Terrace Houses: 31-42 Mitchell Street, Glebe. Sydney, New South Wales

The Glebe Estate contains numerous long and uniform rows of single and double storey terraced homes, many very similar in style and most featuring similar roof features. Pictured is part of a row of thirteen single storey Victorian terraced homes on Mitchell Street.

The cottages are narrow and most of the focus architecturally is on the roof, in particular the blade style party walls which protrude above the slate tiles culminating in a moulded chimney for each house giving the row a picturesque quality.

Corrugated iron verandah roofs painted in alternating vertical bands of red and cream give the row a sense of colour. The smoothed party walls also bullnose out to frame the verandah. The ends are decorated with a patterned inset moulding set above an acanthus scroll corbel. All the surfaces of the facade are cleanly rendered. A picket fence frames the front courtyard and is colour matched to the cream facades lending some consistency to the streetscape.

Unusually on this row there is no cast iron ornament on these terraces – even on the fringe of the verandahs, however it may have been removed at some stage in the past. Certainly the fringes and brackets of some nearby terraces are subdued and subtle, sometimes so fine and narrow that they are barely attached. Or perhaps they were deliberately omitted to allow light through the single window and skylight above the door or to reveal the attention to detail on the facade which features moulded bracketed ledges beneath the double hung windows and capitals which appear out of the walls above the windows to form part of the sash.

The Glebe Estate, of which this terrace is located is on the National Register. I’m not sure of the date of the terrace, although it would appear to be somewhere in the late 1880s or 1890s.

Terrace Houses: 56-58 Wellington Street, St Kilda. Melbourne, Victoria

It a bit stunned me to discover that this pair of large unnamed but seemingly well kept double storey terraces has never featured in a heritage study or been included in a heritage overlay. Considering the huge amount of redevelopment that Wellington Street has seen since the 1960s it is remarkable that they remain a feature of this area.

They are legacy of the time in which Wellington Road was the main tram route through the area. The creation of the Dandenong road highway at the rear in the 1960s to divert traffic and increase throughput of vehicles may have provided some reprieve for the smattering of terraces along Wellington Road. Although it has also given rise to an increasing number of apartment and office buildings in recent years which has literally hemmed these boom buildings in.

This pair is very typical Melbourne style. Symmetrical Italianate terraces divided into three bays with a tall parapet above a deep bracketed cornice. The parapet consists of a central cartouche with crown flanked by balustrade and dotted with finials sitting upon pilasters and party walls effectively hiding not only the gable roof but also the chimneys.

The decoration of the party walls is particularly grand with lions heads presenting a symbol of status as well as tall acanthus scrolls and other mouldings. The party walls frame a large verandah, the corrugated roof of which is barely visible from the street. The verandah is dressed in iron lacework, however the styles differ for each house. 56 has a lacework frieze, fine brackets with small pendants at their ends springing from corinthian cast iron columns. The balustrade is in spaced panels with a cast iron rail. The pattern of frieze, brackets and columns is repeated below and in between is a fine timber frieze. This house presumably retains the original treatment. 58, in contrast, appears to have had its verandahs remodelled with the removal of its cast iron columns. It does not feature a frieze and has simplified brackets, narrower balustrade panels and wooden arches on the ground storey. This remodelling could have occured as early as the Federation period, but possibly later. 58 also has its second storey windows converted into French doors. Both terraces have rather plain facades behind the cast iron screen, with a tall opening in each bay. The doors have richly decorated surrounds including skylight and side windows. Doorways and halls gravitate to the middle party wall, keeping living areas separate.

The rendered wall and remodelled courtyard is a contemporary addition, understandable given their context, but unsympathetic all the same and a sign of modernism’s increasing hold over this area.

My estimate of the date is around 1887-1888.

Terrace Houses: 13-33 Louis Street, ("The Block"), Redfern. Sydney, NSW

Gentrification of terraces has come so far in Australia that it is sometimes easy to forget that just a couple of decades ago most were the forgotten and neglected homes of the working classes. However this is still very much true in pockets of Sydney and to a lesser extent Melbourne where terraces remain low cost rentals bordering on ghettos and slums. Here is a notorious such one known as the “Louis Street row”.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Sydney’s “The Block” in Redfern, an area with an incredibly rough reputation which is officially declared a “no go” zone for taxis.¹

Here the demolition of terraces is seen by many as a solution rather than an architectural or social crime. Such is the condition of these once gracious homes that many of them have been reduced to shells by decades of neglect and abuse. This row of terraces on Louis Street is an epitomy, seen by many as a “struggle street” and one of Australia’s most notorious, standing by the Mundine boxing academy, an enduring symbol of the area’s history of urban indigenous struggle. Much of the Louis Street row has already been demolished. The rest has been practically condemned, awaiting complete demolition as part of an ambitious urban renewal.

