, 402 pre-cut houses were delivered to Perth suburban locations, with 176 completed in this time. The Commission believed it was addressing concerns about uniformity as ‘careful planning is provided for alternate siting, which will result in pleasing variation’. There were ten pre-cut designs in use. The pre-cut housing scheme was discontinued in January 1956, on account of the general contraction of the building industry in this period, except for homes in the Northwest. In the five years the scheme had operated, 3,717 pre-cut SHC homes were erected, of which 2,371 were in country areas.
In 1959, State Building Supplies issued a booklet of eleven standard plans for pre-cut homes to make available to the general public the low-cost designs that had been used by the government. Everything except electrical fittings was supplied, with clear instructions so that while it was ‘recommended’ to have a builder supervise it was ‘not necessary’.
Notably, 336 Wharf Street has a garage. Features such as garages, double sinks, breakfast bars, television space, built-in storage areas and bathrooms with separate baths and showers, though common in even modest private homes, were generally omitted from SHC homes. It is possible then, that this house was built by a private owner, using the State
Building Supplies plans issued in 1959.
The other possibility is that the house was purchased from the SHC soon after its construction. Hundreds of tenants under the Commonwealth-State Rental Housing Agreement Act (1945) applied to purchase their rental homes in the 1950s. The 1956 Housing Agreement Act further moved focus away from rental properties to encouraging home ownership and divested power to the States to determine the terms on which homes were to be offered to applicants In October 1961, the City of Canning issued a building licence to N. E. Casey, then owner of 336 Wharf Street, to build an asbestos garage, 20ft x 11ft, adjacent to the house on the west side.
There is a chimney on the east end of the house evident in the 1965 aerial, which appears to have since been removed.
Later aerial photos show that the house footprint has changed little since its construction, except for a small addition to the rear, c. 2005, which is likely to be an outdoor covered area. The ramp was added in 2018.

Integrity/Authenticity

Integrity - High
Authenticity - Moderate

Condition

Good

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.