Cranmore Estate and Environs Precinct
Barkers Road and Elphin Grove and Liddiard Street and Churchill Grove and Sailsbury Grove and Sercombe Grove and York Street and Bowen Street and Vicars Street and Carrington Street and Percy Street and Moir Street and Haines Street and Bell Street and Ed
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct comprising: 238-272 & 302-326 Barkers Road; 2-32 & 1-15 Elphin Grove; 3-65 & 71-95, 60-82 & 96-104 Liddiard St; Churchill Grove, Salisbury Grove, Sercombe Grove, York Street, Bowen Street, 2-6 Vicars Street, Carrington Street, Percy Street, Moir Street, Haines Street, Bell Street, Edward Street, Hull Street, and 7-33, 4-38 Johnson Street, is significant.
How is it significant?
The Cranmore Estate & Environs is of local historic, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
The Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct is historically significant as a representative of the development in Hawthorn in the Barkers Road area in the 1880s, especially after the construction of the Victoria Street Bridge across the Yarra River in 1884. The bridge provided an impetus for development east of the river through better transport links. The precinct demonstrates the practice of subdivision through a series of land sales, often taking in the pre-existing large land holdings of mansion houses. The Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct demonstrates the former location of the larger estates and the many land sales through its street alignments and pattern, developed over a short eleven-year period from 1879 to 1890.
The precinct is historically significant, being formed from the following land subdivisions:
-Liddiard Street and Bowen Street, 1879
-Liddiard, Bell, Moir and Edwards Streets - Edwards Paddock 1883
-Bowen Estate: Bowen Street, Vicars Street, Carrington Street and Hull Street,1888, incorporating 'Mr Edwards house and garden'
-Cranmore Estate: Percy Street, Barkers Road, Haines Street and Edwards Street, 1885-88, and incorporating Cranmore House
-Payne's Paddock: Barkers Road, Sercombe Grove, Salisbury Grove and Churchill Grove, 1885-87
-Irwell Estate: Barkers Road and Elphin Grove,1885-86
-Falmouth Estate: Liddiard Street (part of south side), 1886
-Goss's Orchard: Edward Steer and Haines Street, 1888
-York Estate:Barkers Road and York Street, 1890
The precinct is historically significant for the few shops that are in Bell and Haines Street that indicate a past era of a more mixed neighbourhood combining both shops and residences closely related, including:
-2, 38 and 48 Bell Street
-6 Haines Street
-302-304 Barkers Road (Cnr Haines Street)
The precinct is also historically significant for commercial buildings in upper Glenferrie Road that demonstrate later development of the strip shopping centre along Glenferrie Road, which is significant as the major shopping centre in Hawthorn. (Criterion A)
Historically the Hull Street Reserve is a modest version of the reserves provided in more well-to-do areas of Hawthorn such as St James Park.
The Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct demonstrates a largely Victorian era precinct of worker's housing. Whilst predominantly exhibiting Victorian-era residential development, a number of. Edwardian and interwar examples are located in Liddiard Street. The precinct generally demonstrates key characteristics including small allotment size, single and double-fronted (but generally small and single-storey) houses, both attached and detached, and predominantly of timber construction. It is comparable to the large precinct of West Hawthorn (HO220), both precincts providing evidence of the range of house types provided for the lower middle classes built singly and in pairs, terraces and groups. Two boundaries of the precinct are well defined by Glenferrie Road and Barkers Road, both major roads through Boroondara. Development in Liddiard Street is of more variety with paired Edwardian and interwar housing and some larger allotments with Victorian, Edwardian and interwar bungalows. (Criterion D)
The Cranmore Estate & Environs precinct is aesthetically significant for the range and consistency of its Victorian-era workers' housing, and its places of individual significance in Liddiard Street, Barkers and Salisbury Roads, and Elphin Grove. The patterns of development are evident in the different forms of houses that utilise Victorian (and to a lesser extent) Federation elements. Hipped and gabled roof forms in various combinations, verandahs of timber and cast iron construction with forms of fretwork and friezes, windows, including bay windows, form repetitive elements across the precinct.
