Elm Grove Precinct
1-75 & 6-38 CHARLES STREET and ALL CHARLOTTE STREET and 345 CHURCH STREET and ALL ELM GROVE and ALL GEORGE STREET and 63-69 & 78-92 LYNDHURST STREET and MALLESON STREET and 47-103A & 60-80 MARY STREET and ALL PARKER STREET and 1-7, 9-19 &
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The Elm Grove Precinct comprising 1-75 & 6-38 Charles Street, Charlotte Street (all), 345 Church Street, Elm Grove (all), George Street (all), 63-69 & 78-92 Lyndhurst Street, Malleson Street, 47-103A & 60-80 Mary Street, Parker Street (all) and 1-7, 9-19 & 2-16 Wall Street is significant. The following buildings and features contribute to the significance of the precinct:
- The houses, flats and one factory constructed from c.1855 to c.1940, as shown on the precinct map.
- The historic housing form (pitched gabled or hipped roofs, one storey wall heights with a smaller amount of two storey dwellings), materials and detailing (walls of weatherboard or face brick or stucco, prominent brick or render chimneys, post-supported verandahs facing the street), and siting (small or no front and side setbacks).
- The consistency and intactness of the Edwardian house group in Malleson Street, and Lyndhurst Street south of Brougham Street.
- The mature street trees in Elm Grove.
- Traditional streetscape materials such as asphalt pathways and bluestone kerb and channel and laneways.
Non-original alterations and additions to the Individually Significant and Contributory buildings shown on the precinct map, the houses at 11 & 13 Brougham Street, 63 & 69 Charles Street, 22, 23, 25 & 27 Charlotte Street, 2-6 Wall Street, the flats at 26-28 Charlotte Street, and buildings constructed after c.1940 are Not Contributory.
How is it significant?
The Elm Grove Precinct is of local historic, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Yarra.
Why is it significant?
The precinct demonstrates the residential growth of Richmond from the mid nineteenth to the mid twentieth centuries, particularly the two development booms during the late 1880s and early 1890s and from 1905-15. It is also of note for the houses dating from c.1870s or earlier that are now rare and demonstrate the early development of Richmond. It also demonstrates how the elevated siting of parts of the precinct on Richmond Hill, particularly Elm Grove, were desirable residential areas and associated with influential persons until well into the 20th century. These included architects James Miller Robertson and William Salway and the Richmond builder and timber merchant Richard Fitzgerald. (Criterion A)
The one factory in Mary Street is significant as a reminder of the mix of industrial and residential development that was so common in Richmond by World War Two. (Criterion A)
The precinct is significant for its range of 19th and early 20th century housing, which has a high degree of intactness to the historic development phases and stands out from the surrounding area as a visually cohesive group of residential buildings. Within this context Malleson Street and the part of Lyndhurst Street south of Brougham Street is especially notable as an almost completely intact group of Edwardian Queen Anne houses constructed within a short time. The period housing is complemented by historic public realm elements such as bluestone kerb & channelling, bluestone laneways and the mature street trees in Elm Grove. (Criteria D & E)
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Elm Grove Precinct - Physical Description 1
19th and early 20th century housing; bluestone street features; Edwardian residences on elevated sites; mature street plantings
Elm Grove Precinct - Physical Description 2
This is a residential area comprising housing built from the late nineteenth century until the late interwar period. Most of the houses (about 80%) in the precinct date from the Victorian-era or Edwardian-eras, with a little over one third of those being from the Edwardian-era. Malleson Street and the southern end of Lyndhurst Street are notable as an intact group of Federation/Edwardian cottages and villas. A smaller number of interwar houses and flats are scattered throughout the precinct and there is one inter-war factory in Mary Street.
The Contributory houses have typically:
. Detached or attached siting, with some examples of terrace pairs or rows of three or more dwellings.
. Pitched gabled or hipped roofs.
. For late Victorian houses, roofs concealed by facade parapets.
