''Model Timber Home'' is the name, for heritage-listing purposes, of a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

house in Floreat,

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Designed by Reginald Summerhayes, the plans won a competition for the design of an ideal cheap modern timber-framed home. The house was subsequently built on donated land, using donated materials and labour in 1934.

History

In the 1930s,

's Royal Institute of Architects (RIA) established a Building Revival Campaign, aimed at stimulating the home building industry, which, like all industries, was suffering the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The campaign held a competition for the best design of a modern timber house costing less than £600, and similarly for a brick house. The winner of the timber house section was the Californian Bungalow style design of Reginald Summerhayes, from which ''Model Timber Home'' would be built. Following the competition, the campaign sought donations of land, materials and labour, so that houses might be constructed from the winning designs. A number of offers of land were made, and RIA accepted an offer of two blocks in the first

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rus ...

of the new suburb of Floreat Park (now Floreat). ''Model Timber Home'' was built on one of these blocks in 1934.

Style and condition

It is a

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

weatherboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

home built in the

interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

Californian Bungalow style, with influences of Australian Georgian revival style. It remained in original ownership until recently, and retains many of the original features, including fittings and furnishings. The authenticity extends to the garden, which contains the original fences, gates, pergola, paving, paths and plants. The only loss of authenticity arises from a small extension that was added in the 1970s, which resulted in the loss of one of the original bedrooms.

Heritage significance

The building is significant as one of a small number of architect-designed buildings of the time; as an excellent example of interwar Californian Bungalow style architecture; and as one of the first houses built in Floreat. Also, since Floreat was one of the first Perth suburbs built according to the principles of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

, the entire streetscape has significance as one of the first in Perth to be subject to planning regulations controlling urban design criteria such as setback. Finally, the weatherboard construction is rare in Floreat, as restrictions were later put on its use in construction.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Model Timber Home State Register of Heritage Places in the Town of Cambridge Houses completed in 1934 Houses in Western Australia Bungalow architecture Georgian Revival architecture in Australia 1934 establishments in Australia

History

Style and condition

Heritage significance

See also

References

Further reading

External links