Liddiard Street and Barkers Road provide opportunity for larger and later villas, some with a higher degree of detail and more individuality in design. Several of these currently have individual heritage status. Several substantial interwar bungalows exhibit typical features of plain red brick with terra cotta tiles roofs and shingle gable detail. New places identified with particularly high aesthetic value or unusual design features include:
-15 Elphin Grove, whilst typical in form, displays stucco work of a high quality
-1 Salisbury Road demonstrates sophisticated timber joinery and design
The internal streets of the precinct are aesthetically significant for their consistent scale and use of materials (weatherboard, block-fronted weatherboard, red and polychrome brickwork, slate and corrugated iron). Examples include 5, and 7-17 Churchill Grove, which feature pedimented parapets and bichrome brickwork.
The precinct is aesthetically significant for the bluestone paved laneways that form a secondary circulation route, including:
-Front of 1-3 Moir Street through to York Street
-Between the rear of 19 Moir Street and the rear of 34 Haines Street (behind 3 & 5 Percy Street)
-Liddiard St through to Bowen Street (not bluestone paved) - linked to a bluestone laneway to Hull Street
-Rear of 11 Bowen Street andthe back of 15 Carrington Street - bluestone paved
-At the rear of 2 Sercombe Grove through to Glenferrie Rd From Barkers Road, next to Elphin Mews
-Along the north side of 1 Elphin Grove, then south behind1-13 Elphin Grove
The Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct derives its aesthetic value from its density of development with similar patterns of houses repeated throughout, often in groups clearly built by the same builder at the same time. The precinct benefits from a low level of non-contributory places and lack of major alterations to its many contributory elements. (Criterion E)
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Cranmore Estate and Environs Precinct - Physical Description 1
Description & Integrity
Cranmore Estate and Environs Precinct is bordered to the east by the Corsewall Close (HO147) and Lyndhurst Street Precincts (HO155) Precincts, Liddiard Street to the south, Barkers Road to the north and Glenferrie Road to the east. Comparison of the current conditions of the precinct with the1901 MMBW map shows a remarkable lack of change during the last century across this whole precinct. Large scale development along Glenferrie Road provides a backdrop to the precinct especially from Sercombe Grove, and the long-distance view to the south is of multi-storey development along Burwood Road.
The topography of the precinct rises from the lower level of Liddiard Road to the higher ground of Barkers Road. A series of separate subdivisions based around existing older residences with large garden settings has created the current bending or misalignment of streets to avoid these once larger allotments. Despite the eight separate sub-divisions from which the precinct is comprised, the whole area was developed in little over a ten -year period, and this is reflected in the consistency of development across the whole precinct.
Places of individual significance identified in this study include:
1 Salisbury Grove
5-17 Churchill Grove
15 Elphin Grove
Places already included in an individual Heritage Overlay include:
254 Barkers Road (HO439)
238, 240, 242 & 244 Barkers Road (HO437)
7 Elphin Grove(HO425)
45 Liddiard Street (HO80)
51 Liddiard Street (HO81)
71 Liddiard Street (HO82)
Barkers Road
Barkers Road comprises primarily residential properties with a small commercial precinct around Haines Road corner. A former Methodist Church, now converted to apartments occupies the corner of Barkers Road and Elphin Grove. Buildings on Barkers Road are generally on larger allotments and have been developed later with more Federation-era residences. Notable buildings in Barkers Road include an intact symmetrical Federation house at No.268, a semi-detached pair with similar timber detail at 270-272, and a two storey commercial building at 302-304 Barkers Road.
Buildings previously assessed and of individual significance are described below.
