Upton House

Statement of Significance

The following statement is drawn from the Register Entry for inclusion of the place in the State Register of Heritage Places in 1998 on a permanent basis.

Upton House, a two-storey brick residence, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons:
• It is a rare example of an 1840s house in Western Australia demonstrating a sophisticated use of Georgian symmetry and simplicity, and a level of building craft not readily available to the general community;
• The building and its extensive surrounding gardens are a prominent landmark in the Australind area;
• The building is important for its long and close association with the Clifton family, whose members contributed greatly to the development of Western Australia;
• The place was the childhood home of daughters of Marshall Waller Clifton who were important artists in Western Australian arts history; and,
• The building contributes to the community's sense of place, a reminder of the early European settlement of the district.

Physical Description

Simple two-storey dwelling constructed from imported bricks and plaster and incorporated vented eaves, imported fine profile cast iron window casements and glazing, solid wall construction, locally sawn timber and finely designed and crafted French doors and internal staircase.

The original house is the two storey section. Earlier timber additions were replaced with brick additions in the 1960s with further alterations having been undertaken in the 1990s and in 2006.

The property is not the subject of a conservation plan but in 2014 the current owners engaged a specialist conservation company who applied a technique of repairing worn and damaged brick work to the Western side of the main building. This was done carefully machining out the damaged bricks, completely removing them from the wall then turning the brick around and repositioning them prior to re-pointing the mortar. This painstaking and slow technique was applied extensively to the original chimney which had deteriorated and was in poor condition. Following this the original building was re-roofed and the vented eaves were replaced.

History

Upton House was built by local resident, Pearce Clifton, for absentee owner, Mrs Elizabeth Fry, the English prison reformer and cousin of Mrs Waller Clifton (mother of Pearce Clifton).

The name Upton House is derived from Mrs Fry's residence in Upton Lane, London.

The materials for the house were transported to the settlement in one of the early ships as cargo and used for ballast. This included eight sets of French windows and twelve sets of cast iron windows. Pearce Clifton constructed the home with the use of locally cut jarrah and nails manufactured at Australind. Mrs Fry died in 1845 and her husband sold Upton House to Elinor Clifton, the mother of Pearce Clifton.

In 1844/45 Pearce Clifton and his family moved out and his mother Elinor and father Marshall Waller Clifton moved into the property and it is they who are credited with establishing the splendid gardens at Upton House.

Numerous outbuildings were built on the property but only the former dairy remains as the present day garage.
The property remains the property of the Clifton family until the present day [2014].

Integrity/Authenticity

High/ High

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.