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Place Details

Name of Place: House, 50 North Street

Local Government Inventory Number:

Assessment Number: 194820

Property Key: 447782

HCWA Number:

Site Details

Address: 50 North Street, Midland

Lot/Plan Diagram: Lot 303, DP77550

Dates

Construction Date: c1910

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Use/s of Place

Original Use General: RESIDENTIAL Original Use Specific: Single storey

Current Use General: RESIDENTIAL Current Use Specific: Single storey

Historic Theme General: DEMOGRAPHIC SETTLEMENT & MOBILITY Historic Theme Specific: Land allocation & subdivision

Description

Construction Materials Walls: Brick Roof: Corrugated metal sheeting and terracotta tile

Condition: Based on a streetscape inspection the building is in good condition. Authenticity: Moderate to high due to retained original fabric. Integrity: High as the place continues to be used as a residence.

Description: Federation Queen Anne single storey house of brick, tile and corrugated iron construction.

The property is of brick construction with a rendered and painted string course extending across the façade at sill height. The central entrance is flanked by twin openings creating a symmetrical layout to the front elevation. The windows are three section openings with a large 1-over-1 sash window flanked by narrower sashes with a rendered sill and decorative scrolled window apron. The entrance door is a traditional arrangement of timber panelled and glazed door with flanking side panels and fanlight above.

The roof is hipped with a separate verandah canopy. Cladding to the main roof is tile with the chimneys having been retained despite the recladding of the roof. The cladding to the verandah is zincalume. The verandah extends across the full width of the façade, with the bullnose canopy supported on turned timber posts with a decorative filigree style frieze and brackets. The deck is painted concrete.

The house is positioned on a corner site with the east elevation extending along New Bond Street. The east elevation is of plain brick construction with three small window openings.

To the rear of the property is a rendered section with a parapet wall.

The west elevation is plain brick with a single opening towards the rear of the property.

History

In 1886, the Midland Railway Company took up significant landholdings in the area and established its operations to build its planned railway north to Geraldton. The townsite of Midland Junction was gazetted in 1890 and private investor James Morrison, subdivided and sold large parcels of land to new settlers. With gold discoveries in the mid 1890s, Midland

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Junction became a hub of the state road and rail system and was a logical site for the government railway workshops which relocated there in 1904.

This area north of Midland was approved for residential subdivision in 1900. North Street was rapidly settled in the first decade of the 20th century. From the readily available this residence was built c1910 and the first identified occupant was Thomas Bishop, an engine fitter and his wife Isabella. The place had a series of occupants suggesting it was an investment property but further research is required to determine ownership.

In c1915, Joseph Teran Doran and his wife Alina Maria (Terry) Klien-Kineischt (1865-1938), both originally from Victoria, moved into the place and stayed there until the early 1930s. Joseph Doran (1861-1946) was a stockman and worked in regional Western Australia in the early decades of the 20th century. The Australian Electoral Roll states that they named the house 'Marvel Loch', presumabley after the small town and mine, south of Southern Cross.

From the early 1930s until c1960 the place was occupied by baker Frank Borich and his wife Melica. The couple lived there until Frank died in 1960.

A survey of the property prepared in 1939 for the purpose of planning water and sewerage services and revised in 1954 shows that the residence faced North Street but the alignment of the lot was toward New Bond Street. It is curious that the house was built so that the yard was not to the rear of the house but on the western side. At that time a fence was located close to the rear of the house. Aerial photographs from the mid 20th century show that houses were built to the west c1960.

The place was extended to the rear in the early 1980s and this has been modifed and and extended since that time. The original residence has not changed significantly in form or extent since its original construction and can still be readily determined.

Statement of Significance:

The place is a good representative example of a villa of the early 20th century designed to a style and scale to meet the needs and aspirations of middle-class residents such as public servants, small business owners, skilled tradesmen and single/widowed women of private means.

This place has aesthetic value as a good representative example of the application of the materials and details of the Federation Queen Anne style in the early 20th century.

For its association with the rapid development of Midland in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Management Category: Category 3 Some/Moderate

Category Description: Contributes to the heritage of the locality. Has some altered or modified elements, not necessarily detracting from the overall significance of the place.

Desirable Outcome: Conservation of the place is desirable. Any alterations or extensions should be sympathetic to the heritage values of the place, and original fabric should be retained wherever feasible.

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References:

Heritage Homes of Midland Junction, Stories of the ordinary and the not so ordinary, Volume 1. Phil Cloran and Patrick Irwin, The Midland Society, 2020. Wise's Post Office Directory 1894-1949. Australian Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980. Aerial Photographs, Landgate 1948-2020. MWSS&DD Plans, State Records Office of WA, Retro Maps http://au-wa-sro-metromaps-uat.s3-website-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/#/

Other Images: