Tuart Street Houses

40, 42, 44 & 52 Tuart Street & Eustace Cohen

40 Tuart Street - Lot 48, on which Lilydale is situated, was created in 1892, with the subdivision of approximately fifteen and a half acres (6.35ha) of Location 26 owned by Thomas Hayward and Ephraim Mayo Clarke. Both men were farmers and active in politics. Hayward was MLA for Bunbury from 1901 to 1904, and MLC for Wellington 1904-1911. Clarke was MLC for South Province from 1901 to 1921 and was the Mayor of Bunbury for six years. In 1894 John Bishop, a sawyer, purchased Lot 48 but did not build anything on the land. In 1911 Thomas Prosser Scott, a carter, and later a storeman, purchased the land. The following year he raised a mortgage of £250 to Thomas Smith and had a house built, which was known as “Lilydale.” The house was designed by architect Eustace Cohen and built by local contractor, J G Hough. Cohen and Hough often worked together in Bunbury, producing well-crafted housing using local timber products. Eustace Cohen (born London, 1881) was articled to Thomas Lockwood and Sons at Chester before working for Guy Dawber. He emigrated to Western Australia due to ill health in 1904 and set up practice in Bunbury and Busselton (1906-1913). He moved to Perth in 1914, where he formed a partnership with Joseph Eales, trading as Eales and Cohen. Cohen was instrumental in bringing the Arts and Crafts movement to Western Australia. The earliest examples of his work in Bunbury and Busselton display his interpretation of vernacular homes in the Arts and Crafts manner. Scott lived in the property until 1929, after which time he rented it to a succession of tenants. In 1937, 40 Tuart Street was sold to local chemist and photographic supplier, George Cox. Cox also owned Lots 49 and 50 and was thought to have lived in a house at Lot 50. He had purchased these Lots in 1919 and when he purchased Lilydale he lodged an application for a further subdivision which was approved in 1939. This created three different sized lots out of Lots 48, 49 and 50 and reduced the size of Lilydale, now known as Lot 4, from 1012m2 to 678m2. From 1940, 40 Tuart Street was rented by Benjamin Walter Reading and his wife Winifred. Reading worked for the Western Australian Government Railways, as did his father Benjamin Thomas Reading. The Readings purchased the house in 1950 and raised a mortgage of £500 with the Mutual Starr Bowkett Society. This was discharged in 1957. Winnifred died in 1986. Benjamin went into a nursing home in 1995 and two years later his daughters inherited the place. Janice Wansbrough bought out her sisters’ share of the property and planned to rent the place out. This history is based on the Documentary Evidence in Heritage Council of Western Australia, ‘Register of Heritage Places Below Threshold documentation: Lilydale’, prepared by Irene Sauman, 1998.

42 Tuart Street is a single storey timber and iron house constructed in the Federation Arts and Craft period style of architecture by the significant architect of the time, Eustace Gresley Cohen. The walls are timber framed and clad with timber weatherboards. The roof is hipped and clad with corrugated iron. The verandah is under a continuous corrugated iron roof supported by turned timber posts. The asymmetrical front façade has a timber window and the protruding front room features a bay window with decorative timber screen under the roof line which is matched to a small gable with finial in the middle of the house. There is a chimney evident. The house is slightly elevated from the street level. There is a limestone pillar and timber picket wall to the front boundary line. Previous descriptive notes state: An early 20th Century fine timber and iron house with highly modelled interiors evident in confident external forms [Molyneux:1978]. The building is one of a coherent group in the vicinity. Between c 1930 and c 1950, the house was owned and occupied by George Shafe Cox. Some timbers are reputed to have been salvaged from the demolition of a whaling station which previously existed on the shores of Koombana Bay.

Bunbury Herald (WA : 1892 - 1919), Saturday 3 December 1910, page 7

"Mr. Eustace G. Cohen explained the other night the meaning of the A.W.A.I.A. which adorns his name. He has been fequently twitted of late about the alleged ugliness of a structure in course of erection in Victoria Street. As a matter of fact the wing which it to be added susequently will put quite a different complexion on the architecture of this building. Mr. Cohen said that A.W.A.I.A. stands for Architecture Which Awaits Imperative Additions."

44 Tuart Street is a single storey, single room width timber and iron house constructed in the Federation Bungalow style of architecture. The walls are timber framed and clad with timber weatherboards. The roof is hipped and gabled and clad with corrugated iron. The gable end features timber screen and finial. The front door with side and fanlights is recessed with a small separate verandah with corrugated iron roof supported by timber brackets. The asymmetrical front façade has a timber double casement window with a small awning over it. There is a face brick chimney evident. The house is situated at street level. There is a timber picket fence to the front boundary line. he exact date of construction has not been determined as no entry could be found for the lot in the 1899 rate book and there are no rate books for the 1906 to 1920 period. In 1921, the lot was vacant land owned by Emily Boor. By 1931, a house has been built on the lot. It was owned and occupied by Hugh Thomas Shaw. It is thought that 44 Tuart Street was designed by architect Eustace Cohen and built by local contractor, J G Hough. By 1951 ownership had changed to Mrs Dorothy E Thomas who also occupied the premises.

52 Tuart Street is a single storey, brick, rendered masonry and iron house with an asymmetrical facade designed as an example of the Federation Queen Anne style of architecture. The walls are painted brick and rendered masonry. The roof is hipped and clad with corrugated iron. The verandah has a separate corrugated iron bullnose roof and is supported by timber posts with decorative timber brackets. The asymmetrical front façade has a bay window which is expressed in the main roof and verandah roof. There is a rendered chimney with chimney pot evident. There is a brick pillar and timber picket fence to the front boundary line.

The exact date of construction has not been determined as no entry for the lot could be found in the 1899 Rate Book and there are no rate books for the period 1906 to 1920. In 1921, House, 52 Tuart Street was owned and occupied by B Moriarty. One of the boys who lived in the house was Francis Michael Moriarty, who enlisted with the AIF during World War I. Francis died of wounds received in action on 29 August 1918 and his name is on the Bunbury War Memorial. When Aileen and Blue Mountford visited Francis’ grave in 1992/93, they placed some garden soil from the family home at 52 Tuart Street on the grave. (By 1923, Michael and Susanna Moriarty – Francis’ parents – were living in Armadale.) By 1931, ownership of House, 52 Tuart Street had passed to John W Buckman. John F W Hampel was the owner in 1941, at which time Alex McGibbon was the tenant. By 1951, Hampel was living in the house.

59 Tuart Street is a single storey, brick and iron house with a symmetrical facade designed as a simple example of the Federation Queen Anne style of architecture. The walls are face brick. The roof is hipped with double gables to the front elevation and clad with corrugated iron. The gable ends feature decorative timber screens. The side gable has an awning underneath it. The verandah has a separate corrugated iron roof, is supported by timber posts, and extends around the side of the house. There are several rendered corbelled chimneys with chimney pots evident. There is a timber picket fence to the front boundary line.

The exact date of construction has not been determined as no entry for the lot could be found in the 1899 rate book. There are two entries in the 1931 rate book for the lot. One entry was for a house (presumably House, 59 Tuart Street) owned and occupied by Frederick Coles. The other entry was for vacant land owned by Ilina Banting. By 1941, the house was owned by John Bensted of Dardanup and leased by Fred Whitlock. At this time, the house was numbered 9 Tuart Street and there was a second house on the lot. No 7 which was owned and occupied by Ernest Standbury. In 1951, Stanbury still owned No 7 and Mrs Irene Washer King owned No 9 (59 Tuart Street).