. Mainly one storey wall heights but with isolated two storey houses.
. Weatherboard, face brick (red, bichrome and polychrome), or stucco walls.
. Corrugated iron roof cladding, some Marseilles pattern terra-cotta tiles, and some slate roofing.
. Chimneys of either stucco finish (with moulded caps) or of matching face brickwork with corbelled capping courses.
. Post-supported verandah or porch elements facing the street, with cast-iron (Victorian-era) or timber (Edwardian-era) detailing.
. Less than 40% of the street wall face comprised openings such as windows and doors.
. Front gardens, originally bordered by timber picket front fences of around 1m height.
The interwar buildings include the Individually Significant Gayton House and O'Brien House (see below), and the factory at 47 Mary Street. The factory has been converted to residential townhouses and now only the facade, and parts of the side walls remain.
Other Contributory elements include bluestone kerb and channels in some streets, bluestone laneways, and the mature street trees (Planes) in Elm Grove.
Individually Significant buildings within the precinct include:
. Terrace, 5-9 Brougham Street. This is a row of Edwardian two storey terrace houses with Arts & Crafts detailing. The lack of verandahs and restrained decoration demonstrate the evolution from terrace houses of the Victorian era.
. Terrace houses, 14 & 16 Charles Street. This is an attached pair of single-fronted, single storey Boom-style houses with parapets. They have convex verandah roofs with cast-iron valence and brackets, between vermiculated corbels supported by scroll brackets. The houses are constructed of bi-chromatic brick with bluestone foundations and cills. There are blind round-headed arches in the wing walls and inset chevron-pattern brickwork beneath the tripartite window and in the parapet. This has frieze and cornice mould between vermiculated corbels, supporting urns. The centrepiece is a broken pediment on piers, supported by large elaborate scrolls. The unpainted rendered chimney has fan dividers.
. O'Brien House, 47 Charles Street. This is a gabled and hipped roof interwar house on a corner allotment, which is notable for the Moderne detailing, as expressed by the unusual brick window hood details and the curved entry porch. It has a high degree of intactness. The original front fence enhances the setting of the house.
. House, 65 Charles Street. This is an early Victorian bi-chrome brick cottage. The early date of construction (1871) is demonstrated by the siting right on the front boundary, the lack of ornamentation and lack of a verandah.
. Fitzgerald House, 3 Elm Grove. This house in the Victorian Gothic Revival style is notable for the early use of polychromatic brickwork.
. House, 7 Elm Grove. This is a two-storey Edwardian brick house, built to one side boundary with a transverse gable roof clad in terracotta tiles. The boundary wall projects above the roof and follows the roofline ending at a wing wall. The roof extends to form a verandah supported on timber posts with balustrade and curved brackets, which is supported by tall brick columns, square in profile. The house is constructed of red brick with a contrasting band of render above the windows and doors on both levels.
. House, 12 Elm Grove. This two storey Victorian house has a symmetrical facade with a side entry. It is constructed of brick with quoining detail to the corners and windows. The hipped roof has unusual projecting eaves.
. Bonham House, 17 Elm Grove. This is an austere Victorian bi-chrome brick residence, built to the front boundary. There are three arched head windows in the upper level and two windows in the ground floor to the left of the large recessed doorway, which is an unusual feature.
. Robertson House, 19 Elm Grove. This is a simply detailed two storey stuccoed late Victorian brick house distinguished by a Georgian portico.
. William Green House, 21 Elm Grove. This is an early (c.1850s) simple Victorian timber cottage with a low pitched gable roof and notable original details including windows, the door opening and a corbelled brick chimney. It is possibly pre-fabricated.
. House, 25 Elm Grove. This single fronted late Victorian cottage has a traverse gabled roof clad in slate with sidewalls that follow the pitch of the roof. Constructed of bi-chrome brick it is notable for its high degree of intactness, which includes the original concave verandah form, structure and details.
