“Hilcrest”

Item details


Name of item:	“Hilcrest”
Type of item:	Built
Group/Collection:	Residential buildings (private)
Category:	House
Primary address:	130 Stoney Creek Road, Beverly Hills, NSW 2209
Parish:	St George
County:	Cumberland
Local govt. area:	Georges River

Boundary:

Property boundary. Both the house and its setting (current lot) contribute to the heritage significance of the Item.

All addresses

Street Address	Suburb/town	LGA	Parish	County	Type
130 Stoney Creek Road	Beverly Hills	Georges River	St George	Cumberland	Primary Address

Statement of significance:


	The property known as "Hilcrest" at 130 Stoney Creek Road is of historic and aesthetic heritage significance to the local area as a very good and representative example of a late Interwar Austerity-style bungalow with Interwar Old English influences to the corbelled gable façade. Substantially intact houses of this style are rare in the local area and Hillcrest, both the house and its setting, is a fine representative example that demonstrates additional historic and aesthetic heritage values. It is historically significant for the evidence that it provides of the patterns of development that emerged through the relatively late subdivision and sale of the land in the northern reaches of the Penshurst Park Estate to form the suburb of Beverly Hills. The lot on which Hillcrest was built was created in 1938 through the re-subdivision of the larger original lot of the estate; and the house was completed and occupied by 1941. It is also significant for its historical integrity, with the house reading as intact and the garden as having undergone only minor changes such as the addition of the garage and widening of the driveway opening. Such integrity of form and fabric provides a rare opportunity to appreciate the property as a very good representative example of its type. Hillcrest is also significant for its aesthetic qualities, being not only substantially intact but also demonstrating most of the characteristics of the style such as the asymmetric composition, hipped tile-clad roof, dark brickwork with thin black mortar with the decorative brick detailing the main element of decoration; the corbelled gable face in front of the recessed loggia-style porch, the side entrance and the leadlight glazing in the Art Deco style. The front fence is also original and although the driveway entrance has been widened, is historically and aesthetically contributory. Hillcrest makes an important contribution to the streetscape and the views along Stoney Creek Road through its distinctive aesthetic character, its intact form and detailing, and its location near the crest of the hill. The property demonstrates historic and aesthetic heritage values that satisfy the NSW Heritage Council’s Criteria for local heritage significance.
	Date significance updated: 30 Oct 20
	Note: The State Heritage Inventory provides information about heritage items listed by local and State government agencies. The State Heritage Inventory is continually being updated by local and State agencies as new information becomes available. Read the Department of Premier and Cabinet copyright and disclaimer.

Description


Designer/Maker:	Unknown
Builder/Maker:	Unknown
Physical description:	“Hillcrest” is a single-storey Interwar style house of dark red face brick with distinctive detailing. The house and its setting read as intact, including chimneys, in both street and aerial views. The entrance door is at the side of the house and is marked by attached columns of rounded bricks. It opens to the driveway, typical of the more space-efficient designs of this servant-less and war-time austerity period since it eliminated the need for a hallway and allowed ready access to the driveway and the actual or anticipated family motor car. A slightly redder shade face brick with red mortar is used on this side elevation, reflecting its importance to the presentation of the property to visitors. The brickwork to the other side elevation is the usual common brickwork. The roof form is characteristic of the Interwar Austerity bungalow, being hipped to a medium pitch with a wide gable to the street elevation. Tiles are original dark red low-glaze terracotta. The street elevation is particularly distinctive. The main gable is prominent and includes openings in the brickwork to front and sides that create a loggia-style porch set back behind the plane of the gable. The brickwork to this façade features subtle self-patterning and details such as rounded profile and chamfered brick shapes. The upper part features the distinctive corbelling and a brick vent detail near the apex, both characteristic of the period. A decorative panel of basket-weave brickwork sits below the bay window on the western portion of the front façade. Windows are timber-framed and feature Art-Deco leadlight glazing to the principal rooms. The French doors to the porch also feature original leadlight glazing. Visible side windows are also original sash-opening timber-framed. The footprint is intact to that visible in 1943, with no additions. The garden layout including the central concrete path in the backyard is also intact. The modest garage with skillion roof aligned with the rear elevation of the house has been added since 1943. A simple skillion-style transparent awning has been added between the garage and front door. The pair of wheel tracks of the driveway is also original, the cracked central section being infilled in later years. Plantings are simple and placed in a bed across the front to the house, with a small conifer (a very characteristic species for mid-20th century gardens) at the front corner near the driveway. Several large shrubs/small trees are near the north-western corner of the back garden. The front fence is also original and characteristic of the period, being a low face brick wall with dentilated detailing. The bricks match those used in the house. The driveway/pedestrian gate has been removed, along with a short section of the wall, presumably to facilitate access to the front setback for the parking of vehicles. The repair/reconstruction of part of the remaining wall is clearly visible.
Physical condition and/or Archaeological potential:	Generally good and well maintained.
	Date condition updated:02 Jul 12
Modifications and dates:	Garage added. Date unknown.
Further information:	This assessment of heritage significance is based on inspection of the property from the public domain, which may include the street, nearby accessible places such as parks and/or publicly available aerial photographs. It is a summary only and may not mention all fabric that informed the assessment of the property's heritage significance. More detailed investigation may reveal that fabric described in this form as original was added later in traditional form and/or materials. This will not necessarily affect the assessed heritage significance of the property. Heritage Inventory sheets are based on the information available at the time of their preparation. This information can be limited and may not include interiors, fabric not visible from a public place, landscape elements or research into social or built archaeological heritage potential. Potential Aboriginal heritage values applicable to the particular site have not been identified. Further research and detailed investigation of fabric may reveal new or altered aspects of significance, and the inventory sheet may be updated by Council as further information becomes available. An inventory sheet with limited information does not mean that items or elements are not significant.