Devonia, 254 Barkers Road(HO439)
Devonia is a single-storey villa in a hybrid Italianate Gothic style. The brick building with bluestone plinth is overpainted, and has a three-faceted canted bay, a hipped slate roof with painted galvanised iron ridge-capping, red brick chimneys and lead-lighting features to the entrance and the verandah. The exterior is decorated with quoin dressings and moulded coursing. (Lovell Chen, 2006)
Terrace houses at 238, 240, 242 & 244 Barkers Road (HO437)
Initially completed as part of a row of ten houses, the subject properties were built in two semi-detached pairs separated by a narrow easement. Numbers 240 and 242 are overpainted, but the original bichrome brickwork can be observed from the facades of numbers 238 and 244. In these examples, stepped quoins and cruciform motifs are retained in the bichrome patterns. 242 Barkers Rd retains original lacework and a parapet urn. (Lovell Chen, 2006)
Salisbury Road
Salisbury Road is a short street between Barkers Road and Churchill Grove comprising identical double fronted houses on the west side and a combination of double and single fronted houses on the east side. Typical of the Street are 15 & 17 Salisbury Road that are single fronted houses with block-front weatherboard cladding.
1 Salisbury Road is an unusual Victorian asymmetrical house with gable roof and a box window with triple arch-headed windows in a Gothic Revival manner. Details of the four -leaved clover routed between the windows, the bargeboards with restrained detailing and the use of wide timber boards all indicate the unusual qualities of this house. The block-fronted weatherboard is of elongated proportions. The rendered chimneys with stepped profile tops are a particularly simple and elegant design for the period.
Hull Street
Hull Street and its continuation into York Street show the influence of the different subdivision estates through the slight mis-alignment of the street. There is a greater variety of buildings in Hull Street and a mixture of timber, brick and stucco used, different allotment sizes and alignment of house frontages including semi-detached pairs at Nos.13 & 15, and 19 & 21. The single-fronted timber Victorian Italianate cottage at No. 2 is believed to have been built as a guest or property manager's cottage in 1884 for veterinarian Dr Edmund William Edwards. He resided with his family in 'Carrington' at 45 Liddiard Street (Pers. Comm., S. Grubert-Gardiner, 2017). Hull Street contains a small pocket park that extends through to Bell Street.
Bowen Street
Bowen Street is aligned east-west and connects Glenferrie Road with Hull Street. There is a particularly consistent streetscape on the south side with 2-28 Bowen Street being all double fronted Victorian houses with the same setbacks. No 30 & 32 are good examples with fine chimneys and patterned brickwork. Pinkish red bricks are used. Original verandah tiling is intact to 32 Bowen Street which also features a return verandah to take account of its corner location.
York Street
York Street is the continuation of Hull Street and the last subdivision in this area. The buildings display a greater variety in period and style than elsewhere and there are several Federation houses with projecting gable roofed wings and verandahs with either timber or geometrically based cast iron designs as verandah friezes. Examples of the types of houses in York Street include a c1920s house at No.25, a semi-detached pair at Nos. 26 & 28, a house at No.16 with an art nouveau inspired timber frieze and brackets, and houses at Nos.9 & 11 which also have fine quality verandah friezes and brackets.
Churchill Grove
Churchill Grove is a dead-end street entered from Glenferrie Road and contains a fine row of six terraces at Nos.7-17 Churchill Grove which have a high degree of integrity. The verandahs, doors, windows and parapets are intact. Number 5 is not part of the terrace and is set back at the end of the row. It is highly consistent in character and built at the same time. All houses have Hawthorn bricks with cream quoins, verandahs with cast iron frieze and brackets and semi-circular shaped parapets with moulded decoration.
Sercombe Grove
Sercombe Grove is located immediately behind Glenferrie Road and the multi-storey developments along this street impact visually on Sercombe Grove. The houses are mainly single fronted weatherboard, including No 30 which has an unusual bay window forming the whole front of the house. Three larger allotments toward Churchill Grove comprise some contemporary re-development. Otherwise Sercombe Grove is a highly consistent street with few obvious alterations and extensions.