Even Redfern is finding it hard to escape gentrification with many couples taking the punt to move in and restore old terraces in parts of the suburb. However The Block’s reputation remains a very hard nut to crack and continues to resist the trend and is likely to attract govenment intervention.

It really is quite hard to describe these houses, heavily modified over the years and in a state of crumbling disrepair, paint peeling off, heavily tagged and graffitied. Most are stripped of any cast ironwork, missing their fences and even balustrades making them quite dangerous places to live in. They are however typical of most late 1860s double storey terraces, marching up a gradual incline. They are parapetless with sloping roof and party walls extending above the roofline in blade fashion. The party walls feature blind arches.

The unfortunate homes, along with their tenants will likely be forcibly removed from Redfern’s street in coming years.

Terrace Houses: 2-4 Collett Street, Kensington. Melbourne, Victoria

This little pair of Italianate terraces attempts a sense of grandeur with its richly decorative parapet which is at once distinguishing each house and having a composition which gives it the appearance of a single larger home.

The rendered parapet above each house features a central shell motif in a semicircular arch which is crowned and flanked by detailed finials sitting on decorated piers. There is an unexpected relationship of scrolls on either side sitting atop a balustrade. At either end, there is a pineapple finial. There is a frieze of festoons above a heavy cornice which has clusters of twin brakets and helps to visually divide the heavy top with the verandah below.

The verandah extends to the property line and is a half hipped roof of corrugated iron supported by cast iron corinthian columns and decorated with iron lacework which also wraps around the sides. A nice touch is the small frieze on the eaves. The lacework consists of fringe and brackets with pendants marking the mid points between each bay. The doorways are framed by columns with a condensed iron lacework. The two doorways and hallways are arranged side by side adding interest to the facade with the cast iron ornament gravitating to the centre of the row in contrast to the parapet decorations which are central to each house.

There is a three part double hung window providing light to the living space. It has a leadlight window, however this is presumably a latter addition. There is a skylight above the Victorian door. These terraces were probably originally largely unpainted, however a consistent paint scheme gives uniformity to the row.

The houses retain their original picket fences which separate the houses from the street.

Given the style, it is likely that they were built in 1887 and 1888.

These terraces are within City of Melbourne heritage overlay HO952.

Terrace Houses: 4-6 Longmore Street, St Kilda West. Melbourne, Victoria

This pair of narrow cottage sized single storey Italianate terrace houses feature a dainty design of intricate mouldings and a brickwork. The colour schemes of the symmetrical facades are a contrast in tastes, with 4 being restored to sympathetically reveal original tuckpointed brickwork and tile patterns while 6 is completely painted white, the trademark of the middle classes contrasted with black painted iron lace.

A high parapet effectively hides a gable roof, atop the rendered parapet section is a round arched pediment featuring a large seashell pattern which sits above free classical entablature including a central cartouche and flanked by balustrades. A bold cornice breakfronts with twin corbels above a frieze of mouldings featuring a string of two festoons in the section framed by the brackets.

The party walls rise as pedestals with finials on either side of each house to complete the parapet and to provide symmetry and separation. At cornice level, they have floral medalions before projecting forward to frame the verandah roof on either side of which is a round finial above a floral emblem and a stunning corinthian capital gives the brick columns the illusion of tall columns.

The verandah itself has a corrugated iron roof which is pitched such as to be just visible from the street. It is decorated with fine cast iron lacework brakets and fringe.

The doors and hallways back onto each other. The door has elaborate timberwork and glass surrounds, including etched glass patterns in the skylight above. The door surrounds and bay window feature a row of arched windows openings and mouldings connected by a string course. The faceted Italianate style bay window projecting to provide natural light to the single front room is one of the key visual features of the houses. The original brickwork, revealed on the house number 4 emphasizes this feature with a lighter colour brick below the arched mouldings.

The consistent picket fence while more than probably not original complements the row with its round caps and makes a contribution streetscape.

The terraces fall within the City of Port Phillip planning scheme’s HO3, one of the largest heritage overlays in the metropolitan area.

Terrace Houses: 151-159 Albion Street, Brunswick. Melbourne, Victoria

I find this row of five single storey worker terraces in Brunswick particularly interesting. Primarily because of its plain, almost moderne treatment which is a stark contrast to the spirit of many nearby boom Victorian terraces and houses.

