The Smith Home, Templestowe 1890 (134-136 Atkinson Street, Doncaster)
Jimmy Smith was eighteen years old when he arrived in Melbourne. Three years earlier his elder brothers had come to Bulleen and settled on Duncan's Flat. The brothers sent back news of the rich grazing land along the river flats, encouraging their parents to come to Australia. In 1857, they left their home in Inverness Shire and boarded the “Morning Light" for the long journey to their new home. Now Jimmy was on his way to Templestowe with his parents and younger children. |
| The Smith Home 1890 |
Twelve years later, when James Smith was married, the Smith family was well-established with large land holdings in the district. The family continued, to prosper, playing a large part in the life of the district. By 1934, when a reunion of the Smith family was held, 450 descendants of John and Elizabeth, the original parents, were located.
Jimmy married Eliza, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Hicks. The Hicks were one of our earliest pioneers. They came from Cornwall in 1841 to settle in Templestowe.
James and Eliza lived in a hut in Atkinson Street, east of Anderson Street. The hut was built of bark and red gum slabs. The slabs were offcuts from trees which had been cut down for timber to make wheel felloes and other sections for bullock drays. Magnificent red gum trees grew along the rolling flats of Templestowe. Like many others, James Smith sold timber as he cleared the land for farming. As logs were squared, offcuts about eight feet long were left. These were stood upright to form the walls of the hut. As these slabs were uneven in width, bark was nailed over the gaps.
James planted an orchard, but because of pests this was not successful. The land was ideal for dairying and milk was in demand, so a dairy herd was built up and eventually the trees were cut down.
As James and Eliza's family grew, the solid red gum hut was added to with well-built weatherboard rooms. The old kitchen remained the living centre of the house. Here in front of the large stone fireplace the family lived and the children played. On wet days, their favourite game was rolling a large glass marble across the red gum floor into a knot hole on the other side of the room.
At milking time in the evenings, the mother and the two eldest girls went out to the sheds to milk the herd of thirty to forty cows. Beatrice, the next eldest, was left to look after the younger children and the baby. Her method of keeping them occupied was ingenious. Beatrice would hold concerts and speech contests, following procedure she had seen in the Templestowe Hall. When called on to give their performance, the children stood on a seat cut from a red gum log. Beatrice would write a program and if anyone was slow in taking their place they were struck off the list. This would cause an outcry. Often the children would be carried away with excitement and the noise would be deafening. Sometimes the mother would rush back from the cow bails to see what it was all about. Finding all was well she would look at the baby. There amid all the noise of this crowded kitchen, baby Alex would be sound asleep in his corner by the fire.
By 1889, the family was growing too big for the old kitchen. Stores were kept in the ceiling and were reached by steps on the wall. Utensils were all hung on the walls, for the children filled the floor area. Whenever anything had to be moved, everyone had to get up and move out of the way.
James Smith decided to build a new house. This was boom time and houses were being built that were larger and more elaborate than previous orchard homes. James' elder brothers had built two-storey mansion along Bulleen Road. One called "Ben Nevis" is still standing near the corner of Thompsons Road. The other was closer to Doncaster Road.
James, in the spirit of the times, commissioned Melbourne's leading firm of architects, Reed and Barnes, to build his new home. The firm that Joseph Reed founded is still in existence, now called Bates, Smart, McCutcheon. This year they are celebrating their 120th anniversary. Joseph Reed designed most of Melbourne's important buildings at that time. Nearly twenty of his buildings have been given National Trust classifications.
His success was due to hard work and ability to design in all the fashionable styles of the age. This was a time when style was considered all-important. The educated man of the nineteenth century learnt the arbitrary rules of such styles as Gothic, Classical and Italian Renaissance. An example of Reed's versatility can be seen in one block of Collins Street. The Independent Church, Scots Church, The Baptist Church, and the Melbourne Town Hall are all completely different in style. Joseph Reed did far more than merely follow rules, for his buildings expressed the essential quality of their purpose. The Exhibition Building by its design and massing of form has grandeur and magnificence typical of the spirit of 1880. Wesley Church in Lonsdale Street has a quiet religious feeling in contrast to the carnival atmosphere of the Eastern Market. Here Reed used new building techniques made possible by technological advances of the age. In the Smith house at Templestowe, with its wide verandahs and bold horizontal line, Reed has given his version of a gentleman's country homestead.
