A bungalow with a decorative gable over the front entrance
(Brimbank City Council, 2009)
What is significant?
The simple gabled, weatherboard bungalow-style houses have
consistent form and design details, with characteristic wide eaves,
steep pitched roofs and timber details such as triangular eave and
verandah brackets, and exposed roof rafter ends. Most roofs have
the gable parallel to the street, though a few are gable-fronted, or
have a secondary gable facing the street. Verandahs are minimal,
often just a narrow extension of the roof, with an entrance porch
recessed at the corner or centre of the façade. Windows are single,
or in groups or two or three, and in three-sided bays.
Precinct Map
Introduction
These specific guidelines form Part 8 of the
Brimbank Heritage
Guidelines 2009.
These Guidelines apply to heritage properties
within the War Service Homes Estate in Albion. 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.
Why is the estate significant?
The following information about the significance of this precinct is
drawn from the
Brimbank City Council Post-Contact Heritage Study,
Version 2,
2007. Please refer to that study for more information
about the historic development of the Estate.
The War Service Homes Estate is historically and architecturally
significant for its combination of a uniform architectural house style
and a Garden City-inspired plan which was atypical for both war
service and privately developed estates at that time. This was one
of several soldier settlement estates set up in Australia after World
War One, possibly one of the earliest, established in 1919. It is of
particular interest because H.V. McKay took the initiative in offering
to sell his land to the War Service Homes Commission and as the
first example of Commonwealth intervention in the provision of
housing in the Sunshine area.
While the houses are clearly designed and built to standard plans,
the small variations, orientation to the allotments and subtly varied
details indicate the attempts to create variety and avoid monotony in
the designs. A total of 64 houses were built in 1920-21.
The layout of the estate is distinctive and unusual with its small
corner and central roundabout reserve, planted with a large palm,
and the large reserves enclosed by back fences. This arrangement
is reminiscent of Walter Burley Griffin’s pioneering town planning at
Eaglemont and Avondale Heights.
HO26 – War Service Homes Estate, Albion
BRIMBANK HERITAGE DESIGN GUIDELINES PART 8
ST
ST
FERGUSON
COOLAMON
HAMEL
GUNNEDAH
ADELAIDE
BAZENTIN
ST
SYDNEY
KING EDWARD
KAMAROOKA
BARCLAY
ST
ST
AV
ST
ST
DERRIMUT
BARCLAY
ST
ST
4
4
14
10
11
13
8
54
5
12
9
56
47C
2
1A
6
2
1
13
18
4
2A
12A
8
17
3
2A
3
13
1
52
7
45
2
1A
1
9
2B
15
45A
12
4
22
44
39
50
5
60
58
7
5
14
43
10
48
11 9
6
8
1
9
7
39A
7
41
2
1B
10
8
16
16 6
3
6
3
5
precinct
boundary
contributory
non-contributory
A bungalow with a gabled roof and simple verandah recessed below the roof
(Brimbank City Council, 2009)
BRIMBANK HERITAGE DESIGN GUIDELINES PART 8
HO26 – War Service Homes Estate, Albion
For further information, please see Brimbank City Council’s website at www.brimbank.vic.gov.au, or ring 9249 4606
BASIS FOR THE GUIDELINES
SUGGESTED APPROACH
Guideline 1: Front fence
From examination of early photos and surviving fences, it appears
that most or all of the houses originally had chain link fences with
timber posts (about 1.2 m high) at the front and sides of front yards.
Other early fence types thought to have been installed in the first
decade of the estate’s existence are low simple timber picket fences
(square tops) and post and rail fences (0.6 to 1 m high).
Surviving original fences (chain link with timber posts) should be
retained and repaired.
New fences should use traditional materials and appropriate styles
for the estate, wherever possible. Maximum fence height should be
1.2 metres. For illustration of fence types please see the General
Guidelines.
Guideline 2: Materials, colours and finishes
The houses were originally all clad in weatherboards, with galvanised
corrugated iron roofs. Chimneys are red brick often with a corbel
(projection) at the top. Windows generally have six panes of clear
or Arctic (wavy) glass above a single pane. There are a number of
decorative timber accents, including verandah and eaves brackets,
and grilles at the top of gables.
The weatherboard cladding of the houses were originally coated
in creosote (an oil-borne timber preservative that gives a semi
transparent black finish). Other timber elements, such as windows
and brackets, were picked out in light paint colours. All creosoted
weatherboards have since been painted over.
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.
Replacement gutters should be quadrant profile,
and downpipes should have a round profile.
Both should be metal.
Do not paint any previously unpainted
materials, including the brick chimneys.
For common colours schemes for 1920s
houses, see the General Guidelines. A
return to the original combination of dark
walls with light trim would also be very
appropriate.
Slender red-brick chimney with projecting band at the top
(Brimbank City Council, 2009)
Guideline 3: Car parking
None of the houses originally had driveways or garages.
Original front garden paths were of natural (untinted) concrete.
Car parking structures (carports and garages) should be as
unobtrusive as possible, preferably situated behind the house.
Natural concrete paving should be used for driveways, with paved
areas kept to a minimum.
Guideline 4: Public realm
Open space reserves for use by residents
of the estates were established behind
the houses of the two eastern blocks, as
well as the central circle and two triangular
grass reserves each at the ends of Hamel
and Bazentin streets.
There are also two original bluestone
paved lanes leading to the reserves and
some bluestone drains.
The recreation reserves behind
the houses should be retained as
such, and maintained for public use,
as should the smaller circular and
triangular public reserves.
The bluestone lane and drains
should be retained, and reinstated in
the same configuration if roadworks
require excavations.
Early aerial view of the estate showing the reserves
(Museums Victoria, c1921)
A three-sided, canted bay window
with six-over-one panes
(Brimbank City Council, 2009)
View of bungalows on Adelaide Street
showing the original dark creosoted
weatherboard walls and light trim
(Museums Victoria, c1921)