HOUSE, 5 CHALMERS STREET

Parent Place or Precinct

26090 Holland/Forrest Street Heritage Area

Statement of Significance

House, 5 Chalmers Street House, is a single storey stone and brick house dating from c1920. The place has aesthetic value for its contribution to the streetscape and the surrounding area. It is representative of the typical building stock located within the residential areas of Fremantle. It is historically significant as a representation of working people’s living conditions in the Fremantle area. The place is aesthetically significant as an example of Fremantle’s vernacular architecture.

Physical Description

House, 5 Chalmers Street is a single storey stone and brick house with an iron roof. Walls are limestone with tuck pointed brick quoining to the window and door openings and corners. Side walls are rendered. The Zincalume clad hipped roof has a brick chimney with rendered corbelling and extends at broken pitch over the verandah which is supported by turned timber posts with timber brackets and criss cross balustrades. The façade is symmetrical with a central door with side and fan lights and timber framed double hung sash windows either side. There is a limestone block fence with steel pickets to the front boundary.

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, 5 Chalmers Street is on Lot 3 of 986. The house was originally number 75, and became number 5 when the street was renumbered in 1938. The 1913 PWD plan of Fremantle (PWD 13017) does not show 5 Chalmers Street, however the 1914 Sewerage plan (2032) show a simple outline of a house (no sewerage and building material details shown), suggesting it may have been in the planning stages for construction. However, there is no listing of a residence at this location until 1925 in Post Office Directories. The architectural style suggests the house may have been built earlier, circa 1915-20. The first resident was Sidney A Beisley, who was still residing there when records ceased in 1949. Rate books in 1948/9 confirm that the owner was Ellen Beisley and the occupant Sydney Beisley. The 1947 aerial photograph (Landgate) shows Nos. 5 and 7 as the only houses on that side of Chalmers Street in the block. (The original No. 7, built 1902 and one of the earliest houses in the street, was demolished 1985-1995). Later aerial photos (Landgate) show that there were some rear roof extensions in the late 1990s and the main roof was replaced in 1999/2000.

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Historic Themes

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