Given the presence of a single urn on the parapet of the mid terrace house, it is reaonable to assume that this was the extent of the ornament, however the absence of cast iron lacework gives the impression that the terraces may have been modified during the interwar years. The profile of each house is by the elevated mid section of the parapet, placed neatly within the centre third of each and capped with a pair of urns and flanked by scrolls. This is about as decorative as this row gets. Horizontality is emphasized by a row of string courses, which run parallel to a shallow cornice, something used decades later in 1930s moderne architecture. The painted bands of the corrugated iron roof, typical of the area provide a striking visual contrast to the horizontal parapet, adding significant interest. The party walls provide some separation of the terraces on the facade and also bullnose out to frame the verandah. The front ends of each party wall are decorated by a subtle vermiculation but not much else.

The terraces are set back from the street and it becomes the role of the fence to define the front courtyard spaces. The variety of fences though somewhat detracts from the row and it is difficult to determine what the original style was. The variety in colour schemes adds some character to the row and the houses with painted parapets do more to show off the architecture than those painted in the plain white scheme.

These terraces have heritage protection under City of Moreland heritage overlay HO66.

Bland Terrace: 14-32 Bland Street. Woolloomooloo, New South Wales

Bland Terrace, named after Bland Street is exactly that.  The row of 10 double storey late Edwardian (depression era) terraces are a little plain and nondescript, saved for its wooden and corrugated iron awnings and balconies and the horizontal bands of black bricks and cornice which define the facades.  Realising this, obviously some of the owners of the lower numbered Bland Terraces have painted them in not-so-bland colours to match the colourful atmosphere of Woolloomooloo.  The terrace is marked in the middle by the signage and at either end by a slightly higher parapet.  Behind Bland Terrace is Nicholson Place, another 10 which are very similar except that their balcony woodwork is a slightly different style.  Sydney Tower (Centrepoint) makes an interesting backdrop.

416-426 Lydiard Street North. Soldiers Hill. Ballarat, Victoria

This row of six single storey double fronted red brick Victorian era terraces is the longest of several single storey rows along Lydiard Street.  The row marches down the hill and terminates in an end terrace shop on the Macarthur Street corner.  The terraces themselves are wide with a central door and a prominently banded facade with double column support filligree verandahs and feature original cast iron fences.  The roof features decorated eaves and a visible low pitched profile with two banded chimneys.

The terraces are offered local heritage protection as part of the City of Ballarat’s heritage overlay HO170.

I’m not sure of the date of construction or architect, however the style would indicate that this row was built in the mid to late 1880s – my guess is around 1887.

Bayview House: 23 Ingles Street. Port Melbourne, Victoria

Bayview House is a narrow boom style terrace in a beautifully preserved row of three villas neighbouring an Edwardian terrace presumably named for the glimpses of Port Phillip which once would have been seen from its upper balcony.

The two villas to the south (Richmond Villa at 26 and Bracka Villa at 24) have the same design elements but are single storey, are in a rare concertina formation and Bayview is the feature double storey.  Bayview terrace features a central Palladian parapet with a sign over a prominent swag framed by scroll horizontal corbels and flanked by a  knot linked circle ballustrade.  The party walls are decorated with acanthus leaf corbels and flower motifs.  The party walls have blind arches and an unusual modification Bayview House is a small diamond shaped portal cut into the upper storey arch.  The double hung windows feature spiral window sashes.

An ornate verandah is decorated by circular cast iron filigree patterns and a mix of moulded wood carving and composite cast iron support columns.

7-9 Victoria Street, St Kilda. Melbourne, Victoria

This pair of double storey terrace houses in St Kilda displays elements of a couple of different styles, suggesting it has been greatly modified over time.  The two hip roofed terrace houses share a common prominent party wall which is plain except for a couple of acanthus scroll corbels and has a rectangular profile stepping back between the roofs.  The design notably has no parapet and two large chimneys on either side provide a singularity and balance to the row.  The terraces themselves appear simple enough and have the classical treatment of the 1870s.  The distinctive feature however is the wooden fretwork of the Edwardian period, complete with matching picket fence.

The halls are side by side toward the centre of the terraces with two double hung windows on either side of the doors on both floors.

The entryway is emphasized by a round arch timber framing on the verandah with miniature brackets, the rest of which is decorated with “Federation style” wood slat fretwork with alternate carved inserts.  The upper storey features an additional column to divide the bays into three.

The brickwork may have been rendered over and painted at some subsequent stage.

The pair is offered some heritage protection via the City of Port Phillip heritage overlay HO5.