The surviving eleven concrete houses are small detached dwellings

set back on large garden allotments. There are three types of house.

Type 1 is block-fronted with a simple hipped roof. It has overhanging

eaves at the centre of the façade, creating a window hood above the

windows, resting on triangular timber brackets. Windows are paired

six-over-one sashes in boxed (projecting) frames. These houses

have decorative timber porches on the side elevation. Another

distinctive feature of these houses is the narrow faceted cast

concrete chimneys.

Type 2 has a wide hipped-roof bay at the front with a recessed porch

beneath it. The porch is lit by a window-like opening on the façade.

The windows of this type of house are set into moulded render

surrounds.

There is one surviving house with a California Bungalow form

(Type 3), on Hampshire Road. Its most distinctive feature is a half

timbered gable-roofed porch at the front. The porch is supported on

three pairs of timber posts, which in turn rest on low rendered piers.

These specific guidelines form Part 3 of the

These Guidelines apply to heritage properties

within the Concrete Housing Estate in Sunshine. These properties

are identified as ‘contributory’ on the precinct map below. The

guidelines are intended to encourage and support the conservation of

the historic character of the Estate by providing additional information

that builds upon the General Guidelines provided in Part 1.

The following information about the significance of this precinct is

drawn from the

2007. Please refer to that study for more information

about the historic development of the Estate.

The Leith Avenue precinct is an interesting example of a planned

building settlement, under the auspices of the Sunshine Harvester

Works, though financed with Victorian State Savings Bank backing.

The precinct is of architectural significance for the early and rare use

of concrete in the construction of the houses, which was still quite

an innovation in 1924, although some concrete houses had been

built in Sunshine by 1910. The spaciousness of the lay-out of Leith

Avenue suggests the influence of Garden City planning principles.

The houses were constructed with the Monolyte system, developed

by S.B. Marchant of Adelaide in 1913. Reusable timber formwork

for walls was set up in place, with door and window frames set into

the concrete, and the concrete poured from above. A house, with

a traditional timber-framed roof, could be completed in just under a

week. The cottages seen in Sunshine were but three of six models

designed by chief architect for the State Savings Bank, G.B. Leith,

after whom the new street was named.

A row of Type 3 concrete California Bungalows

(

12 Dec 1925)

BRIMBANK HERITAGE DESIGN GUIDELINES PART 3

HO20 – Concrete Housing Estate, Sunshine

Photos dating to the

construction of the houses show

that they all had woven wire

fences with simple timber posts,

of about 1.2 m high, at the front

and side of front yards. Gates

were metal pipe with woven

wire. Some of these original

fences survive, particularly

between front yards.

Original fences should

be retained and repaired

where necessary.

New fences to front yards

should match to original

woven wire and timber

fences, wherever possible.

The concrete walls of the houses have been rendered with large

expanses of roughcast and smooth rendered borders. The roofs

are terracotta tiles, mainly unglazed red Marseille-profile. Original

window sashes are timber, with upper panes of rippled Arctic glass.

The same glass is found in the lights of the high-waisted timber

doors. Other timber elements are the eaves lining and the side

porches. These porches are decorated with timber shingles, paired

timber posts, arched timber friezes and weatherboards to the base.

The render was probably unpainted originally, but may have had a

tinted cement wash.

A Type 1 concrete house with original timber porch (Brimbank City Council, 2009)

Do not paint any previously unpainted surfaces, particularly concrete

chimneys.

Original materials should be retained and repaired, where necessary,

instead of replaced. Replacement (if necessitated by poor condition)

or restoration of original joinery elements, such as windows and

doors, should be identical to the original in form and material.

Marseille roofing tiles should be retained, or replaced where

necessary.

Replacement gutters should be quadrant profile, and downpipes

should have a round profile. Both should be metal.

Render should be repainted

in pale grey, beige or stone

colours, using a matt or

slightly textured paint.

For appropriate colours

schemes for 1920s

houses, see the General

Guidelines.

Early garages would have been set back behind the house.

Some houses have original driveways in the form of two concrete

tracks with a grass median strip and grass along the fence line.

New car parking structures (carports and garages) should be as

unobtrusive as possible, preferably situated behind the house.

Double-track concrete driveways should be retained where they

survive, or reinstated if possible..

Leith Avenue was built in the unusual form of a long

court with concrete houses on the north and south sides

(those on the north side have been demolished). It had

a concrete road, kerb and channel around an oblong

central grassed median.

Conserve original median

reserve, concrete roadways,

kerbs, footpaths, and

vehicle crossovers and use

similar materials for repair

or replacement of these

elements.

Row of newly built concrete houses and woven wire fences on Leith Avenue.

A Type 2 house is on the right (

12 Dec 1925)

Entrance of a Type 2 house

(Brimbank City Council, 2009)

Aerial view showing the reserve and houses on both sides of Leith

Avenue (University of Melbourne, 1945)