Victory Estate Precinct
Power Street and Gibney Street HAWTHORN, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The Victory Estate Precinct at 132-142 Power Street and 1-7 and 2-8 Gibney Street, Hawthorn, which consists of houses and garden elements built in the early interwar period. The Victory Estate was subdivided on approximately two acres of land owned in 1916 by gentleman Andrew Roche, and town clerk William Hall. The two acres were transferred in late 1916 to theatre manager Mareeno Lucas. Lucas subsequently subdivided the land into twelve allotments, which were first advertised for sale in 1919. Allotments on the estate were sold in the period 1919-24, and all the residences were built in the period 1920 to 1930, giving the precinct a consistent character. With the exception of the Non-contributory no. 5 Gibney Street, all the houses are of contributory significance to the precinct.
The name 'Victory Estate' is a commemorative gesture to the Allies' victory in the recently ended Great War (World War One).
How is it significant?
The Victory Estate Precinct is of local historic, architectural, and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
Historically, the Victory Estate Precinct is significant as it demonstrates the influence of Hawthorn's improved transport systems (1913-18) and shopping centres on the municipality's residential population and the density of its subdivision patterns. Subdivided in 1919 with houses built between 1920-30, Victory Estate was part of a broader intensification of residential development in Hawthorn through the interwar years, when any remaining vacant land was taken up during an intensive boom between 1910 and 1940. The greatest changes were seen in the area south of Riversdale Road, but pockets of late Edwardian and Californian Bungalow style houses were also built elsewhere throughout Hawthorn, replacing earlier buildings or co-existing alongside them. The name of the Victory Estate is also historically significant as it exemplifies the mood of triumphant sentiment that existed in the months immediately following the First World War. (Criterion A)
Architecturally, the houses and early garden features in the precinct are representative of architectural styles popular during the 1920s, in particular California Bungalows, all of which exhibit a high level of intactness. The consistency of architectural detailing and materiality contribute aesthetically to the high visual quality of the precinct. The Gibney Street houses have largely consistent front setbacks, with medium sized front gardens, many of which retain original face brick front garden fences, all of which are low in height but exhibit subtle differences in choice of additional detailing. (Criterion D)
Aesthetically, the precinct is significant because of the consistency of interwar Californian Bungalow house styles not seen as strongly in other Boroondara precincts, which tend to comprise a greater variety of interwar house styles and materials. Victory Estate consists of typical single-storey Californian Bungalows almost entirely of masonry (brick and render) construction. The houses at nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 Gibney Street and 142 Power Street were clearly designed (and probably built) by the same person, possibly a designer-builder given that they display variations on a theme and many repeating details and forms. This makes the street a very cohesive complex. (Criterion E)
The exceptions are the slightly grander houses along the main road (Power Street) and the more substantial houses on the two corner allotments.
Grading and Recommendations
Recommended for inclusion in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Boroondara Planning Scheme as a precinct.
For a full list of individual place gradings within the precinct, please refer to the attached PDF citation, or individual child records attached to this parent record.
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Victory Estate Precinct - Physical Description 1
The Victory Estate comprises the short Gibney Street, running west from the intersection with Power Street, Hawthorn, and includes the houses on the north and south sides of Gibney Street, nos. 1-7 and 2-8 respectively, and four houses fronting Power Street at nos. 132-134 and 140- 142.
No. 5 Gibney Street has been significantly altered and extended and is a non-contributory building within the precinct.
Houses in the precinct are mainly brick and render Californian Bungalows typical of their type, asymmetrical in plan, with terracotta tiled hip and gabled roofs, with larger more ornate examples on the corner sites and fronting Power Street (nos. 134 and 140 Power Street.
Many of the houses retain low face brick front garden walls consistent with the architectural style of the houses such as nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 Gibney Street and no.140 Power Street, some with early mild steel pedestrian gates. The low brick fence at 1 Gibney Street is a mid-twentieth century replacement which is sympathetic to the house, but not a contributory heritage element. The garden fence at 142 Power Street has been replaced. The low bluestone wall at no. 134 may be an early garden feature, forming a foundation to a former fence or as the base of a former mixed or singlespecies hedge. The Gibney Street houses have largely consistent front setbacks, with medium sized front gardens.
