Doneraile
15 Alma Road CAMBERWELL, Boroondara City
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Statement of Significance
Doneraile is of local historical and state architectural significance. Designed by architect Evander McIver and constructed in 1890-91, Doneraile is a prototype for the emerging Federation villa. Its asymmetrical planning, strapwork chimneys, plain brick walling, pyramidal slate roof and Japanese turned timber detailing are all Federation characteristics, but were seen in combination in only a few houses prior to 1890. It is one of a limited number of prototypes that appeared in Melbourne during the period 1889-1892. Doneraile is a virtual compendium of very early Federation forms and detail; these components are combined with elegance and directness, and with a particular scale that was to recur throughout the Federation period.
Doneraile is one of the key examples in Boroondara which demonstrate the shift toward Federation architecture, along with houses by Alfred Dunn and others in Oxley Road, Hawthorn, by Ussher and Kemp in Camberwell, Canterbury and Balwyn, and Christopher Cowper in Hawthorn. It is part of Boroondara's contribution to the development of Federation architecture in Australia.
The association in the 1940s with the prominent opera singer, Miss Amy Castles, is of local historical interest.
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Doneraile - Physical Description 1
Designed by Evander McIver, Elderslie, at 15 Alma Road, Camberwell, is a double fronted house built in 1890-1 with return verandah to the north and east, and an east elevation marked by two substantial round arches in cream brick over the front door approach. The house has plain walling in red brick, mildly weathered in places. Aside from the entry arches, cream brick is confined to the chimney caps and their flanking vertical straps. The bracketed gable barge boarding projects clear of the brick gable surface behind it. Its pattern is Japanese, echoed more tentatively in the glazing bars on the upper sashes of the verandah windows. The concave verandah canopy was in cast iron with cast iron lace and a corrugated galvanised steel roof, replaced in recent years with the addition of two transparent acrylic corrugated sheets. The slate main roof is original, though with more recent ridge capping in powder-coated steel. A bulged acrylic skylight has been added on the main roof's west side. The verandah roof has also been replaced in recent years, and has two large sections of corrugated clear plastic to allow light through. The timber front fence is not original. There was an earlier fence replacement in 1943, and two sets of interior alterations, one including a laundry in 1968, and additions, not visible from the street, in 1971.[i]
The garden, to a generally circular plan in its front arm, was reworked, probably in the 1970s, with native plantings. Some of the older trees may possibly date from the early twentieth century. Flowering wisteria, a motif in this street and probably a more recent planting, covers the verandah frame.
[i] Details sourced from the City of Camberwell Building Index: fence, #15947, 15 November 1943; laundry and interiors, #43825, 3 September 1968; additions, #49276, 10 June 1971.
Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Review of B Graded Buildings in Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn
Author: Lovell Chen Architects & Heritage Consultants
Year: 2006
Grading: ABoroondara - Camberwell Conservation Study
Author: Graeme Butler
Year: 1991
Grading:
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FORMER ES&A BANKVictorian Heritage Register H0534
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CAMBERWELL COURT HOUSE AND POLICE STATIONVictorian Heritage Register H1194
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RIVOLI THEATREVictorian Heritage Register H1524
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"1890"Yarra City
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"AMF Officers" ShedMoorabool Shire
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"AQUA PROFONDA" SIGN, FITZROY POOLVictorian Heritage Register H1687
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"1890"Yarra City
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'BRAESIDE'Boroondara City
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'ELAINE'Boroondara City
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