James Smith's new home is an elegant Italianesque house symmetrically planned with two bay windows and wide surrounding verandahs. Like all Reed's buildings there are no blank areas but decoration is restrained. The house is built of timber with imitation stone boarding. At the corners, 1 1/2 thick timber panels form imitation corner stones. Well-proportioned panels, are placed under the windows, on the doors and on the chimneys. An elaborate design of cast iron decorates the verandah and originally was also along the roof ridges. Decorative brackets line the eaves and are repeated on the chimney. The wind baffles on the chimneys are decorated with a motif repeating the cast iron design. The house has the usual simple plan of a passage down the centre of six main rooms, with a skillion at the rear joining a wide verandah around the front and sides where children enjoyed playing on rainy days.
The elegance and generous proportions of the exterior were carried inside the house. At the entrance a wider section of the passage was separated from the rear by a plaster arch and red velvet curtains. Decorative plaster enriched the well-proportioned rooms with their fourteen foot ceilings and the dining room fireplace flanked by a built-in sideboard was decorated with a waterfall painted on wooden panels.
The house is skilfully designed with clever use of proportions. The verandah sweeps right across in a strong horizontal line accentuating the width, while the bay windows carry right up through the verandah roof accentuating the height. The total effect is a house greater than its size.
Irvine Green A.I.A.P. writing in 1972 11 DTHS Newsletter
Victorian Heritage
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| Of regional historical significance for its associations with the Smith family, and of architectural significance as an externally intact example of an Italianate villa rare in its locality (more commonly found in inner suburbs such as Hawthorn). Victorian Heritage |
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| Timber house, typical of 1890's detailed in imitation of stone work, with bay windows and verandah on three sides with cast iron decoration. Victorian Heritage |
National Trust Classification - Smith Home and Fisch Home
Two houses have been put on the National Trust's Recorded List. This means that in the Trust’s View they contribute to the heritage of Australia and their preservation is to be encouraged.They are the Smith home at the corner of Atkinson and Clarke Streets, Templestowe, and the home of Mrs. Fisch, Falcon Court, Doncaster.
The Smith home was built by James Smith in 1890. The official citation describes it as a timber house typical of the 1890's, detailed in imitation stonework, with bay windows and verandah on three sides with cast iron decoration. James Smith came to Templestowe in 1857. His family played an important part in the development of the district. He was a member of the Shire of Bulleen and was twice elected to the Shire of Templestowe being Shire President from 1909 to 1912.
1973 08 DTHS Newsletter
See recent house through Google Street View of 134-136 Atkinson Street, Doncaster
Real Estate View of House at Sale in 2003:
DP0229 | Title: Smith house | Brief Description: Photograph of the house built for James Smith in 1890 in Atkinson Street. Known as 'Sunnyside Farm', it is recorded by the National Trust. Now on little more than half an acre, the house was sold by auction in October 1998 for $540,000. A feature article on the property appeared in the local newspaper at the time. The house has nice iron lace along the verandah which runs along three sides of the house, as well as along the ridge of the roof. James Smith died c1920. (Photograph mounted with caption) | Place: Templestowe | Date: 1890 | Storage Location: Archives room filing cabinet | Publication Name: Photograph | Size: 18 x 24cm | Condition: Good | Condition Date: 17/11/1998 | Subjects: Smith, James|Sunnyside Farm|Atkinson Street|Scanned images
Smith house
(or Sunnyside Farm) 134-136 Atkinson Street,(cor.Williamson Rd), Templestowe (173.15)
A symmetrical, hip-roofed, timber, Italianate house with a skillion verandah extending around three sides. Two symmetrical canted bays (facing Atkinson St) with their own hip- roofs project into the verandah. The verandah has cast-iron posts and a timber valance rail, decorated with cast-iron lace panels and brackets. The eaves cornice has panels be- tween bracket pairs, and the chimneys have dividers over a bracketted cornice. The main entrance has side and fan lights. There is a recent catenary curved timber picket fence.
The house was built for James Smith in 1890(3) The Smiths were a large dairy farming family (James' brother George built 'Ben Nevis').
The house was designed by the office of Reed, Henderson and Stuart(4), a major Melbourne architectural fInn.
Architecturally, this building can be compared to (for example) site nos. 173.26;
173.35; 173.36; 174.18; 174.4
Of regional historical significance for its associations with the Smith family, and of architectural significance as an externally intact example of an Italianate villa rare in this locality (more commonly found in inner suburbs such as Hawthorn).
3. Listing citation. Register of the National Estate,
4. Listing citation, Register of the National Estate states that Joseph Reed was the architect; however, Reed designed very few houses, and died in 1890.