. Gayton House, 32 Elm Grove. The Gayton House is a fine example of the Streamlined Moderne style as applied to an earlier Victorian terrace house. Typical of the style, a strong horizontal emphasis is provided by the use of horizontal banding to the walls and parapet and horizontally proportioned openings, which contrasts with, and is balanced by, the strong vertical emphasis of the projecting entry bay with a stepped up parapet.
. Whitehaven 5 George Street. This is a fine example of an Edwardian Queen Anne Villa. Asymmetrical in plan, it has a hipped roof clad in slate tiles with terracotta ridge capping that extends to form a return verandah set between the projecting gables to the front and side. Other notable features typical of this style include the 'flying' and bracketed gables with half-timbering set above the bow windows, the gablet set into the corner that provides a strong diagonal emphasis, and the tall brick and render chimneys with terracotta pots.
. House, 88 Lyndhurst Street. This is a well-articulated example of a Federation Queen Anne Villa. It is notable for the projecting central bay flanked by verandahs on either side, a form that is rare in Richmond. Other details that are typical of the style the half-timbering to the projecting gable, which has a box-bay window with hood, the arched timber valance to the verandahs, the terracotta tiled roof with ridge capping and the corbelled brick chimneys. The elevated siting of the house enhances its streetscape presence.
. House, 2 Malleson Street. This is a fine example of an Edwardian Queen Anne Villa. Asymmetrical in plan, it has a hipped roof with terracotta ridge capping that extends to form a return verandah set between the projecting gables to the front and side. Other notable features typical of this style include half-timbered and bracketed gables with half-timbering, the box bay window with hood to the front gable, the gablet set into the corner that provides a strong diagonal emphasis, the original verandah form and detailing, 'porthole' windows, and the tall brick and render chimneys with terracotta pots.
. Houses, 8 & 10 Malleson Street. This pair of single-fronted Edwardian timber cottages are notable for the detailing to the projecting gabled porches that comprises half-timbering to the gable ends, paired verandah posts with Art-nouveau cut-out post spandrels, and arched brackets.
. Terrace houses, 7, 9 & 13 Parker Street. These are double-fronted single-storey bi-chromatic late Victorian house, which are notable for their unusual porches set at one side in front of the entrance door, with a skillion verandah between this and the wing wall. The porch has round-head openings to the front and verandah; blind to the wing wall. The verandah has a reverse ogee profile, with a vermiculated corbel on scroll bracket. The entry doors have side and top lights and the windows are tripartite. Brickwork is tuck-pointed with cream dressings and bluestone cills. The heavy cornice and frieze of panels and rosettes continues as a parapet to the porch, terminating at a vermiculated corbel. The main parapet had end balloons and the centrepiece rises with a rondel (nos. 7 & 9) or semi-circle with vermiculated spandrels (13) between piers, with a large acroterion between bud finials and scroll brackets. Chimneys have been Classical moulds. The terrace houses form a striking streetscape as they step up the hillside.
The Not Contributory buildings include the flats at 26-28 Charlotte Street (which, unlike the other interwar houses or flats, are very different in scale and siting to the surrounding buildings), houses and other buildings built after c.1940, and very altered examples of pre-1940 houses.
Heritage Study and Grading
Yarra - Heritage Gap Study: Review of Central Richmond 2014
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2014
Grading: LocalYarra - City of Yarra Review of Heritage Overlay Areas
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading:Yarra - City of Yarra Heritage Review
Author: Allom Lovell & Associates
Year: 1998
Grading:Yarra - Richmond Conservation Study
Author: John & Thurley O'Connor, Ros Coleman & Heather Wright
Year: 1985
Grading:Yarra - Heritage Gap Study
Author: Graeme Butler & Associates
Year: 2007
Grading:
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FORMER YARRA PARK PRIMARY SCHOOL NO.1406Victorian Heritage Register H0768
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RESIDENCEVictorian Heritage Register H0710
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FORMER LALOR HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0211
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"1890"Yarra City
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"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
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"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
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