House, 66 Stirling Highway

Parent Place or Precinct

22385 North Fremantle Precinct

Statement of Significance

HCWA Register of Heritage Places-Permanent Entry House, 66 Stirling Highway has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: (Note this information is from the HCWA Register documentation written in 2000. The place has since undergone further restoration and the external walls are no longer rendered. The tuck pointed brick has been restored and the front verandah is no longer enclosed). House, 66 Stirling Highway, a split level residence constructed with tuck pointed brick and covered in rough cast render and rendered limestone with a replacement custom orb zinc roof, has cultural heritage significance for the following reasons: the place is an unusual split level worker’s cottage; by virtue of its relationship to the lot boundaries, its scale, geometry and modest presentation, and notwithstanding its compromised state, the place contributes to the general and consistent character of this area of North Fremantle, which has a mix of built forms, including workers’ cottages, Pensioner cottages, public buildings and light industrial buildings; and, the place is part of the suburban residential development that came about with the expansion of Fremantle and South Fremantle following the discovery of gold in Western Australia in the 1880s and 1890s and the increase in population and public monies due to the goldrushes. The current render treatments, enclosure of the front verandah and gardens are considered to have low significance. The infill structures under the rear verandah and the enclosure of the rear verandah have little significance.

Physical Description

HCWA Register of Heritage Places-Permanent Entry House, 66 Stirling Highway (Note this information is from the HCWA Assessment documentation written in 2000. The place has since undergone further restoration and the external walls are no longer rendered. The tuck pointed brick has been restored and the front verandah is no longer enclosed. The description of the front verandah is bullnosed corrugated iron supported by timber posts with a simple timber balustrade and decorative timber brackets). "House, 66 Stirling Highway is a rectangular planned single and two storey rendered brick and stone building and basement, roofed with a corrugated iron roof, a verandah at the front (west) and an enclosed timber verandah at the rear (east). Near the southern boundary and attached to the main building is a water closet and a laundry. Further additions include a brick water closet and bathroom attached at the rear; and a timber framed shed clad in fibrous cement shed and attached to the north side of the house. The place is located in North Fremantle on the east side of Stirling Highway. Stirling Highway is a bitumen surfaced four lane highway with concrete barrier kerbs a narrow raised median, and concrete footpath. There is on landscaped verge and no parking in front of the house. Only a small strip of the original front garden remains between the house and the footpath and this is overgrown with recent plantings. House, 66 Stirling Highway is part of a group of small houses that form the built up edge of the beach-front and railway reserve at North Fremantle. On its south side is vacant land contiguous with the edge of a major green reserve. House, 66 Stirling Highway in effect forms an edge along the green space. The ground levels are relatively flat at this point, although the ground levels have accreted on the north and south and west elevations. House, 66 Stirling Highway is located on a rectangular lot. The lot is raised about 200mm above the public footpath level. The block is 12.58 metres wide along the west boundary, 24.78 metres in depth along the north boundary, 24.17 metres along the south boundary and 12.57 metres wide along the west property line. The front of the house is set back approximately 300mm from the footpath. This narrow front setback is consistent with other houses in the street and reflects the gradual encroachment of Stirling Highway. There is no side setback to the south side and only part of the north side is set back from the boundary. There is indirect access to the rear (east) garden from Hevron Street, which runs perpendicular to Stirling Highway to the south of the lot. The front garden contains a variety of unkempt grasses and shrub. There is a vegetable garden in the well-kept rear garden and chickens are kept in the side yard on the north. Access to the rear garden is through the shed on the north or through a gate in the fence that runs along the south property line. The outbuildings attached to the structures in the rear garden are a timber framed shed with fibrous cement cladding on the north property line, a plastered brick water closet. (room 14) and bathroom (room 15) on the east side of the house, and a plastered brick laundry (room 16) / water closet (room 13) on the south property line. The shed has rough stone slab paving. The other outbuildings are constructed of single leaf brick with granolithic concrete floors. The original sanitary fixtures have been replaced. The roof is a replacement zincalume roof with gutters and approximately 15 degree slope. The house is planned in four sections: a font verandah with skillion roof; a raised single storey section with unfinished basement and hipped roof; a two storey section with attic and hipped roof; a rear verandah with skillion roof. (Refer to plans, Figure 1 and 2). The west (front) elevation of the house is simply expressed in the Federation Bungalow style workers’ cottage. The west elevation (front) is on a single plane. The verandah has rendered brick piers with balustrade wall and board and lattice infill. It has a timber flush door with one glazed panel and a stained glass lead light. The verandah’s timber floor has been replaced with granolithic. The verandah roof probably reflects its original form. It has a simple lean-to roof 