Sunday, June 28, 2015

Rowe Cottage, Mittagong

129 Bong Bong Road Mittagong NSW 2575


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The retired politician activist Peter Garrett has listed his Southern Highlands retreat.

Expressions of Interest Price Guide $3.3 Million
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Classic Federation Features:

  • Wide verandahs with ornamental timber brackets,
  • high 3.5 metre ceilings
  • multiple Bay windows, with coloured glass inserts above,
  • Art Nouveau leadlight, around front door, and above internal arch
  • Bulls-eye window in leadlight glass
  • ornamental interior arch
  • French doors opening to side verandah
  • Pressed metal ceilings
  • picture rails
  • exposed rafters
  • period light fittings
  • timber bench tops in kitchen
  • Palm trees and hedging with cottage Federation garden, and lavender garden at the rear
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The historic Queen Anne Federation Rowe Cottage has undergone extensive renovation since bought (pictured circa 1995) in May 1995 through Peter Shaw First National.
  • The former Midnight Oil frontman paid $531,000 for the 5.8-hectare property and its historic Queen Anne Federation residence, known as Rowe.
  • Soon after the couple bought the property, it was restored in parts and renovated in others, and has since scored a tennis court to go with the cricket pitch, and a separate guest cottage used as a home office by the former education and environment minister.
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Heritage Listed:Rowe Cottage: Renwick Child Welfare Group
Is significant socially and aesthetically within the local community as a purpose-built component of the Renwick Child Welfare Group. Is also significant within the town as a good representative example of an early 20th century residence in the Federation Bungalow style, this significance being enhanced by the intactness of much of the building's original fabric.

Description

Physical description: A single storey Federation Bungalow with facebrick external walls and cement- tile clad, half-gabled roof.
The building features many elements characteristic of its style including:
  • an asymmetrical plan,
  • a low pitched roof with louvered ventilator to half gable and "bell-cast" change of pitch where it continues over the verandah,
  • a "wrap around" verandah to front (north) and part of the side (east) elevations with oversailing rafters, truncated timber posts supported on a masonry balustrade and ornamental timber corner brackets,
  • small, protruding gabled roofs - one over the projecting window bay on the east elevation and one marking the centre (and entry point) of the front (north) elevation (gables are clad with timber shingles),
  • timber framed casement windows grouped (on the north and east elevations) in a bay window assembly of 3 with ornamental, multipaned fanlights above, and
  • a glazed and panelled front door (with side and fanlights) centrally located in the front elevation.
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Modifications and dates: Face brickwork extensions on west, southwest and southern elevations. Cement tiles to roof probably not original.


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This gracious historic Queen Anne Federation home, built between 1908-1910 by a Master craftsman, sits perfectly on private 14.3 acres, yet only an hour from Sydney Airport and minutes from Mittagong and Bowral.


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• Restored with European sensitivity, the generous home features 3.5+m high ceilings in most rooms and a wide, elegant hallway.
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• Enclosed by a wide wrap around verandah, it comprises 4 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (one ensuite), two studies, formal living room with open fireplace and beautiful bay window.
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• A large open plan kitchen, family and dining room with slow combustion fire leads to an inviting wisteria covered terrace on one side and a sunny breakfast deck with views over vineyards on the other.
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• A charming guest cottage with full bathroom and large loft accommodation also houses a north facing office which has options for use as lounge room or additional bedroom.
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• Park-like gardens as well as your own bushland are a wonderful feature of the property providing year round colour and ensuring total privacy.
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• Other features include gas central heating, a spring fed dam, a fruit orchard, animal enclosures, rainwater tanks, formal garden, town water, a full size tennis court, a cricket pitch, three car garaging, intercom and alarm systems.
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Former role

From: Property ObserverJonathan Chancellor | 28 May 2015
Rowe Cottage was among the Mittagong Cottage Homes, established from 1885 by the State Children's Relief Board.
  • They were houses that each held 20 children, ranging in age from infancy to adolescence.
  • The cottages had different functions, as hospitals, disability and truancy institutions, convalescent homes, transit points between foster placements and the reformatory Mittagong Farm School and Training School.
  • More than 30,000 state children passed through the cottages.
  • The Mittagong Cottage Homes had an important role in the New South Wales Government's child welfare system.
  • Mittagong, it was argued, had a healthy climate which enabled children to gain health and strength and education, surrounded by good farming land, which provided the food necessary to run the homes.
  • Their programmes included orcharding, dairying, general farming, tailoring, bootmaking, carpentry, poultry and pig farming.

The Mittagong Cottage Homes Area

Two nearby early 19th century Crown land grants in the area went to Robert Plumb and one to John Thomas Wilson. On these lands the Southwood Estate was established and came under the ownership of Stephen John Pearson and John Douse Langley.
  • The western half of the Southwood Estate was subdivided in 1886.
  • The balance of the estate including the eastern side (approximately 397 acres) was purchased by the government in 1907 for use as a farm for delinquent boys.
  • This land along with some later purchases became the Mittagong Farm Homes (later Renwick Home). By 1918 Renwick was 427 acres. (Tanner 2005)

The Mittagong Cottage Homes Area is the site of various NSW Government institutions, including the former Mittagong Cottage Homes, Mittagong Farm Home, Mittagong Training Home and Renwick Child Welfare Homes. It was used continuously as a government child welfare institution, on the cottage system, from 1896 until 1994. The area is on Bong Bong Road, bounded by Old Hume Highway and Old South Road, and includes Renwick Drive. The NSW Government sold the site in 1994.

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Suttor House: Renwick Child Welfare Group

Is significant socially and aesthetically within the local community as an early purpose-built component of the Renwick Child Welfare Group. 
Is also significant within the town as a representative example of an early 20th century Federation Bungalow residence, this significance due in large measure to the intact original form and detail of the main elevations but compromised somewhat by the size of subsequent additions. 
A single storey Federation Bungalow with face brickwork external walls and a corrugated steel clad, half-gabled roof. 
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Insitutionalising children

In the 19th century there were several large institutions operating as orphanages and reform schools in the colony of NSW. These included the Female Orphan School (1801 - 1850), the Male Orphan School (1818 - 1850), Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children (1852 -1916) and the Protestant Orphan School (1850 - 1886). In the 1870s Judge Winderer headed a Royal Commission on Public Charities and its two reports of 1873 and 1874 advocated a 'boarding-out' or fostering system rather than the large orphanages of the day. This boarding-out system was similar in many respects to modern day foster-care. The State Children's Relief Board, which was constituted by Parliament in 1881 to remove children from orphanages and place them in foster care.

However some children were considered to need different forms of care because they were crippled, mentally disabled and or suffering from disease. In his second Annual Report, Dr Arthur Renwick, Chair of the Board, advocated for special cottages to be established for the care of these children. Early in 1885, four Cottage Homes were established: two at Pennant Hills and one each at Picton and Mittagong.
  • Mittagong soon became a popular place to send unwell children, as it provided, 'a wholesome country environment essential for building up their health'. Some children attended the local school, others only convalesced. Soon there were six cottages around Mittagong. (Downie 2013)

Mittagong Farm Home

By 1886, Dr Renwick was advocating the purchase of a farm which would provide milk, fruit and vegetables that the children needed. He also advocated that the cottages should be purpose built for the children. Thus in 1896, 100 acres of the 'Southwood Estate' (on which there stood a commodious cottage) were leased for a five year period. (Downie 2013)

A superintendent's cottage (Is this Rowe Cottage?) was constructed in 1910 and remained in use until 1966, when it was extended to allow accommodation for boys.

References

Monday, June 8, 2015

Federation Bay Windows

Federation Bay Windows

[previous page: 2-Storey Federation next page: Federation Floor and Path Tiling]

Cosiness with Light:


Bay Windows

  • Bay windows became a hugely popular feature of Queen Anne residential architecture in theBritish Isles from about the 1870s and hold a continuous appeal up to this day.
Bay window with arch but no window seat
Bay window with arch but no window seat

  • Bay windows are used to increase the flow of natural light into a building, thereby also making a room appear larger, and to provide views of the outside which would be unavailable with an ordinary flat window.[5]
A beautiful, complex bay window at 6 Buena Vista Avenue  Clifton Gardens, has become a conversation nook
A beautiful, complex bay window at 6 Buena Vista Avenue Clifton Gardens, has become a conversation nook

The bay window as a nook for taking tea, at 6 Buena Vista Avenue  Clifton Gardens
The bay window as a nook for taking tea, at 6 Buena Vista Avenue Clifton Gardens
Bay windows were a popular feature in many period and Federation-style homes.Bay windows project out from the wall and extend to the ground. 

What is a bay window?

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A bay window is a series of windows assembled in a polygon shape that project outward from the face of a house.- Source: Aust Window Association FAQs

Generally composed of three individual windows with the side units at 45 degree or 30 degree angles to the wall. -Source - Stegbar
An "angle bay window" refers to the angle of departure from the plane of the wall. Source: Language of Windows

A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Wikipedia

bow window is a curved bay window. Bow windows are designed to create space by projecting beyond the exterior wall of a building, and to provide a wider view of the garden or street outside and typically combine four or more casement windows, which join together to form an arch.


Bay Windows from Freepedia

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Oriel window above, and bay window below at Devon, Martin Road, Centennial Park


In 1894 the UK Building Act changed the regulations, so that windows no longer had to be flush with the exterior wall. This enabled windows to stand proud from the facade. 

The late Victorian and Edwardian period took advantage of the change in new building regulations and now presented their windows in bays. Medium and larger houses would often display double bay or bow windows. 

A bay window creates the illusion of a larger room. It also maximizes the amount of light entering a room and offers a dryer alternative to a balcony.

A bay window extrudes from a main exterior wall, forming a space framed by three or more windows. The space may be square, polygonal, or round depending on the type of structure. Traditional bay windows are built with inside angles of 90, 135 and 150 degrees, although there are many custom variations.
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History of Bay Windows

from: ehow.co.uk
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Unusual double bay-windows in Haberfield

Bay windows can be found in architecture dating back to the early English Renaissance, where the idea is thought to have come from large bay rooms placed at the ends of great halls in mansions and castles.
Unusual double bay-windows in Haberfield

A surge in popularity is most notable during the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. In England, bay windows came back into style after the London Building Act of 1894 allowed a change in building regulations requiring windows to be flush with exterior walls. At the same time, bay windows began showing up in America, and became rampant in the West during the California Gold Rush.

Box Bay Window

A box bay uses a 90-degree angle to form a protruding box shape. Traditional box styles have a large bay or double-paned window flanked by a smaller window on each side. A sitting area or shelves may be added to the interior. Box bay structures are often found in kitchens as garden windows.
bay window
bay window
Curved bay window
Curved bay window
Box window
Box window

Bow Window

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Randwick Oriel bay window

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8 Crescent Street Haberfield
A bow window is a softer variation of the normally angular bay window. Four or more paned segments follow a rounded semicircle pattern.

These types of windows showed up during the Georgian period and became fashionable in Regency-style architecture. Bow windows were popular additions to English country homes because it made a person feel outdoors while in the comfort of the home.

Circle Bay Window

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A circle bay structure is a more extreme version of the bow window, joining a combination of windows together into a smooth circular area. They are often wrapped around building corners.

Circle bay windows came into vogue during the Gothic era and are popular in master bedroom suites, living rooms, and dining nooks.

Oriel Window

Oriel windows are rounded window structures built on the upper levels of a building. They are usually supported by brackets or corbels and do not reach ground level.

They originated with the idea of creating an upper-level porch area. Oriel windows became popular during the Gothic Revival and are often found in Arabian architecture, where they are called mashrabiyas.

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Haberfield Arts and Craft projecting Window
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Randwick Bay Window

Addenbrooke Interior showing large bay window and windows seating
Addenbrooke Interior showing large bay window and windows seating

Window seat in bay window at 16 Bradleys Head Road Mosman
Window seat in bay window at 16 Bradleys Head Road Mosman

Addenbrooke window seat in a large bay window, obscured by the breakfast table setting
Addenbrooke window seat in a large bay window, obscured by the breakfast table setting


Window seats

window seat is a miniature sofa without a back, intended to fill the recess of a window.

  • In the latter part of the 18th century, when tall narrow sash windows were almost universal, the window seat was in high favor.
  • A window seat is a seating area in an alcove or nook that is lined with windows.
  • These seating areas have romantic associations, as many people idealize the sense of luxury and spare time that they suggest.
  • Typically, the seat is installed in an area with an attractive view, so that someone seated in it can enjoy the beauty of the outdoors while working on a project that requires natural light, such as knitting.
  • Such seats are also used for reading or simply enjoying a respite from daily life.[6]
  • A bay window is a natural spot for a window seat.

12 Coogee Bay Road Randwick NSW
12 Coogee Bay Road Randwick NSW

Addenbrooke Interior showing a window seat in a bay window
Addenbrooke Interior showing a window seat in a bay window
Window seat with corner fireplace at 18 Prince Albert Street Mosman
Window seat with corner fireplace at 18 Prince Albert Street Mosman