Grange Hill (former 'Hillsbury')
301 Cotham Road KEW, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
'Grange Hill', originally 'Hillsbury', at 301 Cotham Road, Kew, is significant. It is a two-storey rendered Italianate mansion that stands at the east end of Glendene Avenue, on the Genazzano FCJ College campus.
The first stage was a seven-room dwelling erected before 1858 by its owner, architect George Wharton. It was extended to ten rooms in the 1870s by later owners Hon George Paton Smith and his family. In 1882, builder Alexander Sturrock called for tenders to construct a 'new residence' for owner Edward Baines. It is not known if the earlier house was retained as a rear (east) wing or otherwise incorporated into the mansion.
The grounds of 'Hillsbury' were subdivided in 1919, creating Glendene Avenue, and the residence was renamed 'Grange Hill' by new owners, Arthur Charles Hurlstone and family. It was acquired by Genazzano FCJ College in 1948.
'Grange Hill' is significant to the extent of its nineteenth-century fabric, with the c1910-20s extension to the north-east corner of contributory value. The remnants of the garden, particularly the round garden bed in front of the house, and any early plantings, are also contributory.
How is it significant?
'Grange Hill' (formerly 'Hillsbury') is of local scientific, architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
'Grange Hill' is of scientific significance due to its pre-1858 origins, which may comprise the eastern wing of the house or the core of the main section. Such remnants would provide more information about the now-rare residential work of prolific architect George Wharton, as well as being one of a very few pre-1860 dwellings to survive in Kew. (Criterion C)
'Grange Hill' is of architectural significance as a fine and largely intact representative example of a substantial Italianate villa or mansion. It demonstrates the principal characteristics of this style, including a low-line hipped roof clad in slates, rendered chimneys with run cornices, bracketed eaves with cast-iron verandah set below, and two principal facades with an asymmetric plan formed by a two-storey canted bay window. The delicate verandah cast iron demonstrates the earliest format of separate frieze and brackets, with a timber framing member below the frieze, as was common in the 1870s and early 1880s. (Criterion D)
'Grange Hill' is of aesthetic significance for its landmark size and elevated siting, with the retention of part of its early garden. The elegant concave-roofed verandah which steps out around the canted bay windows is also of note. (Criterion E)
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Grange Hill (former 'Hillsbury') - Physical Description 1
'Grange Hill' is a two-storey Victorian Italianate villa standing on a slight rise with a vista overlooking Glendene Avenue to the west. Located at the eastern end of Glendene Avenue, which was formed on the former garden land after the 1919 subdivision, it is now part of the Genazzano Faithful Companions of Jesus College, 301 Cotham Road, Kew.
In its form and detail, it displays the classic characteristics of an Italianate villa from the 1870s to mid1880s. The roof form is a low-line hip and valley, clad in slate, and it has bracketed eaves with turned droppers, rendered and corniced chimney shafts, and a return verandah with cast-iron posts and detail. The two main elevations, south and west, are mirror images with a projecting canted bay to one side and a return verandah stepping around the bay on each level. The verandah roof has a shallow concave profile and sits below the eaves.
The cast-iron verandah frieze is framed in timber with separate brackets below; a form seen in the 1870s and early 1880s. The verandah posts are likely to be of cast iron, fluted with Corinthian capitals. The patterns of the cast-iron work on the two level are the same, though the ground floor elements are larger in scale, reflecting the hierarchies in the floor heights. On both floors, the window openings are reeded-stop chamfered. A triple French window on the first floor (west elevation) is a later change.
The front door is not visible from Glendene Avenue, but it is shown in a black-and-white photo on a Building Identification Form from the 'Kew Conservation Study'. The image shows a central entrance on the south elevation set within a round-arched opening under a label mould. The highlight windows are also arched, and there appear to be double sidelights on either side. (NB: The house is listed at 12 Glendene Avenue in the study, and called 'St Raphael's.)
Connected to the east of the two-storey Italianate mansion are a single-storey brick structure that was shown on the MMBW Plan in 1913, and may be a remnant of the 1858 house. There is also an extension made to the north side of the mansion in the 1910s-20s, shown in the 1920s aerial. On the north elevation, there is a contemporary single storey addition linking the mansion to another school building.
All the timber outbuildings and the majority of garden features had been removed from the site, except for the intact circular garden bed and serpentine driveway in front of the south elevation. The rubble edge around the garden bed is possibly an addition from the interwar period.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Municipal-Wide Heritage Gap Study Volume 4: Kew
Author: Context
Year: 2018
Grading: Significant
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ROSS HOUSE (KEW)Victorian Heritage Register H0202
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GENAZZANO FCJ COLLEGEVictorian Heritage Register H1902
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PRESHIL JUNIOR SCHOOLVictorian Heritage Register H0072
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