This is one of a row of four Federation Freestyle houses that would have originally had unpainted red brick walls. The row has gable wings which are divided centrally to provide porch entries to mirrored residences either side. In addition each residence has a parapet with pediment to the main roof. The gable bays have pointed arch windows with leadlight. The front verandahs have tessellated tiling, with one pattern to the porch and a different pattern to the verandah. The row of houses is contributory in the HO139 Phillipstown Precinct – Barkly Street/Union Street, Brunswick
The lower sash of the window to the porch of No. 28 had at some earlier stage been replaced with plain glass and a large portion of the tessellated tiles at the gate entry were missing. The funding application for the property was therefore to reinstate these original features. Reinstatement of the leadlight window to the lower sash of the pointed arch window was to match the intact window on an adjacent residence in the row and the reinstatement of missing tiles was based on the pattern of the remaining tiles and using tiles salvaged from an adjacent property where the original tiles had been removed and replaced. In order to reinstate the tiling and to prevent loss of other dislodged tiles, all of the tiles to the verandah needed to be removed and re-laid with a new base and grout.
In August 2024 the VHRF Committee of Management agreed to offer a grant of $3,000 towards leadlight reinstatement and tile restoration to the porch floor.
The works funded by the VHRF have restored important features of the building to match original detailing. The works have improved the appearance of the residence in this distinctive row of houses and in the Heritage Overlay Precinct.
This is a brick residence in the former Housing Commission precinct of houses constructed primarily in the 1950s. This residence and others in Ballard Avenue, is one of the later residences in the housing precinct but still demonstrating common features that that unite this precinct in materials, window styles, roof types and scale. The residence is contributory in the Newlands Estate Precinct Coburg HO124.
Sometime in the later 20th century, some of the original timber frames windows to this residence had been replaced with aluminium frames. The funding application was to replace the existing aluminium windows to the front of the residence, with timber framed double hung windows to return the building to the earlier appearance. Other houses in the street as well as extant original side windows to this residence, demonstrated that the front windows would have originally been timber framed and double hung.
In December 2024 the VHRF Committee of Management agreed to offer a grant of $2,000 towards the timber window reinstatement works to the front of the residence to match the original.
The works funded by the VHRF have restored an original feature of the building and improved the appearance of the residence in the Heritage Overlay Precinct.
