Wairua
149 Wattletree Road MALVERN, STONNINGTON CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
Wairua, at 149 Wattletree Road, Malvern is significant. The substantial polychrome brick Italianate villa was built in 1890 for owner and occupier, John Barrand, a publican in Windsor, originally as one of a pair of detached residences.
The house is two storeys in height with bold polychrome brick patterning and a two-storey cast-iron verandah set within a canted projecting bay and masonry wing wall. The house is substantially intact and is significant to the extent of its 1890s form and fabric. The legibility of the built form in views from the public realm contributes to the significance of the place. The adjacent pitched bluestone driveway dating from c1890 contributes to its significance.
Modern alterations and additions are not significant.
How is it significant?
Wairua, at 149 Wattletree Road, Malvern is of local architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it significant?
Wairua is a largely intact representative example of a substantial house built for the middle-class residents of Malvern during the boom years of the 1880s and early 1890s, of which there were few constructed in Malvern during the nineteenth century. (Criterion D)
Wairua is of aesthetic significance for its bold polychrome brickwork that is expressed above a bluestone base by a cream brick trim to dark Hawthorn bricks with red brick highlights to the eaves and stringcourse. The trim is articulated to the windows, front door, eaves, and building corners which creates a striking pattern to the canted projecting bay. The beltcourse marking the first floor line, which is faced with blue, brown and cream patterned tiles within a border row of red bricks, is unusual. (Criterion E)
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Wairua - Physical Description 1
The residence at 149 Wattletree Road is a substantial two-storey polychrome brick Italianate villa that occupies an allotment on the north side of Wattletree Road between Drysdale and Nicholls streets in Malvern. The building is set back from the street behind a mid-sized garden and a sympathetic reproduction iron palisade front fence. The original driveway (once shared with No. 147, demolished) of bluestone pitchers of c1890 remains.
The building adopts a common late-Victorian asymmetrical form with a two-storey canted bay to one side of a two-storey cast-iron verandah. This form became popular during the 1880s, and in this respect the house at 149 Wattletree Road stands as a large but relatively typical suburban Italianate villa. The building has a hipped roof that was probably originally slate which has recently been replaced in Colourbond (the Jellis Craig advertising photos of c1998 show a terracotta tiled roof). The projecting bay incorporates a two-storey canted bay window that is distinguished by the beltcourse marking the first floor line, which is faced with an unusual blue, brown and cream patterned tiles within borders of red brick. The bold polychrome brickwork above a bluestone base is expressed as cream brick trim to dark Hawthorn bricks which is relieved by a cream and red brick stringcourse to both levels. The trim is articulated to the windows, front door, eaves, and building corners which creates a striking pattern to the canted bay. The east and west elevations of the house are unadorned face brick.
The two-storey verandah form is original set within the projecting bay and masonry wing wall, and retains its early twisted cast-iron posts and first floor baluster of high quality cast-iron lacework. The cast-iron frieze and brackets have been sympathetically replaced to both levels. Windows to the facade are typical segmentally-arched double-hung sashes. The elaborate six-panelled front door appears to be highly intact and retains its intricate decorative glazing to the sidelights and segmentally arched highlights.
Apart from the sympathetic verandah restoration, the exterior appears remarkably intact, including those parts of the side elevations that are visible from the public realm. Alterations are confined to internal works to convert the former residence to a medical practice and a substantial extension to the first floor at the rear of the building, which is not readily visible from Wattletree Road.
Wairua - Local Historical Themes
This place illustrates the following themes, as identified in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, rev. 2009):
3.3.3 Speculators and land boomers
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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MYOORAVictorian Heritage Register H0490
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MALVERN RAILWAY STATIONVictorian Heritage Register H1575
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MALVERN TRAM DEPOTVictorian Heritage Register H0910
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