Terrace Houses: 92-95 Howard Street, North Melbourne. Victoria

I find this short row of five unnamed Edwardian terraced houses very interesting.   Firstly because Edwardian terraces are rare in Melbourne and this is an intriguing example as it has some pretty unusual design elements for a  Melbourne terrace.    The way that the end terrace sports a variation in design and faces in a different direction adds significant asymmetry, interest and intrigue to an otherwise symmetrical row of houses.   The row marches up the slight incline of Howard Street not unlike a row of Sydney terraces, but so discretely you almost wouldn’t notice.  The fins of the roof are exposed are also much more akin to Sydney Victorian era terraces than Melbourne.  The striking red brick form of the walls, terracotta tiled gable roofs with their row of ridge capping and picturesque chimneys dotted with rows of squat pots set it apart from the majority Victorian Italianate terraces in the area.

Above the windows at the first floor of each house are stucco flat wedge mouldings, adding some interest, however most of these have been removed and some windows have shutters added.  The party wall steps back down into the wall and then emerges again to frame single storey verandahs which have exposed high pitch corrugated iron roofs.  The most interesting aspect of the verandahs, however is the frieze of wood fretwork pattern which has art noveau influences.  On either side there is a turned wood post, with one also in the middle.  The green, cream and red scheme appears to be original although the paint is fading on some of the iron roofs.

The end terrace has a fully timbered verandah including a variation of the fretwork design, possibly a deliberate move to make it the more grand house in the row.

Although the City of Melbourne has heritage listed them (barely with the lowest grading possible), information on is scant.  The style places their construction date somewhere between 1900-15, but an exact date and architect could be almost impossible to ascertain.