E A Watts House
1291 Burke Road KEW, Boroondara City
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Statement of Significance
The EA Watts house, at 1291 Burke Road, Kew, is of local historical and architectural significance as a handsome and externally relatively intact example of a substantial two-storey interwar residence designed in a broadly Mediterranean mode. The design is a skillful fusion of Mediterranean styles commonly applied in larger houses of the period 1925-39, which in this case incorporates elements of the later English Baroque. The design evokes the scale, detailing, and utopian qualities of Italian contado villas and reflects the strong general knowledge of, and interest in, a wide range of architecture of the client/owner, EA Watts.
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E A Watts House - Physical Description 1
1291 Burke Road is a triple fronted, two-storied brick house with stucco rendering, currently painted in ochre. It has a hipped terracotta-clad roof in three main masses, simply corniced stuccoed chimneys, tiles in the Marseilles pattern and boxed eaves. In common with other 1930s designs in the Boroondara region, its plan was in three frontal steps (in this case including a projecting arcaded porch/balcony element), with a simple right angle behind them, and a garage attached as a fourth front for visual integration. The walls feature prominently sculpted quoin patterns and a set of sculpted voussoirs over the garage entry, and decorative semicircular panels across the ground floor of the main house.
The prominent entry porch and first floor balcony above have both been glazed in. The other major alteration to the house has been John Siversen's 1989 design for a new family room, conservatory, kitchen, pantry, laundry, bathroom, and storeroom, but these are all at the rear and are not visible. A swimming pool was also added in that year.[i] The only alterations recorded prior to 1989 were to the original kitchen in 1968 and an oil heater added in 1972.[ii]
The garage is original but the driveway has been renewed. The fence appears to have been replaced since the 1988 Kew Conservation Study survey and the wrought iron gates noted at that time are no longer present.
[i] John Siversen, working drawings, showing the original plan as part of a demolition schedule: dated 3 April 1989, and sourced from Boroondara archives and City of Kew Building Index, #4258, same date. The swimming pool was #4336, dated 18 April 1989.
[ii] City of Kew Building Index, #965, dated 19 November 1968 (kitchen) and #3397, dated 25 July 1972 (oil heater).
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Review of B Graded Buildings in Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn
Author: Lovell Chen Architects & Heritage Consultants
Year: 2006
Grading: BBoroondara - City of Kew Urban Conservation Study
Author: Pru Sanderson Design Pty Ltd
Year: 1988
Grading:
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GENAZZANO FCJ COLLEGEVictorian Heritage Register H1902
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TRAM VERANDAH SHELTERVictorian Heritage Register H0173
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