Hermon
2 John Street KEW, Boroondara City
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Statement of Significance
Hermon, at 2 John Street, Kew, is of local historical and architectural significance as an interesting example of a small late nineteenth century villa house in Kew. Designed in the Italianate style, it is an assured, albeit relatively late, example of the style, which incorporates a distinctive entry porch. The 1975 wing, constructed in a style intended to mimic or replicate the original house, detracts from the presentation of the building, as does the partial infill of the verandah.
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Hermon - Physical Description 1
Hermon was constructed as a double-fronted single-storey Italianate house, in rendered brick, now largely obscured by a high framed paling fence and a dense garden. The roof is concealed behind a balustraded parapet. The chimneys are rendered and corniced. The original wing of the house is asymmetrical. The entry is located on the side (John Street) elevation, where it is located centrally, and comprises a tall masonry porch which reads as a miniature tower. It has a round arched stilted entry on the west side and a blind stilted arch on its south side. Above that is a pediment with scrollwork and a central cartouche, and a solid parapet behind that. Flanking the entry on its north side is a canted bay with three segmentally arched sash windows behind a return verandah. This was infilled initially in timber at a relatively early date (as shown on the 1904 MMBW Plan) and subsequently in masonry.[i] The verandah retains its original multi-coloured tile paving, though sections of the floor are in poor repair. To the south of the central entry on the John Street elevation, the facade comprises paired segmentally arched windows capped with paneled voussoirs and plate tops above the voussoirs. The front facade is dominated by a heavy balustraded parapet with ball finials over each pier. A heavy layered string course extends across both the masonry porch and the facade itself. The same treatment is extended around to the north elevation where a bay containing paired windows is located to the east of the infilled section of the return verandah.
The MMBW plan also shows a timber lean-to along the south wall which probably housed the kitchen, adjoining the main elevation of the house and visible from the street. This was a most unusual siting; such lean-tos were almost always constructed at the rear of the house, and it is possible that the intention was originally to extend the house on this side.
In 1975 works were undertaken by the Toorak architect S Broudo.[ii] These included the demolition of the kitchen wing and a rear shed, and the replacement of the existing timber infill on the return verandah with a brick study. As part of these works Broudo designed a new south wing, housing the family room, an open galley kitchen, two bedrooms and a second bathroom combined with a laundry. Constructed of brick, this addition adopts a pseudo-nineteenth century form and detailing. The 1976 verandah frieze, facing John Street, continues the original verandah's timber-framed cast iron lace; the balustraded parapet, including the ball pier finials, continues south from the dining room face, three segmentally arched windows are included on the John Street side, and the lean-to shadow of the former kitchen wing was supplanted by a similarly lean-to car port. Earlier outbuildings were replaced by a single cavity brick outbuilding with a long single-pitch roof sloping north to south. This is not visible from the street.
[i] MMBW Detail Plan no. 66. c. 1904.
[ii] S Broudo, working drawings. Demolition plan, drawing 607, dated November 1975; replacement fabric is in drawings 601 and 602, dated June 1976, sourced from the City of Kew Building Index (no. not known).
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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