Sheringham Flats
206-208 Cotham Road KEW, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
Sheringham at 206-8 Cotham Road, Kew is of local historical and architectural significance as a representative and generally intact example of a Melbourne apartment design of the 1920s. In its proportions and general bearing it has been designed to resemble a large detached (and therefore 'respectable') house, while using adapted components from contemporary bungalow design. Despite some additions and the redevelopment of the rear of the block, the principal elevations of the original flat block are intact and the block retains its original fencing.
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Sheringham Flats - Physical Description 1
Sheringham, at 206-8 Cotham Road at the Atkins Street corner, is a group of originally four brick flats, dating from 1924-5, with walls clad in textured stucco, facing north onto Cotham Road and west onto Davis Street. The design is symmetrical on its north elevation. The main roof is in terracotta tiling in a Marseilles pattern. The main roof mass is a transverse hip with a central chimney. A central bay facing Cotham Road is used to draw the four original flats together compositionally. The bay has a large, flattened gable of bungalow proportions, with four canted bay windows, each with a small flat roof and formed as a timber-framed box assembly. The upper bays are bracketed out from the front wall on diagonal struts, and while the lower bays are supported on deep stuccoed sills. The bay roofs have chains linking them to the wall above each. (This arrangement is repeated with the four canted bays on the side elevations - minus the suspension chains and with the upper bays' brackets being concave, east and west. On the north elevation, two open balcony pairs, positioned under the main transverse roof, flank the central pavilion. Of these, the west facing balcony is glassed in on the Atkins Street side.
The flats are entered from the side at each end of the building, with the upper flats approached by a robust stair in reinforced concrete with masonry balustrading. A landing halfway up each stair fits neatly with the side bay windows, and forms a roof over the two lower bay windows. A smooth rendered course line marks the floor level of the upper flats.
In 2001 the front yard was divided into sections to separate the two pairs of flats and screen the yards from Davis Street and Cotham Road (see n.5, above). This has been done simply, with timber fences clad in horizontal strips. The original rendered brick pillared fence survives (complete with chain sections) and extends around the street frontages of the property.
An additional unit was added at the rear, facing the side street to the south-west in 2002. This new unit, in brick veneer, continued the hipped roof, stuccoed walling, main course line and brick footings of the original building, and is attached to a rebuilt carport. This unit includes a living room, family and dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms, study and two bathrooms, and is linked to a fenced off area of the remaining back yard.[i] Fence alterations are listed in Kew's Building Index but no other entries are recorded before Kew's amalgamation into the City of Boroondara.[ii]
[i] See Avi Milder, sketch plans, and the subdivision survey by Neil Webster, dated 11 September 2001. Both are held in Boroondara archives
[ii] City of Kew Building Index, #6626, dated 14 May 1993.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Review of B Graded Buildings in Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn
Author: Lovell Chen Architects & Heritage Consultants
Year: 2006
Grading: BBoroondara - City of Kew Urban Conservation Study
Author: Pru Sanderson Design Pty Ltd
Year: 1988
Grading:
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