City of Doncaster and Templestowe Heritage Study 1991 Richard Peterson.
http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/file/26126/download
Smith House, 134-136 Atkinson St, Templestowe, VIC, Australia
Photographs NoneList Register of the National Estate (Non-statutory archive)
Class Historic
Legal Status Indicative Place
Place ID 15718
Place File No 2/15/017/0011
Nominator's Statement of Significance
Primary Nominator:
Timber house, typical of 1890s, detailed in imitation of stone work, with bay windows and verandah on three sides with cast iron decoration.
Secondary nominator:
Of regional historical significance for its associations with the Smith family and of architectural significance as an externally intact example of an Italianate villa rare in this locality (more commonly found in inner suburbs such as Hawthorn).
Official Values Not Available
Description
Primary Nominator:
An elegant Italianesque house symmetrically planned with two bay windows and wide surrounding verandahs. Like all Reed's buildings there are no blank areas, but decoration is restrained. The house is built of timber with imitation stone boarding. At the corners, 1.5in thick timber panels from imitation corner stones. Well proportioned panels are placed under the windows on the doors and on the chimneys. An elaborate design of cast iron decorates the verandah and originally was also along the roof ridges. Decorative brackets line the eaves and are repeated on the chimney. The wind baffles on the chimneys are decorated with a motif repeating the cast iron design. The house has the usual simple plan of a passage down the centre of six main rooms, with a skillion at the rear joining a wide verandah around the front and sides where children enjoy playing on rainy days. The elegance and generous proportions of the exterior were carried inside the house. At the entrance a wider section of the passage was separated from the rear by a plaster arch and red velvet curtains. Decorative plaster enriched the well proportioned rooms with their fourteen foot ceilings and the dining room fireplace, flanked by a built in side board, was decorated with a waterfall painted on wooden panels. The house is skilfully designed with clever use of proportions. The verandah sweeps right across in a strong horizontal line accentuating the width, while the bay windows carry right up through the verandah roof accentuating the height. The total effect is a house greater than its size.
Secondary nominator:
The house was built for James Smith in 1890. The Smiths were a large dairy farming family (James' brother, George built Ben Nevis). The house was designed by the office of Reed, Henderson and Stuart, a major Melbourne architectural firm.
History Not Available
Condition and Integrity
Primary Nominator:
The present owner has renovated the house which is now painted white.
Location
134-136 Atkinson Street, corner Williamsons Road, Templestowe.
Bibliography
City of Doncaster and Templestowe, Heritage Study, General Report
prepared for the City of Doncaster and Templestowe, Jointly funded by
the City of Doncaster and Templestowe and the NEGP, August 1991.
Australian Heritage Database
Re-farmhouse at 15 Glendale Avenue Templestowe
By reference to Melway Street directory, it appears this property is part of Crown allotment 1 of section 13 Parish of Bulleen.
Disregarding the earlier title (which commences in 1853):
In 1872, James Smith of Templestowe, farmer, purchased 98 acres, being Crown allotments 2, 6, 7 and 10 and part of Crown allotment AIIA 1 Section 13 for £750 .
On 31 Dec 1918, in consideration of the natural love and affection which he bears towards his sons, he conveyed the same 98 acres to Colin Victor Smith and William Alexander Smith of Templestowe, farmers.
James Smith's original home Sunnyside still stands at the corner of Clark Street and Atkinson Street.
On 31/12/1918, Colin Victor Smith and William Alexander Smith agreed to a partition of the 98 acres with the former taking the land marked “A” and the latter taking the land marked “B” on the plan.
14 February 1922, the following entries from the rate book of the Shire of Doncaster for the Templestowe Riding show:
- - No. 686 - William A Smith of Templestowe, orchardist, cottage, orchard, 50 acres, Lots 6, 7, 10 Section 13 - £150
- - No. 687 - Colin V Smith of Templestowe, orchardist, cottage, orchard, 50 acres, Lots 6, 7, 10 Section 13 - £140
Presumably 15 Glendale Avenue Templestowe was built for Colin Victor Smith prior to 1922.
In 1921. Sunnyside farm was converted from a “General Law Title” to a title under the Transfer of Land Act (“Torrens Title”). It was valued at £3600.
There were two titles issued: Land marked “A” = Volume 4403 Folio 478; Land marked “B” = Volume 4403 Folio 479.
These titles can be viewed free of charge at the public records office of Victoria North Melbourne (need link).
Ken Smith, 2022
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