Buckingham House

Statement of Significance

The place has aesthetic value as a modest, four-roomed, random rubble limestone cottage dating form the late 19th century. The simple vernacular form of the cottage with its almost symmetrical facade, minimal ornamentation, and steeply pitched roof, demonstrates the late 19th Century colonial approach to the design of domestic housing. It is also a rare example of a rural dwelling dating from the late nineteenth century in Perth's northern suburbs. The place is assoicated with the European settlement of SW Australia in general and the development of Wannero both as a townsite and as a farming district in particular. The place was built by the Buckingham family, who settled in the Wanneroo District in 1855 and who played an active role in the agricultural development of Perth. The place is highly valued by the community as is evidenced by the voluntary effort of members of the community in running the Pioneer Activity educational rogrammme at the place, operating since 1986.

Physical Description

Buckingham House is a single storey, four room, limestone cottage. The front timber four paneled door, faces east and enters into the living room. The front bullnose verandah, with timber posts and iron cladding, is new. Rooms are laid out as in the plan. The front part roof is of steeply pitched gabled iron with the rear section a skillion iron roof, the iron was replaced in 1984. The walls are 400mm thick, random rubble, limestone. There were rendered for many years but the render was removed and the walls repointed in 1984. The front door and the windows have red brick quoining. Floors are butt jointed timber floorboards and there is one step down into the kitchen from the living room. Walls are rough, rendered limestone and painted white. Ceilings are white painted plasterboard, with timber battens painted black. Kitchen ceiling has some smoke damage from fire. There are fireplaces in the living room and kitchen. Overall condition of the House is very good as it is regularly maintained. Other structures on the site include the 1980s built toilet block and wash house shed. These structures are in place due to the educational activity program undertaken at Buckingham House.

History

In 1852 the first white settlers became established in Wanneroo. By 1855 Thomas Buckingham Senior has constructed a paperbark hut for this family on land at Lake Pinjar. Despite diverse commercial interests that included properties and timber milling in Roleystone and near Collie, some of the Buckingham family continued in the Wanneroo region. In 1876 John Buckingham, nephew of Thomas Buckingham Senior, purchased land on the eastern side of Lake Joondalup and around 1880 built a house there. However by 1899 his involvement in other areas led to the property being leased by gardener and dairyman William Tapping, and his wife Mary Ann. In 1907 the townsite of Wanneroo was gazetted. Richard Leggo, another gardener leased the property in 1909 and 1910, then the lease was passed to Dave Walker until 1920. In 1927 the title to Buckingham House passed to George Tapping, ending the association of the Buckingham family in Wanneroo. Tapping retained ownership until his death in 1940. The Togno family acquired the property with the associated dairy buildings and worked there until 1950. The windows in the bedrooms on the south side were inserted during the Tognos' residence and the verandah was enclosed. The property was sold to Mr J.Neville in 1950, who finally sold it in 1968 to developers. With the commencement of a housing estate on the property and the poor condition of Buckingham House, the Wanneroo Shire Council proposed demolition of the house. This was rescinded in early 1970 and in 1975 Buckingham House and one acre of surrounding land was vested in the Shire of Wanneroo, for the purpose of a museum. Preliminary restoration work on the house commenced then, but renovation was not undertaken fully until 1984, after the preparation of a conservation policy. No record had been found with details of the verandah, so a decision was made to construct a bullnose verandah. A recent visit by members of the Togno family confirmed the appropriateness of this decision. On 2nd November 1985, Buckingham House opened as a museum and since March 1986 it has operated a Pioneer Activity program for school groups.

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Historic Themes

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