15 degrees of corrugated zincalume and appears to be a recent replacement. The gutters are also replacement colonial profile and are unpainted. The original timber soffit with ventilation holes in extant. The original exterior wall, west elevation, (now concealed from the street) is rough cast render over tuck-pointed brick. Invasive investigation is required to determine whether the tuck-pointed brickwork was simply a cladding to the limestone. The roof of the main house is hipped, pitched at 30 degrees, and clad with corrugated iron that is severely rusted. The gutters on the main roof are either original or early replacement gutters. The original exterior windows, west elevation (now concealed from general view) of the front elevation are double pane double hung sashes. The original front door, west elevation has been removed and replaced with a partly glazed flush door, with a single pane hopper light over it. The north and south (side) elevations are finished with render over thick limestone walls. The rear elevation comprises filled in verandahs which is either fibrous cement clad framed elements or single skin brickwork rendered elements. The windows are double pane double hung sashes in the main rooms and louvred windows to the enclosed verandahs, toilet and water closet to the rear. The front part of the house comprises Rooms 1-5, four rooms and a central corridor. Except for the sitting room (Room5), the spaces appear to be unoccupied. The original jarrah floorboards remain in place, together with 8” moulded skirtings, and wall vents. Some architraves have been replaced. Walls are painted or wall papered and plastered brick, without evidence of major cracking, except in the corners of room 3 and the south wall of room 4. The ceilings in this section of the house are lath and plaster, without cornices. Room 2, the corridor has a cast plaster ceiling rose and a semicircular arch supported on consoles. There is evidence of a painted dado and at the west end of the corridor there is a long timber batten and metal peg hat and coat rail. Except for room 1, the doors are four panel format and architraves are mostly replacement material. The ceiling and skirtings indicate evidence of chimney breasts having been removed from each of the four rooms. Room 1 contains kitchen fittings, but these are clearly of 1950s manufacture. Room 4 is fitted out with ply construction cabinetwork from the same era. Room 4 also contains an access hatch to the floor space below and this has evidently been used for storage, though there is no floor and the walls remain unfinished limestone. Room 11 has a set of steps leading through the east wall to the adjacent room which is set at a half level below it (Room 5). A half flight of steps at the east end of the hall (Room 6) leads down to the lower ground floor level where the dining room (Room 11) and kitchen (Room 12) are located. The floor in room 11 has been replaced with granolithic and the floor to room 12 remains timber. The interior of the walls are painted and plastered masonry. The ceilings are lath and plaster and room 11 has a reproduction ceiling rose in its centre. Along the west walls of both room there is a large timber plate supporting the floor above, which is in poor condition. Both rooms have wall vents, picture rails and 8” moulded timber skirtings. There is damp in the north wall and this has been covered with framed linings and decorative cabinet work. Similarly, the south wall of the kitchen is lined, probable for similar reasons. The dining room is fitted out with cabinet work, which is from the 1990s, and the kitchen with cabinets from the 1960s finished with plywood carcasses. The stairs in the hall (Room 6) are constructed in timber with turned newels and balusters and a moulded handrail. The ceilings in this area are lath and plaster at the lower level and the linings to the top level ceiling are reed moulded timber, as are the flight soffits at the lower level. The timber soffits have cove cornices. The upper and lower level doors to the stair hall are four panel format with hopper lights over them. The box room over the top of the stairs appears to have been left in its original form. Rooms 7-10 are at first floor level. Bedrooms 7 and 10 are located under the main hipped roof section of this structure. The external walls are plastered masonry and the internal walls and ceilings are lath and plaster. There is extensive crazing in room 7. Both rooms previously had fireplaces and traces of these can be seen in the walls and lath and plaster ceilings on the western walls. The skirting to room 7 is replacement bullnosed profile and the skirting to room 8 is the original moulded timber format. Both rooms open onto the original rear verandah, which has subsequently been infilled to form rooms. The eastern part of room 10 is part of the verandah and the kitchen sink in this room indicates and earlier use as a bed sitting room. The enclosed verandah comprises rooms 8, 9 and part of room 10. Room 8 is a playroom and is lined with fibrous cement sheeting. It has 3” replacement timber floors, a fibreboard skirtings, a rendered masonry west wall and fibrous cement on the north and east walls, with a ‘Beautyboard’ on the south wall. All windows are metal framed obscured glass louvres. The walls and ceilings of the bathroom and dressing room are similarly treated and the floor to the bathroom (Room 9) has been covered with fibre glass reinforced resin to make it waterproof. The fittings in this room appear to date from the 1950s and are poorly executed. The lower level rooms 13-16 are all fitted in under the verandah and have granolithic floors, rendered brick or framed walls and fibrous plaster ceilings. The bathroom in room 15 has fittings that are consistent with work that was done in the 1940s or 1050s. The bathroom in room 13 has been considerably upgraded and finishes are more recent. In September 1999 the place is occupied as a dwelling."

