The Pines
57 Vanberg Road ESSENDON, MOONEE VALLEY CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
57 Vanberg Road, Essendon, a Victorian era villa, built in 1887 and subsequently remodelled, in a mature garden setting, is significant.
Significant elements include the:
- original (Victorian era) and subsequent (Edwardian and Interwar eras) building and roof forms;
- slate roof, chimneys, unpainted face brickwork;
- Interwar verandah including piers and balustrades, Edwardian Queen Anne gable ends including the decorative timber finial and barge boards;
- projecting bow window, leaded glass window sashes, window awnings, andwindow and door joinery from the Victorian, Edwardian and Interwar eras; and
- covered lych gate, early brick fence (intact underneath the recentmetal palisades) and Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria hetrophylla) and Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa). Also the mature Pepper tree, which is protected by an EnvironmentalSignificance Overlay.
The recent metal palisade fence, the brick garage, and the gabled rear extension are not significant.
How is it significant?
57 Vanberg Road, Essendon, is of local historical, aesthetic, and associative significance to the City of Moonee Valley.
Why is it significant?
Tower House at 57 Vanberg Road, Essendon, is historically significant for its demonstration of the boom and bust of the 1880s land boom. This is demonstrated through its location on the large Essendon Park Estate and the villa's ownership and occupation by Walter and Mary Penglase. The 117 acres of the Essendon Park Estate form a large subdivision in Moonee Valley that benefited from the development of the Essendon railway. The estate attracted construction of villa residences and substantial homes before ultimately development stalled in the economic depression of the 1890s resulting in piecemeal development.
The construction of 57 Vanberg Road and its ownership by Mary Penglase, wife of Cornish mining speculator Walter Trestrail Penglase (1837-1904) is also part of the boom and bust narrative. The construction and subsequent additions to 57 Vanberg Road demonstrate the fortunes of mining speculation, with additions and alterations to the newly built house in 1888 prior to Walter's insolvency in 1889. While insolvency threatened, it appears that Mary Penglase was able to retain the house for a few short years prior to its repossession by the bank in 1893. The story of the tower once deemed to have been part of Tower House but not verified, adds to the narrative of the house as a symbol of turbulent economic times in both land and mining speculation. (Criterion A)
57 Vanberg Road is aesthetically significant for its demonstration of a substantial Victorian era Italianate villa retaining much of its garden setting. The combination of the house and the garden setting containing mature trees contribute to the aesthetic value of the place. 57 Vanberg Road demonstrates several eras of developments that encompass the Italianate, Queen Anne and Interwar styles overlaid on a single storey Italianate brick villa. It is an unusual, idiosyncratic house exhibiting multiple styles that is distinguished by the fine craftsmanship and the individual aesthetic merit of each layer. The expression of the Italianate is in the asymmetrical form and bichrome brickwork, the Queen Anne evident in the gable ends, with ornate timber bargeboards and timber finials and the Interwar period in the verandah columns, balustrade and bow-fronted window. Aesthetic value is derived from the Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria hetrophylla), several Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa), and the Pepper tree (Schinus molle) which is protected in the ESO. (Criterion E)
57 Vanberg Road is historically significant from 1923 to 1959 for itsassociation with potter John Goold, who was in partnership with theWestmoreland family in the Northcote Tile and Pottery Company.Established in 1897 by George Westmoreland, the Northcote Tile andPottery Company was known as Westmoreland's until 1915, when it becameNorthcote Tile and Pottery Company. The business operates today as theNorthcote Pottery. Northcote Tile and Pottery Company contributed theirterra cotta products to the building of many suburbs including those in the City of Moonee Valley. (Criterion H)-
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The Pines - Physical Description 1
'The Pines', 57 Vanberg Road, Essendon, is located on a generously sized corner block at the intersection of Vanberg Road and Lawson Street. It comprises a single-storey asymmetrical bichrome brick villa with two projecting bays, situated in the centre of a large garden and set back from both Vanberg Road to the south and Lawson Street to the east. The hipped and gabled roof is clad with slates and metal ridge capping with a corrugated iron roof to the return verandah. A modern flat roofed, red brick carport with shingled roof is located to the west of the villa.
