HOUSE, 20 CHALMERS STREET

Parent Place or Precinct

26090 Holland/Forrest Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

House, 20 Chalmers Street, is a single storey timber and iron house dating from 1902. While the place has undergone significant alteration, is has aesthetic value for its contribution to the streetscape and the surrounding area. It is representative of the typical building stock and of working people’s living conditions within the residential areas of Fremantle. The place is aesthetically significant as an example of Fremantle’s vernacular architecture.

Physical Description

House, 20 Chalmers Street is a single storey timber and iron house. The walls are painted indented profile weatherboard and the roof is hipped and gabled and clad with Zincalume. The façade features two faceted bays, each with three timber double hung sash windows and crowned with a Zincalume faceted gabled roof. The separate bull nosed verandah is supported by chamfered timber posts. The rear of the house has been demolished and there are more recent contemporary two storey additions.

History

Chalmers Street was originally named Edmund Street which ran from Plympton (East Fremantle) all the way south to Lefroy Rd, Beaconsfield. The section north of Marmion Street is now Hubble Street. The section between Marmion and Knutsford Street changed names in c1949 to Chalmers Street. The street is thought to be named after J. Chalmers who was a Fremantle City Councillor from 1930-1933 and again in 1935-1942. House, 20 Chalmers Street is on lot 3 of 985. The house was originally number 78, and became number 20 when the street was renumbered in 1938. A house is first listed in Post Office Directories in this location in 1902. James Robins was the resident until c1910. The 1913 PWD plan of Fremantle (PWD 13017) and the 1914 Sewerage plan (2032) show No. 20 as having two bays to the front, and a verandah the full length of the street façade. There was a set of central steps leading down to the back yard from the rear of the house and a small weatherboard outbuilding near the house on the south east corner. There were multiple residents from 1910, suggesting the place became a rental property. The 1948/49 Fremantle Rate Book records show that the owner was Percy Fry, and the occupant was Harold Mitchell, who had been there since c1936. A black and white photo from 1990 is on file. (LHC Blue File). Aerial photos show that in late 2012 the rear section of the house was demolished and the rear yard cleared for a new addition. The original hipped and gabled front part of the house remains.

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