Douglas/Moresby State Housing Group [incl. Shops], Kensington

Child Places

• 26358 House, 218 Douglas Ave, Kensington

Values

The place is an intact and cohesive post-WWII group with good representative examples of multiple types of the following State Housing Commission constructed elements – single storey residences, park with hall, flats, shops, and a duplex. It is also associated with the debate concerning the provision of appropriate public housing in cities, and the question of higher density accommodation in the post-WWII period which involved architects, planners and sociologists. The place contains a good representative example of a small strip of modest shops constructed by the State Housing Commission in response to its legal obligation to provide these in areas of state housing.

Physical Description

The place comprises a row of seven houses, including a duplex, which faces a two storey block of flats, a row of State Housing Commission (SHC) constructed shops, and a small park with c.1960 Hall located along Douglas Avenue, & Moresby Street, Kensington. The following specific elements are included:
- 214 A & B Douglas Avenue, Kensington (1947)
A painted brick and tile duplex. The entrance to 214A fronts Douglas Ave, whilst the entrance to 214B fronts Pitt Street.
- 216 Douglas Avenue, Kensington (c.1947)
A painted brick and tile house which fronts Douglas Ave, with a garage entry on Pitt St. There appears to have been a fairy large extension added to the rear of the house visible in aerial imagery. A small red brick wall with a head-height white picket fence largely obscures the house from the street.
- 218 Douglas Avenue, Kensington (1947)
A painted brick and tile house which comprises four bedrooms, a kitchen and combined dining room, a lounge room, a bathroom, a laundry and a water closet. There is a brick verandah at the front of the dwelling. The sleepout at the rear was closed off with fibre compressed cladding at an unknown date.
- 220 Douglas Avenue, Kensington (c.1947)
A painted brick and tile house which has retained its original floorplan besides the addition of a pre-painted steel garage which has been added to the eastern side of the house. There is a brick verandah at the front of the dwelling.
- 222 Douglas Avenue, Kensington (1947)
A red brick and tile house which is rectangular in plan besides a projecting verandah to the façade. The house maintains its original floorplan. There is a small white picket fence across the front of the property.
- 224 Douglas Avenue, Kensington (c.1947)
A painted brick and grey tile house which has retained its original floorplan besides the addition of a garage or carport to its front and rear. The rear carport/garage has an entry off Bourke St. There is a brick verandah at the front of the dwelling and a large limestone block wall obscures the house from the street. Aerial imagery indicates that a swimming pool has been added to the front garden.
- 226 Douglas Ave, Kensington (c.1950)
A painted brick and grey tile L-shaped house which has retained its original floorplan. There is a small brick verandah or portico at the front of the dwelling. A steel post and chain link fence separates the property from the street. - Units 1 – 12, 209 Moresby Street, Kensington (1955)
A two-storey red brick block of flats in a partially flexed L-shape, at an angle of approximately 120 degrees. The flats have a terracotta tile roof, and the entry point is centrally located between the two ‘wings’ and fronts onto Douglas Ave.
- Shops 2-12 Moresby Street, Kensington (1950)
A small row of six shops constructed from brick with an iron roof and a plain vertical parapet. Most shops display signage for the various tenancies, which include a restaurant, deli, massage therapist, coffee shop and a hair dresser. One shop is vacant and images suggest it may have recently housed a laundromat.
- Moresby St Hall (South Perth Troop Scouts; c.1960)
A rendered brick building with corrugated fibrous cement gable, and corrugated iron roof. The front façade has two sets of medium sized windows with white frames, whilst the northern façade as a row of louvre windows just beneath the eaves. The southern side has a lean-to or annex attached. Signage on the front of the hall says ‘South Perth Troop Scouts’. The hall is situated in a small triangular park with mature trees and plantings.

History

South Perth/Kensington Area
Noongar boodja (country) covers the entire south-western portion of Western Australia from Jurien Bay to Esperance. Noongar people lived in family groups and those living in and around the Perth area were collectively known as the Whadjuk. The Whadjuk relied on the ocean, the Swan River and the freshwater lakes that once lay between the coast and the Darling scarp for food and moved seasonally through across the country. This way of life began to be disrupted by the exploration and colonial settlement of the region after 1829.

By the 1890s South Perth was already a sought after residential location and the population increases seen during the gold rush further consolidated its growth. The establishment of the Perth Zoo in 1898 increased the profile of the place and it was also at this time Como was recognised as a new suburb. The first part of the twentieth-century saw a number of large blocks purchased in the suburb by property speculators.