Liddiard Street
Liddiard Street is a main thoroughfare between Glenferrrie Road and Auburn Road despite its narrow width. It forms the southern boundary of the Cranmore Estate & Environs precinct. The north side of the street, being slightly elevated, retains some larger Victorian houses of high quality. On the south side, there are more duplexes and some buildings from the 1920s to the 1940s. A good example is 76-78 Liddiard Street, a pair of red brick bungalows with terra cotta tile roofs and shingle gables that are complemented by three interwar bungalows in similar materials at 75, 77 and 79 Liddiard Street. A fine grouping of Federation houses includes 96-98 and 102-104 Liddiard Street with 100 Liddiard Street as a double fronted house in the middle of the two pairs. These buildings have semi-circular arch-headed windows and the facades have rough-cast stucco panels above and fine quality rubbed brickwork to the arches. The windows feature decorative stained glass in the upper panels. No.100 Liddiard Street is a double fronted symmetrical Federation house with central recessed porch and a pair of gable fronted wings with rough cast render and timber shingles above.
Liddiard Street has some fine examples of late Victorian and Federation villas, especially between 81-95 Liddiard Street. 73 Liddiard Street on the corner of Lyndhurst Crescent is a hawthorn brick villa with slate roof. Other consistent groups of representative Victorian houses are between 3-21, 33-41, and 62-66 Liddiard Street. Individual houses identified as part of earlier studies include:
71 Liddiard Street
The symmetrical weatherboard house with flanking bay windows is situated in an extensive Victorian villa style garden. The roof is hipped slate with bracketed eaves. The verandah features paired columns and cast iron lacework that reflects the bay window form. Use of a timber valence frame and the decorative treatment is displayed (Gould, 1993).
51 Liddiard Street
Set well back from the road, the two-storey rendered house has a hipped slate roof which was later ridge-capped in terracotta. The ground floor features a verandah across the facade. The windows are simple double-hung, without embellishment to the render (Gould, 1993).
45 Liddiard Street (HO80)
It is a single-storey rendered residence with hipped slate rood and projecting bayed wings. The wings are separated by a cast iron verandah. The openings are simply executed with moulded architraves only to the bay windows. The cast iron verandah adopts a timber valence frame, following trends of late 1860s to early 1870s buildings in the inner city (Gould, Hawthorn Heritage Study 1993).
Moir Street
Moir Street is a short street connecting Bell and Edward Streets and has an attached Victorian terrace row at 9-17 Moir Street and two pairs of Victorian houses at 1-3 and 5-7 Moir Street. A laneway running between Moir Street and York Street unusually forms the frontage to 1-3 Moir Street.
Haines Street
As one of several streets in the Cranmore Estate & Environs Precinct that connects Barkers Road with Liddiard Street, Haines Street also contains some commercial buildings at the intersection of Barkers Road and a former corner shop at No.6, which operated from 1892 to 1935 (Pers. comm., Hawthorn Historical Society, 2017). Nos.1-13 Haines Street are a very consistent terrace row of single fronted timber houses, as is 35-45, and 61-73 Haines Street, many with block fronted weatherboard. Built as a group, 10-18A Haines Street are set in pairs with continuous roofs that extend to form verandahs in an unusual variation. Two 1920s bungalows at 15-17 Haines Street indicate a later development on the site of the former Cranmore House.
Percy Street
Percy Street deviates from the rectilinear alignment of streets and is aligned at an angle connecting Haines Street and Moir Street. A pair of Hawthorn brick terraces are of interest, particularly the fine brick patterning and the elaborate parapets of 16-18 Percy Street.
Edward Street
Edward Street is a highly consistent Victorian street with consistent groupings between 14-24 and 25-29 Edward Street. There is a brick pair of Victorian houses at 21-23 Edward Street and a fine timber pair at 10-10A Edward Street. These timber Federation houses feature fretwork as a continuation of the gable end strapping in an unusual variation.
