Gowrie
10 Ardmillan Road MOONEE PONDS, MOONEE VALLEY CITY

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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
'Gowrie', a substantial single-storey Edwardian Queen Anne brick villa with an earlier Victorian rear wing, at 10 Ardmillan Road, Moonee Ponds, is significant. It was built in several stages, the first of which was a bichrome brick house of c1878. From c1881 to 1898 the property was owned by Scotsman Douglas Elder, who named it 'Gowrie'. Elder extended the house c1895, which may have comprised the current front two rooms and facade, though some sources put the front facade as c1902-05.
Significant elements include the:
- Surviving fabric of its Victorian origins (still visible in parts of the external walls and part of its built form), the Edwardian building and roof forms (and possibly the roof form of the central Victorian section), and verandah to the front section;
- unpainted face brick walls of the front section and remnants of the external walls of the earlier section, return verandah, turned timber posts, timber fretwork and brackets, original and early chimneys; and
- verandah ornamentation, bay window and associated half-timbered gable, window and door joinery and leaded glass.
The contemporary extension to the rear of the property are not significant.
How is it significant?
10 Ardmillan Road is of local historic, architectural (representative), and aesthetic significance to the City of Moonee Valley.
Why is it significant?
'Gowrie' is of historical significance for the retention of a c1878 bichrome brick house at its middle, one of a small number of 1870s houses to survive in the City of Moonee Ponds, constructed prior to the suburban development of the 1880s and later. It was still new enough to warrant extension instead of demolition when the current front rooms and facade were added around the turn of the century. (Criterion A)
'Gowrie' is of architectural significance as a notable example of the Queen Anne style, incorporating characteristic forms and details including picturesque massing, prominent red brick chimneys, dominant roof form, half-timbering to the gable ends, return verandah with turned timber posts and ornamental timber fretwork and brackets. The integrity of the building is enhanced by the high level of intactness of these main elements, including the retention of original window and door joinery, leaded glazing and unpainted face brick walls. It is particularly distinguished aesthetically by the accomplished massing and exquisite detail of the front facade, particularly the oriel window with its floriated bas-relief above windows of rich Art Nouveau leadlights. A similar quality of leadlights windows are seen around the front door. (Criteria D & E)
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Gowrie - Physical Description 1
'Gowrie' at 10 Ardmillan Road, Moonee Ponds, a substantial single-storey Queen Anne brick villa with terracotta tile-clad roof, with an earlier Victorian rear wing, is located on the north side of the street, between Mantell and Trinafour streets, close to the railway line. A narrower residential street, Grosvenor Street, runs north-south opposite 'Gowrie'. The villa is set within established gardens and behind a low brick fence on the street boundary.
The house has a main hipped roof form with a long transverse ridge and a prominent gabled bay at the south-east corner, clad with terracotta tiles in the Marseilles pattern. On the east elevation, the rafter ends are exposed under the eaves. The main enveloping roof sweeps down with a change of angle to cover the front verandah, creating a 'broken-back' profile. Oriented towards the south, the walls of the front section of the house are tuckpointed red brick while the earlier Victorian central section, hardly visible from the street, has Hawthorn-style brown bricks with touches of cream detail.
The facade is asymmetrical with a projecting bay and bracketed gable end, which has half-timbering details. Below the gable is an oriel window resting on a roughcast rendered base. The oriel has elaborate Art Nouveau leaded glass panels in casement sashes and highlights. An elaborate floriated bas relief surmounting a heraldic shield above the window has the property name 'Gowrie' embossed. The half-timbered effect to the gable end has a mix of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal members. The verandah has a square trellis-pattern timber frieze above simple curved flat timber brackets and turned timber posts. The heavy panelled door has rich leadlight highlight and half-glazed sidelights. To the west of the entrance is a pair of tall timber-framed double-hung windows. Three chimneys are visible from the street with two more behind, hidden behind the high front roof. Two of the three very tall chimneys closest to the street are of red brick with simple recessed brickwork panels on the faces of the chimney shaft and rendered tops with a double cornice and terracotta pots, and another chimney to the west is of polychrome brick, indicating its earlier construction date (c1878).
In the front garden, a fountain has been installed, surrounded by the circular garden bed. The garden has young trees, flowering plants and shrubberies, and near the street boundary are more mature trees. The footpaths and the boundaries of garden beds have been paved with dark purple slates, but all this is presumably of relatively recent date. A timber fence has been installed in line with the extension made to the east elevation. Behind the metal gate, there is a driveway to a flat-roofed garage. Extensive additions have been made to the rear (north) of the property. While rooms from the c1878 house are just behind the two front rooms of the Queen Anne front extension, it is not clear how far back this earlier section stretches.
10 Ardmillan Road, Moonee Ponds, is of high integrity with veryfewchanges visible to original or early elements of the place, allowing for its staged construction. The building retains the core of its Victorian origins (still visible in parts of the external walls), the building form of the substantial enlargement of the house to provide its current front rooms, the roof forms of the front rooms (and possibly the roof form of the central Victorian section), and verandah to the front section.
The integrity of the building is enhanced by the highlevel of intactness of these main elements, which include details such the original and early chimneys, verandah ornamentation, bay window and associated half-timbered gable, window and door joinery and leaded glass, and the unpainted face brick walls of the front section and remnants of the external walls of the earlier section.
The integrity of the place is diminished by the substantial extensions to the rear of the property, although the impact of this work is lessened through carefully siting and design of the building form to avoid jeopardising the view from the property frontage.
Heritage Study and Grading
Moonee Valley - Moonee Valley 2017 Heritage Study
Author: Context
Year: 2019
Grading:
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