Following WWI, residential development in South Perth saw further growth with Como and Kensington seeing many previously undeveloped lots occupied. Some areas were also subject to development by the War Service Homes Commission. The population of South Perth grew from 3,000 in 1921 to approximately 9,000 in 1933, and at the close of WWII the population was at 15,000.
State Housing Commission (SHC)

By the end of World War II, severe housing shortages were experienced due to an increase in population. The government responded with the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement which was signed in 1944 and resulted in the initiation of a large-scale rental housing scheme. Increased pressures from returning soldiers from WWII establishing new families and households, and the influx of migrants from interstate and from overseas placed additional strain on this situation. This led to the establishment of the State Housing Commission under the State Housing Commission Act 1946, which abolished the previous Worker’s Homes Board. The functions of the Commission were to provide for the erection and disposal of houses, provide financial advances for housing, and administer the State Housing Commission Fund established under the State Housing Commission Act. Figures indicate that over half of the houses built by the State Housing Commission between 1944 and 1956 were constructed under this scheme while between 1945 and 1950 over 46% of all homes built in the State were constructed by the State Housing Commission. By 1950 the State Housing Commission also administered the Commonwealth War Service Homes Act and the McNess Housing Trust. In 1953, the Commission stated they had more than 11,000 applications for homes, some dating from 1948.

Kensington shares a boundary with Como which was the site of State Housing construction in South Perth following the end of World War II. By this point, South Perth had developed into a residential area with a preference for brick houses and international-style architecture including the California Bungalow. In 1948-1949, more than 1,000 blocks of land in Como had been created for the purposes of housing, and was also the site for experimental prefabricated or expansible houses, which were hoped would address the need for rapid construction. Housing shortages saw the City allow people to live in caravans on their properties while their houses were being built. The 1950s and 1960s saw further development of areas such as Mt Henry, Salter Point, Manning, Hurlingham and Karawara by the State Housing Commission and for the War Service Homes.

With the end of the first Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement in June 1956 it was noted that 12,113 homes had been constructed under this scheme. Of these 769 were built in South Perth (including Kensington).

Single-storey Residences Douglas Ave
The Certificate of Title for Swan Location 5348 indicates that the block bounded by George St, Douglas Ave, Oxford St and Dyson St was granted to the State Housing Commission in August 1951. The title lists multiple lots which were subsequently transferred to a variety of individuals and organisations including the Director of War Services Homes. This would suggest that this area of Kensington represents a c.1951 State Housing Commission ‘estate’ with some properties within this area under the control of the War Services Board. Although the construction dates provided with the referral indicate that the majority of the single-storey residential properties were constructed in 1947, it is possible some were constructed later once the title had been issued to the SHC. Aerial imagery available through Landgate confirms they were all in-situ by 1953.

The Duplex located at 214 A & B Douglas Ave, and the single-storey residences at 218, 222 and 226 Douglas Ave have remained in the ownership of the State Housing Commission since they were constructed, and have continued to be used for the purpose of social housing. The single-storey residences at 216, 220 and 224 Douglas Ave are in private ownership and have continued to be used as residences.

SHC Shops
The following is quoted from the Thematic History of Government Housing (Menck):
Under the 1946 State Housing Act, the new State Housing Commission was given authority to purchase land for the purpose of shops. The first SHC shops recorded in annual reports were at Mosman Park, Belmont, Midvale and Bunbury (c.1950), Bedford Park and South Perth (1951) and Manning Park (1952). These were small strips of six shops each. By 1963, shopping centre sites within SHC estates were being sold at auction rather than being developed by the Commission.

As many new SHC suburbs were developed in stages over several years, in 1968-69 the SHC designed transportable shops, to allow some shopping facilities to be erected for the first residents before sufficient houses were built to make permanent shopping facilities economically viable. Temporary shops continued to be used in new housing developments into the 1970s.

The Commission’s first major shopping complex was opened at Kwinana in April 1973, superseding the original small SHC shopping strip built at Medina in 1953. It was followed by large complexes at South Hedland (1977) and Mirrabooka (1978), the latter the largest of them all.

Information provided by the Department of Communities indicates that:
the Assistant Crown Solicitor ruled that it was the responsibility of the SHC rather than the local authority, to provide shops in districts it had existing housing stock or were constructing additional houses within. In response to this ruling, the SHC identified districts that would require shops due to existing housing stock and/ or new housing under construction. South Perth was identified as requiring shopping facilities urgently, following requests from the Local Authority.