History

The portion of Stirling Highway to the north of Queen Victoria Street was originally part of Perth Road. The area developed with mixed residential, commercial and industrial uses from the 1860s following the construction of the North Fremantle Traffic Bridge and the upgrading of Perth Road by convicts. The portion of Stirling Highway to the south of Queen Victoria Street was formerly called Bruce Street and was widened and renamed following the completion of Stirling Bridge in 1974. In 2005, the highway continues to have a mix of uses. House, 66 Stirling Highway stands on Lot 12, which was purchased by Mary Anne Elizabeth Griffiths in June 1894 soon after the area was subdivided. Mary Anne sold the undeveloped property to George Alfred Davies and Fred Mason the following year, and in February 1896 ownership passed to Catherine Duggan. The house at 66 Stirling Street had been constructed by 1897, and appears on a PWD plan at this time. The house was probably built for Catherine Duggan and her husband, John. John and his brother, Thomas, ran their business, T & J Duggan Shopkeepers, from this address for a time. The Duggan family remained at 66 Stirling Highway until the early 1920s. The house had a number of owner/occupiers through the 1920s and into the 1930s. In the early 1940s, the Jeffrey family rented the place and continued to live there until 1957, despite change in ownership during this time. In 1957 the property was owned by Richard Belke, and then transferred to William and Martha Cain, who took up residence. They stayed there until 1959, after which time the house reverted to a rental property. Lionel and Annette Meiners owned 66 Stirling Highway in 1964. From 1970, the property changed hands several times, until it was acquired by Main Roads for the widening of Stirling Highway. For further information, see Heritage Council of Western Australia, ‘Register of Heritage Places: Permanent Entry – House, 66 Stirling Highway’, prepared by Kristy Bizzaca with Considine and Griffiths Architects, 2000. This place was included in the "North Fremantle Heritage Study", prepared by Craig Burton, for the City of Fremantle, June 1994 and in the list of heritage places in the City of Fremantle identified by the Fremantle Society in 1979/80.

Integrity/Authenticity

High degree of integrity (original intent clear, current use compatible, high long term sustainability, restored). High degree of authenticity with much original fabric remaining. (These statements based on street survey only).

Condition

Condition assessed as good (assessed from streetscape survey only).

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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