The single-storey Bungalows fronting Gibney Street are off-set to one side allowing driveway access to the rear of the properties. Nos. 1, 6, and 8 Gibney Street retain early driveways of parallel concrete strips with lawn median (original concrete surface replaced with brick at no. 8). Nos. 4 and 6 Gibney Street retain early double door garages at the back.
The houses at nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8 Gibney and 142 Power streets reveal similar Californian Bungalow building types, which were clearly designed (and probably built) by the same person, possibly a designer-builder given that they display variations on a theme and many repeating details and forms. They have asymmetrical roof forms and large gables fronting the street, with no. 3 Gibney Street the only variation to an otherwise consistent building design. The large gables combine horizontal weatherboard cladding (replaced at no. 4 with lattice) above a lower section with vertical strapwork (some with smooth cement sheet panels, others with roughcast panels. The verandah gables are either smooth cement sheet or roughcast panels with vertical timber strapwork. The roofs are terracotta tiled with wide eaves and exposed rafter tails. Front doors are inset from the facade. The houses have brick walls to either sill, mid window or top of window height with roughcast render above, projecting timber window frames with original sashes (leaded glass top panes), and heavy brick verandah piers with topped with lightweight grouped timber posts. The large roofs are complimented by tall concrete rendered chimneys (some unpainted) with brick banding, some retaining original terracotta chimney pots. The roof has been extended and tiles replaced at no. 7.
No. 8 Gibney Street and no. 142 Power Street differ from the other Gibney Street houses in that they have an angled bay window to the projecting facade, rather than the more prevalent projecting timber window.
No. 3 Gibney Street has a larger setback, tiled gable roof (tiles replaced), and transverse gable. A central projecting low-pitched gable has horizontal timber cladding above a lower roughcast section with vertical strapwork.
No. 132 Power Street differs from the Gibney group of Bungalows in that its projecting bay has a wide, curved, six bayed window which almost spans the width of the projecting bay. Brick pylons to the verandah and entry porch are topped with heavy columns and heavy balustrade. The tall chimneys are larger than the squared chimneys typical on Gibney Street and rendered with slab capping, with pairs of terracotta chimney pots, detailed with pairs of vertical bricks. The mid-height brick garden wall is unlikely to be original.
No. 134 Power Street is distinguished from the other houses in the precinct by its orientation to both Gibney and Power streets and grander proportions. It is also asymmetrical in plan, with a hip roof with two projecting gables. The gable ends are panelled with timber strapwork, above prominent projecting timber framed windows. Windows appear in a variety of widths, all doublehung with paned upper windows. The roof has terracotta tiles and finials and extends over a deep corner verandah, supported by tapered rendered piers above a heavy brick balustrade topped with bullnose bricks. The double front door has paned lights above. A porthole window faces onto the verandah on the Gibney Street facing wall. The tapered chimneys are unpainted roughcast render, with slab capping, paired terracotta pots, and brick detailing.
Also a corner house, though not as grand as no. 134, no. 140 Power Street is L-shaped in plan with gable roof, of half brick (to sill height) and roughcast render construction. The gable ends are filled with shingles. A corner verandah with brick balustrade and pairs of tapered, rounded columns nestle into the corner of the L. Small rectangular leadlight windows and a central door open onto the verandah. Both Gibney and Power street frontages have a projecting bay window. Double-hung windows feature leadlight designs. A tall brick chimney capped with flat terracotta coping and single terracotta pot is visible above the west-facing elevation. The brick and mild steel front fence is consistent with the design of the house.
The houses in the precinct are of an overall high level of intactness. No. 4 Gibney and no. 134 Power streets have unsympathetic upper-storey additions; an attic room to no. 4 Gibney Street with west-facing dormer window, and a flat-roofed upper level to no. 132 Power Street. Terracotta roof tiling has been replaced at 3 Gibney Street and 132 Power Street. New garages and carports have been constructed at most other properties (excepting nos. 4 and 6 Gibney Street, noted above). These changes do not substantially alter the unified character and historic integrity of precinct as these changes have largely occurred at the rear of the properties or are not prominent in views from the street.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 3: Hawthorn
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Local
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GLENFERRIE RAILWAY STATION COMPLEXVictorian Heritage Register H1671
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GLENFERRIE PRIMARY SCHOOL (PRIMARY SCHOOL NO.1508)Victorian Heritage Register H1630
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FORMER INVERGOWRIE LODGEVictorian Heritage Register H0517
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