148-150 Peel Street. Windsor, Victoria

This pair of two storey Victorian terrace is typical of the sort located near many railway stations in Melbourne.  Located very close to the Victorian era Windsor railway station it is, however, unfortunately situated – wedged as it is between a large 1960s Telstra exchange and a block of 60s flats (which presumably at some stage removed other terraces like it from the streetscape) as well as obscured by a large paperbark tree and large powerlines.

The terraces at Peel Street have a plain parapet hiding a pair of gable roofs.  They share a red brick chimney with metal pots which is barely visible above the parapet.  The corrugated iron verandah has some cast iron lacework in the form of spaced thin vertical panels, but one of the terraces (148) is missing its fringe lace and brackets on both levels.  The party walls are bare with the exception of some classical corbels.

I’m not sure of the date, however the subdued style would indicate that these are possibly late 1870s or early 1880s.  Most likely built around the same time as the station buildings as modest speculative housing.

I was quite suprised to find that despite their rarity the City of Stonnington does not rate these terraces.  There are no heritage controls protecting them from demolition.  To be honest, I’m very suprised they have survived this long but it would be a shame to lose this standalone example in an area where significant numbers of terraces like this were lost during the widening of the area around St Kilda Junction and Chapel Street to create nearby Dandenong Road in the 1960s.