The architecture of 'The Pines' cannot be isolated to one architectural style. Instead, the villa demonstrated several architectural styles from the Victorian to interwar eras, the architectural details of which provide evidence for the multiple phases of construction that have resulted in the villa's current form. Evidence of the Victorian Italianate architecture can be seen in the bichrome brickwork to the corniced chimneys and body of the villa, the bracketed eaves and the overall form of the central body of the villa. Queen Anne stylistic influences to the building can be seen in the east and south-facing gable ends, with ornate timber bargeboards, rendered stringcourse and timber finials. The flat roofed verandah, with wide red brick and rendered panelled piers to the verandah supports are indicative of the changes to the villa that occurred during the interwar period and are matched by covered gateway at the front entrance from Vanberg Road. Other aspects that remain from the interwar phase of construction include the metal-framed ribbon windows to the eastern elevation, on both the projecting bay and the bow window.
The main (south) elevation, addressing Vanberg Road, features a projecting bay with bow window and a flat semicircular cantilevered awning. The gable to the projecting bay features decorative timber bargeboards and rendered stringcourse (possibly from the Interwar era), remnants from the early alterations to the villa. The verandah, accessed by a set of brick stairs, has a flat roof and solid with a curved-top red brick balustrade with rendered capping. The windows to this elevation are narrow timbers sash windows, with leaded glass sashes.
The side (east) elevation has similar elements to the main elevation of the villa. The return verandah, with secondary staircase meets a projecting bay forms the central focus point of this elevation. The gable to the projecting bay has timber bargeboards matching that of the front elevation. The gable end, however, has been modified and does not contain the rendered stringcourse. The windows to the projecting bay are metal-framed ribbon windows, with a wide rendered course to the window head and semi-circular cantilevered awning, most likely added in the interwar years or a remnant of an earlier detail. There is evidence of infill of an earlier window above this, where earlier contrasting brickwork remains. To the north of the projecting bay is a bow window, also with metal-framed ribbon windows.
The west elevation is simpler in comparison to the south and east elevations and retains elements from the earlier Victorian Italianate architecture of the villa. A secondary access to the villa is provided through a door with a bullnose corrugated iron awning providing cover. The windows to this elevation are timber sash windows, with contrasting brick details to the openings and masonry sills, demonstrative of the Victorian phase of construction. The windows are also covered with awnings clad in corrugated iron with timber brackets matching the awning to the site door. To the rear of the villa is a twentieth century red brick addition, with gabled roof and skillion verandah with timber posts.
The fence to the Vanberg Road boundary is a simple metal palisade (this appears to be relatively recent) on an interwar red brick plinth, with evenly spaced clinker brick piers that match the villa's verandah balustrade. Aligned with the front door is a covered lych gate, with clinker brick posts and flat roof, also matching the details of the verandah. The front garden contains a central circular garden bed, with red brick edging matching the path to the front entrance. To the eastern boundary the fence transitions to a taller timber and corrugated iron fence (presumably of recent date). Also along this boundary is a row of mature trees-a mixture of Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria hetrophylla) and Monterey Cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa).
57 Vanberg Road, Essendon, derives its interest from a cumulative series of building campaigns embodying prevailing architectural styles. The building retains its original and subsequent building and roof forms, verandahs, and fenestration.
The integrity of the building retains main elements from several different eras, including the slate roof, chimneys, unpainted face brickwork, gable end detailing including ornate timber bargeboards, projecting bay and the bow windows, window awnings, verandah detailing including piers and balustrade, early window and door joinery including metal-framed windows to the eastern elevation, and leaded glass window sashes.
The integrity of the place is enhanced by the covered gate and early brick fence, which survives almost wholly intact beneath more recent metal palisades, as well as the retention of mature trees in the front and side gardens and the retention of the front and side garden areas established prior to 1945.Heritage Study and Grading
Moonee Valley - Moonee Valley 2017 Heritage Study
Author: Context
Year: 2019
Grading: Local
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