Current use:	Residential

History

Historical notes:

130 Stoney Creek Road is located within the 1605 acres granted to Dr Robert Townson in 1810. The Grant extended from Broadarrow Road in the north to Hurstville Road (south of the Illawarra railway line). It was purchased in 1832 by John Connell, after which the area between Forest Road, Stoney Creek Road, Dumbleton Road (King Georges Road) and Queensbury Road became known locally as Connell’s Brush (or Bush) in acknowledgement of its still undeveloped character without significant agricultural use apart from timber cutting and charcoal burning. After Connell’s death in 1849 the area east of today’s Queensbury Road was inherited by his grandson, Elias Pearson Laycock. Laycock retained the land and in 1867 converted almost all (except for 25 acres that had been sold to Longfield) to Torrens Title with a subdivision to create 30 small farm lots of up to 25 acres each. Early sales were mostly of the lots south of Forest Road. Almost the entire area of Connell’s Bush lying north of Gannons Forest Road (Forest Road) was acquired by Thomas Salter in 1879, who continued the large lot sales and started to also sell smaller parcels of 6-10 acres and some suburban-sized lots as the Penshurst Park Estate. The boundaries between the 6-10 acre lots formed the current street pattern as each was re-subdivided for residential development in the following years by early purchasers. The majority residue was purchased by the Penshurst Park Estate. The size of the Estate necessitated a controlled series of land releases, and the area north of Stoney Creek Road (known at the time as Kingsgrove Road) which included Lots X1 and Y, U1, V1 and W1, plus part of Lots A, A2, B, E, F, I and Z of Laycock's original subdivision (DP53) was not opened for sale until 1894, at which time the 25 acre lots were re-subdivided into c.1 acre parcels advertised as being suitable for small farms and activities such as poultry and pig keeping with future development potential. The distance from Penshurst Station ensured that the sales of these lots were slow, with the first sales not recorded until the turn of the century.

The land on which 130 Stoney Creek Road was built was originally purchased from the 1894 re-subdivision by Frederick Edwin Baldry in 1902 as Lot 18 of Section D and a house “Jordan Hill” was built at its western end. The lot was large, c. 1 acre, and in 1938 was subdivided into 9 lots by builder Charles Edmund Chapman, no.130 being on Lot 7 (DP18860). Chapman was a builder and it is likely that he built each of the homes given the consistency of their original style and materials. Lot 7 was purchased by Norman Herbert Winters and Grace Winters as tenants-in-common in 1941 and the Winters were listed in the telephone directory for that year at Stoney Creek Road. In 1954 the property was purchased by Sarsfield Bernard Patrick Melano of Sydney, a storeman and then in 1970 to his widow, Elsie Elizabeth Melano of Beverly Hills.
Search of Land Title records relating to the property 1867-1965, including: Vol 53 Folio 186; Vol 389 folio 224; Vol 395 folio 205; Vol 690 folio 217; Vol 880 fol.107; Vol 890 folio 170; Vol 1413 folio 120 Vol.4340 folio 193; Vol. 5235 folio 230