Bell Street
Bell Street connects Liddiard Street with Moir Street. The slight curve of the street indicates the location of large houses and allotments facing Liddiard Street that were incorporated into the subdivision. Bell Street contains several commercial buildings in the form of small shops, now converted to residential use. 48 Bell Street is a good example with its zero setback and remains of shopfront windows and timber stallboard below. It served as a grocery store (and also a coal and wool merchant's at times) from 1892 to 1931 (Pers. comm., Hawthorn Historical Society, 2017). No.38 Bell Street is a combined shop and residence and 2 Bell Street is a less intact example of a converted shop (from 1896 to 1945). The Hull Street reserve extends into Bell Street, forming a pocket park. Single fronted houses at 1-19 Bell Street are detached despite their small single-fronted form. 40-44 Bell Street are three single-fronted houses with parapets and 26-36 Bell Street form a row of matching single fronted houses with centrally located chimneys.
Elphin Grove
Elphin Grove marks the eastern boundary of the precinct. The southern end of the street is less intact than other streets with flat development taking up much of the east side of the street, and this part has been excluded from the precinct. 1-5 Elphin Grove are matching Victorian asymmetrical front villas on large allotments, though their current finishes include bichrome brickwork, render and overpainted brick. 4-6 Elphin Grove are single-fronted Victorian houses and larger Victorian villas at 8-22 Elphin Grove are more altered than in other streets in the precinct. Elphin Mews comprising two churches converted to apartments is on the corner of Barkers Road and Elphin Grove. Notable properties include:
7 Elphin Grove (HO425)
It is a single-storey double-fronted Victorian villa, constructed on an asymmetrical plan with extensive rear wings. Built in brick, the original walls are overpainted with rendered finish, and the later two-storey additions are face brickwork. It has bracketed hipped roof and two sets of bluestone steps attached to veranda area. The facade is divided into bays by two pairs of tall arched window openings and moulded architraves. The windows are timber-framed double-hung sashes, and there is a non-original window opening in the north elevation (Lovell Chen, 2006).
15 Elphin Grove
15 Elphin Grove is a quite sophisticated double fronted symmetrical Victorian house with an elevated situation. It has some high-quality features including the slate roof and verandah wing walls with elaborate moulded cappings. Each wing wall has an arch headed window inset. Under the eaves are moulded festoons, rosettes and corbels with 'cricket-bat' panels. The sash windows with sidelights have unusual high-relief, spindle decoration to the mullions and the front elevation features moulded classical pilasters around the windows and door. The fine quality cast iron frieze and brackets and balustrade panels, and a pair of rendered chimneys complete this well detailed and highly intact Victorian house. The fence and gate is of contemporary construction.
Laneways
There are several laneways threaded through the precinct that provide added permeability to the area. The laneways tend to be short and not connected as they reflect the individual subdivision pattern of the precinct. Some retain their bluestone paving, including:
In front of 1-3 Moir Street through to York Street Between the rear of 19 Moir Street and the rear of 34 Haines Street (dead-end behind 3 & 5 Percy Street Liddiard St through to Bowen Street (not a bluestone one) - linked to a bluestone laneway to Hull Street Between the rear of 11 Bowen Street and the back of 15 Carrington Street - bluestone paved At the rear of 2 Sercombe Grove through to Glenferrie Rd From Barkers Road, next to Elphin Mews Along the north side of 1 Elphin Grove, then south behind 1-13 Elphin GroveSummary
The large precinct is largely Victorian in its character, featuring a range of single, double, symmetrical and asymmetrical houses and a few terrace rows. The general character of the precinct is marked by smaller residences, although the north side of Liddiard Street and Elphin Grove have good examples of middle-sized Victorian villas. Edwardian and Interwar residences are found in York Street, and Liddiard Street. The character of the precinct demonstrates the relatively short time period for its development, and there are many examples throughout of houses being constructed together and featuring very similar form and detail. There is a low level of alteration to individual houses and little second storey development throughout the precinct.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 3: Hawthorn
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Local
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AUBURN PRIMARY SCHOOL NO.2948Victorian Heritage Register H1707
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AUBURN RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1559
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GLENFERRIE RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1671
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