MONTCLAIR FLATS
321 DANDENONG ROAD,, PRAHRAN VIC 3181 - Property No 34887
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Montclair flats, 321 Dandenong Road, Prahran constructed in two stages by A.W. Richardson in 1921 and 1926, is significant. The significant attributes are the Arts & Crafts style form, materials and detailing of the flats and the low rendered brick fence to the front and side boundaries.
Later alterations and additions are not significant.
How is it significant?
Montclairflats areof local historic and architectural significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it significant?
Historically, Montclair is one of the oldest residential flats in the City of Stonnington. As one of the first residential flats built on the north side of Dandenong Road it illustrates the first phase of development after World War I, which was concentrated along the electric tramway routes. (Criterion A)
It is historically and architectually significant as a building that illustrates the transition from external to internal stairs as a desirable feature of residential flats. Ordinarily residential flats have one or the other stair type and this building, built in two stages, is the only known example that combines the two arrangements thus illustrating the transition within a relatively short period. (Criterion A & D)
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MONTCLAIR FLATS - Physical Description 1
Montclair is a two-storey block of flats on a corner allotment. It is set well back from Dandenong Road behind a front garden, while its long side elevation is quite close to, and visible from, Stawell Street. The two street frontages are bounded by a low brick and roughcast render fence, which is original to the property. The top of the fence is finished in chamfered bricks, and is punctuated by higher gate and intermediate piers. The front garden has curvilinear planting beds, bordered in rough basalt stones, which appear to be original.
The building was constructed in two stages, with a later wing at the rear, which is apparent from the roof forms and other stylistic details. Both sections have brick walls to the ground floor, roughcast render to the first floor and a Marseille tile roof with exposed rafter ends and simple chimneys covered in roughcast render.
The front half was built first in an Arts & Crafts Bungalow style. It has multiple roof gables on its three elevations. The gables are supported on decorative triangular timber brackets and are filled with timber shingles. This shingle detail is also seen on the window bays of the facade. Two gables have Japanese-influenced louvered vents. The facade, to Dandenong Road, is roughly symmetrical with open porches at the centre flanked by projecting bays. The upper-level porches have solid roughcast balustrades and a variety of arched forms: one has a semicircular opening, and others have a segmentally arched timber frieze, resting on paired posts (a detail popular for bungalows). The projecting bay on the west side is gable-fronted, while that on the east side has a gablet to its hipped roof. This varied treatment is typical of picturesque Arts & Crafts design. The windows are double-hung sashes with small diamond leadlights. The upper sashes to the facade also have stained-glass swags in them. Many windows are paired and triple, which have box frames resting on brick corbels. The flats are entered directly from the outside. Ground floor flats have recessed entries, while the first floor flats are reached via external stairs on the east and west elevations.
The rear half of the building has a much simpler roof: a main hip with an asymmetrical projecting hipped bay near the centre of the Stawell Street elevation. In part, this projecting bay provides visual interest by breaking up what is a much simpler part of the building. It also covers the ground and first-floor entrance porches. The upper level of this porch has similar details to the porches of the Dandenong Road facade, namely roughcast balustrade to the upper level and a segmentally arched timber frieze. The stairs to the upper flats are internal. The same window types are used on this part of the building, allowing it to blend in well with the original part of the building.
Alterations to Montclair include the overpainting of the brick walls and brick fence, coating of some ground-floor porch floors with a thick non-slip surface, replacement of some flat doors c1970s, and infilling of upper-level porches on the Dandenong Road elevation with windows.Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - Residential Flats in Stonnington - Heritage Citations Project
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2013
Grading: A2
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