Historic themes

Australian theme (abbrev)	New South Wales theme	Local theme
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Accommodation-Activities associated with the provision of accommodation, and particular types of accommodation – does not include architectural styles – use the theme of Creative Endeavour for such activities.	(none)-
4. Settlement-Building settlements, towns and cities	Towns, suburbs and villages-Activities associated with creating, planning and managing urban functions, landscapes and lifestyles in towns, suburbs and villages	(none)-

Assessment of significance


SHR Criteria a) [Historical significance]	The property (house and setting) at 130 Stoney Creek Road, Beverly Hills is of historic significance to the local area for the evidence that it provides of the pattern of its development as a result of the relatively late subdivision and sale of the land in the northern reaches of the Penshurst Park Estate to form the suburb of Beverly Hills flowing the opening of the East Hills Railway Line in 1931. The lot on which Hillcrest was built was created in 1938 through the re-subdivision of a larger original lot of the earlier Penshurst Park subdivision; and the house was completed and occupied by 1941. The property demonstrates the modesty of scale, form, materials and setting consistent with this period of economic and aesthetic austerity, with the side entrance direct to the driveway provides evidence of the growing importance of the private motor car in the suburban cultural landscape. Hillcrest is also historically significant as a very good and representative example of this period and style of suburban architecture that makes an important contribution to the streetscape of Stoney Creek Road. The historic heritage values of the property are demonstrated by both the house and its setting. Together they satisfy the Criteria for historic heritage significance at the local level.
SHR Criteria c) [Aesthetic significance]	Hillcrest is of aesthetic heritage significance to the local area because it is a substantially intact and aesthetically distinctive example of a modest late Interwar period bungalow. It features most of the principal elements of the style including a modest scale under a medium-pitched hipped roof with dark, low-glazed terracotta tiles and dark red face brickwork with thin black mortar and reliance on decorative brickwork to create visual detail. The side-facing front door with bay window, Art Deco inspired headlighting to the principal elevation and the blind porch to the street elevation are all characteristic elements. Hillcrest also features a distinctive corbelled gable to Stoney Creek Road which includes the use of decorative brickwork to define the punched openings to the recessed loggia-style porch behind. The front fence in matching brickwork is also original and although the driveway entrance has been widened, contributes to the aesthetic heritage values of the property and its importance in the local streetscape. The aesthetic heritage values of the property are demonstrated by both the house and its setting. Together they satisfy the Criteria for aesthetic heritage significance at the local level.
SHR Criteria f) [Rarity]	The form and detailing of the front porch is an uncommon one in the local area.
SHR Criteria g) [Representativeness]	A very good and locally representative example of a modest late Interwar bungalow.
Integrity/Intactness:	The house is intact externally. The spatial qualities of the setting, and the front fence, are also intact.
Assessment criteria:	Items are assessed against the State Heritage Register (SHR) Criteria to determine the level of significance. Refer to the Listings below for the level of statutory protection.

Recommended management:


	Maintain integrity of form and streetscape presentation including the original porch, fenestration and the face brick finishes of the house and the street boundary fence. Face brick finishes should not be painted or rendered. The front porch should not be enclosed or screened.

Listings

Heritage Listing	Listing Title	Listing Number	Gazette Date	Gazette Number	Gazette Page
Local Environmental Plan	Georges River Local Environmental Plan 2021	I9	07 Dec 12

Study details

Title	Year	Number	Author	Inspected by	Guidelines used
Hurstville Community Based Heritage Study Review	2012	3	City Plan Heritage	Kerime Danis	Yes
Review of State Heritage Inventory Forms for the former Hurstville Local Government Area	2019	4	Conroy Heritage Planning	RC	Yes

References, internet links & images

Type	Author	Year	Title
Written	Hurstville Council		Rate and Valuation Books
Photograph	NSW Land and Property Information		SIX aerial mapping
Written	NSW Registrar General		Land Titles
Written	Pedr Davis	1986	The Hurstville Story
Graphic	Sydney Water	1939	Sydney Water Detail Sheets - Hurstville Series
Graphic	various		Hurstville Subdivision Plans
Written	various		TROVE- Historic newspaper collection

Note: internet links may be to web pages, documents or images.

(Click on thumbnail for full size image and image details)

Data source


The information for this entry comes from the following source:
Name:	Local Government
Database number:	1810148

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