Terrace House: 195 Adderley Street, West Melbourne. Victoria

This is a great little freestanding terrace on the fringe of Melbourne’s CBD which shows a free spirited approach to design.  The house is rich in textures, materials and ornament.  There are even cherub statuettes on the party walls, something quite rare for Australian terrace houses.  The terrace has an intricate “Hawthorn brick” facade.  Refined details focused on the chimney, cornice and party walls.

A small but prominent gable pediment complete with an elaborate cartouche substitutes for a parapet and draws the eye to the compact slate tile roof rather than hides it.  The chimney is central to the hipped roof, adding significant height to the terrace’s appearance.  Below the roof is a stunning cornice with a frieze composed of elaborate corbels, floral emblems and festoons.  The verandah’s corrugated iron roof adds interest and texture as it slopes forward.

The mouldings on the party walls are particularly notable.  The top of which are shaped like breaking waves with similarly curved smooth corbels beneath the floral moulding on the front.   More elaborate corbels support the floor ends which are also decorated with floral emblems.  Immediately below the gable pediment is a woodwork frieze with a combination of cast iron and wooden inserts supported by cast iron brackets on either side.  There is a simple cast iron lace frieze below the iron lacework of the balcony.

There is polychromatic brickwork simulating quoins and voussoirs around the windows and doors. Both floors feature generous windows, the ground floor windows project in a large faceted bay.

I’m not certain of the date or architect, however the Queen Anne influence and elaborate details would tend to indicate that it was built at the peak of the land boom – perhaps around 1889.

This house is covered by a City of Melbourne heritage overlay HO3.