Wurrong, 93 Brunel Street, Malvern East
93 Brunel Street MALVERN EAST, STONNINGTON CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
'Wurrong', at 93 Brunel Street, Malvern East, is significant. It was built in 1891 for owner manager/clerk Leo H. Bibby.
It comprises a single storey double-fronted Italianate villa of bichrome brick with unusual detailing. The house is significant as viewed and appreciated from Brunel Street, and is significant to the extent of its nineteenth century external form and fabric.
The contemporary rear extensions are not significant.
How is it significant?
'Wurrong' at 93 Brunel Street, Malvern East is of local architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it significant?
Architecturally, 'Wurrong' is an unusual variation of a modest-scale asymmetrical Italianate villa with some typical features including the slate-clad M-profile hipped roof, corniced chimneys, and canted projecting bay window. It is one of a small number of nineteenth century houses in Malvern East. (Criteria B & D)
Aesthetically, it is distinguished by its highly contrasting bichrome brick patterning and unusual detailing including the use of the round arch for all windows and the deeply recessed entrance porch. Other unusual details include the corniced parapet to the canted bay window. Despite the loss of the front verandah the house otherwise presents as intact, retaining the elaborate front door and surround, and encaustic tiles to the recessed porch. (Criterion E)
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Wurrong, 93 Brunel Street, Malvern East - Physical Description 1
The residence known as 'Wurrong' at 93 Brunel Street is a single storey Victorian villa that occupies a deep allotment on the north side of Brunel Street mid-block between Watson Street and Darling Road in Malvern East. It is set back behind a generous front garden and a sympathetic reproduction timber picket fence.
Constructed in 1891 the house is an unusual variation of the single storey asymmetrical Italianate villa type which is distinguished by its bichrome brickwork and unusual detailing, including the use of the round arch for all windows and the deeply recessed entrance porch. The building has an M-profile hipped roof, clad in slate. It intersects with a steeply pitched front gable above a canted bay window. The bay window is parapeted and has a boldly moulded cornice. The gable has a simple scalloped timber bargeboard with a timber finial that illustrates the transition from Italianate to medieval influences.
The roof is dominated by the tall and imposing chimneys with heavy cement rendered cornices. There is a secondary canted projecting bay to the rear of the east elevation. The front verandah, as depicted in the MMBW plan dated 1917 which originally stretched across the entire facade, has been removed.
The bichrome brick patterning is highly contrasting. It is expressed by cream brick dressings against dark Hawthorn brick walls used to emphasise the rounded arch openings, the external building corners, and as a continuous band below the timber eaves brackets. The brackets are set between diamonds expressed in cream brick. The dressings to the parapet and window openings of the canted bay creates a striking pattern. Windows to the south (front) and east elevations are all rounded-arch double-hung sashes, and are paired to the west of the entrance porch. The porch is deeply recessed behind its own round arched opening. The timber front door is elaborate with fielded panels and a timber surround utilising glazed sidelights and highlights. The highlight above the door contains an etched panel carrying the name 'WURRONG'. The porch retains its encaustic tiling and bluestone front steps.
The house has undergone a number of changes including the removal of the front verandah. A two-storey extension was constructed to the rear of the dwelling at an unknown date, with additional minor alterations undertaken in c2001. The rendered extension is mostly concealed from Brunel Street.
Wurrong, 93 Brunel Street, Malvern East - Local Historical Themes
This place illustrates the following themes, as identified in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, rev. 2009):
8.2.1 'Country in the city' - Suburban development in Malvern before WWI
Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - City of Stonnington Victorian Houses Study
Author: City of Stonnington
Year: 2016
Grading: A2
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MALVERN HOUSEVictorian Heritage Register H0379
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CENTRAL PARK CONSERVATORYVictorian Heritage Register H0908
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St Elmo/WestfordStonnington City
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