16 Fullagar Road, Wentworthville  

War Service Homes Group
Inter-War bungalow
Constructed: 1920
Listings: Holroyd Heritage Study 1993; Holroyd Heritage Review 1998; Heritage Conservation Area 2 - Fullagar Road Conservation Area; RAIA Register of Twentieth Century Buildings of Significance

Statement of Significance

The Fullagar Road War Service Homes Group has local and state significance as the largest and most intact representative example of Inter-War service homes and provides evidence of contemporary social and architectural attitudes to housing service personnel in the years immediately following WWI.

The buildings are significant individually and as a group as fine and largely intact examples of Inter-War Georgian style constructed in quality materials with good layouts and style. This group is one of the earliest War Service Homes estates so far to the west of Sydney and one of the few groups which were constructed in this distinctive style.

Recommendations

This group of War Service Homes should be retained intact on the LEP. The group is significant for the integrity and quality of the style, form and detailing of the buildings and their integrity as a group. There should therefore be no redevelopment within the group which impacts on this integrity particularly from the streetscape quality. There should be no roof additions allowed or any modifications which alters either the visible facades or the form or fabric of the roofs.

Those buildings in the group which are face brick should remain unpainted or unrendered. There should be no modifications to either the classical detailing or fenestrations to the front of the buildings. Additions could be allowed at the rear of the houses but proposals should be consistent with the character of the building and existing fabric.

Description

The subject building is part of the War Service Group of 6-38 Fullagar Road, Wentworthville. The group has two distinct styles - the first are rendered with classical details, the second are face brick with Federation details. This building is the latter. It is a face brick bungalow featuring a front verandah and gable roof with a hipped projection at the front clad in red terracotta roof tiles.

The main roof features a centrally located face brick chimney and the gable ends are finished with weatherboards. The main roof extends to cover the verandah and is supported on paired timber columns with lattice detailing on brick columns. The facades feature multi-paned timber casement windows with painted cement heads and bullnose brick sills.

The front door features glazed panels. The main roof also extends over a rear section which features some FC cladding. The house is set back from the front boundary which features a hedge and wire fence and gate and bounds a mature garden.

Across the street is a group of Victorian and modern residences. To both sides of the building are other War Service Homes.

Modifications / Condition

The building is intact and in good condition, retaining all of its original style. There have been no additions or modifications externally.

History

The subject property formed part of the 1065 acre Government Domain which was subdivided into 20 and 50 acre allotments from 1859. In 1859 William Fullagar purchased over 37 acres of this land in addition to large areas of present day Westmead and Wentworthville. Fullagar was the son of ex-convicts who opened the Star Inn near Ettalong Road, and cattleyards in the Wentworth Estate in 1845. From 1888 Edwin Latty, a Fruit Grower, occupied the area. In 1914 Frederick Purdy purchased the land.

In 1920 the land along Fullagar Road was subdivided and purchased by the War Service Homes Commission, and the present property boundaries were formed. The Commission was established in 1919 specifically to construct houses and provide loans at low interest rates for returned soldiers. The Commission purchased large areas of land in suburban Sydney during and by 1920 a group scheme on Fullagar Road was completed.

The houses constructed by the Commission had a distinct style based on Colonial Revival and Californian Bungalow designs. During the 1920s and early 1930s the Sands Directory lists Clyde Young in occupation of the house and indicates a dramatic increase in the settlement in the area. In 1976 the property was transferred to Young's widow.

 

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