The shops at 2-12 Moresby Street, Kensington were created by the subdivision of Lot 210 Moresby Street, South Perth. The shops were designed by Powell, Cameron & Chisholm Architects, with the design of the proposed shops finalised on 1st September 1950. The design of the shops included provision for six tenancies: green grocer, grocer, chemist, newsagent, handy foods and a butcher, as shown on the proposed site plans and elevations dated 21st May 1950.

Once the shops were erected, the Moresby Street, South Perth and Hooley Road, Midland shops were leased on a weekly basis by the State Housing Commission with applications invited from interested applicants, specifically ex-servicemen. The Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Labour and National Service provided the SHC with feedback on applicants for tenancies including those of the Moresby Street shops.

The Landgate Ownership History shows that the Moresby Street shops were sold or transferred out of the SHC’s ownership on the below dates:
- 2 Moresby Street, Kensington: 21/05/1997
- 4 Moresby Street, Kensington: 06/05/1997
- 6 Moresby Street, Kensington: 30/06/1987
- 8 Moresby Street, Kensington: 19/06/1992
- 10 Moresby Street, Kensington: 03/1/2002
- 12 Moresby Street, Kensington: 03/04/1968

SHC Flats
The following is quoted from the Thematic History of Government Housing:
In other States, especially New South Wales, flats were a substantial portion of the post-war public housing program. Western Australia, however, steered away from flat developments in the 1940s. Among submissions to the 1948 Royal Commission into the State Housing Commission was a proposal for construction of blocks of flats. Although outside the remit of the inquiry, Commissioner Moseley made favourable note of the idea as a means of addressing housing shortages.

Flats had been constructed in Perth from at least the 1920s, particularly above shops. From the 1930s, many purpose-built blocks of flats were developed, especially by Harold Krantz and, in the post-war years, his firm Krantz & Sheldon. In central Perth, so many young couples chose to live in the flats in the 1930s that the building industry complained that it was being negatively impacted by the trend. A small number of serviced luxury apartments were constructed but on the whole flats were built as an economical way to provide affordable middle-class housing. Large older houses were also converted into flats and it was these in particular that deteriorated into slums during the 1930s Depression, sparking a Royal Commission in 1938 into Perth’s municipal administration. Subsequent recommendations to demolish substandard buildings in Central Perth were not implemented until the mid-1950s, on account of the war and ensuing building materials shortages. As a result, the public association between flats and slums was very strong in the post-war years. Understandably, there was a great deal of concern when the SHC moved towards constructing flats for its low-income clients, as this was viewed as a recipe for slum creation. Many planners and architects, however, saw flats as the obvious and necessary solution to the housing crisis of the time. The increasing cost of Metropolitan land also led the SHC towards higher density housing developments.

A 1948 newspaper article reported that the first two-storey SHC flats were under construction at the corner of Collins and Oxford Streets South Perth. The block was to comprise six flats for small ‘two and three unit’ families. A photograph of these flats, along with another unidentified but very similarly designed South Perth block, was printed in the 1952 SHC annual report. They are the first hint of flats in annual reports. The unidentified block is probably the block of eight flats at 62 Birdwood Ave (cnr Bland St) Como, listed by DOH as a 1948 building.

From around 1953-54, the SHC began to actively provide accommodation for two-unit families and families with adult children, who previously had not qualified for SHC assistance. This included couples and single parents, the latter referred to as ‘widows with children’ or ‘deserted wives’ until well into the 1970s.

The flats located at 1-12, 209 Moresby St, Kensington ‘Munda Court’ were constructed in 1955 and they have remained in SHC ownership, being used for the purpose of social housing since that time.
Moresby St Hall (c.1960)

The hall situated within the park bounded by Douglas Ave and Moresby St appears in aerial imagery by 1963, and information acquired through Landgate indicates that the recreation reserve was part of the original c.1950 subdivision.

No information has been found to clarify who was responsible for building the hall, but it is likely the land was provided within the SHC estate for the City of South Perth to construct the hall. The reserve appears to have been vested in the City of South Perth in 1955, and they currently have a Management Order over the place. Signage on the front of the hall says ‘South Perth Troop Scouts’ so may have been constructed as a scout hall. However, it is currently used as a general community hall.

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

Publish place record online (inHerit):

Last Update

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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.