City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYBaptists who had briefly occupied the district before trying their luck on the goldfields. Tylerwas said to have been the first to build a substantial house in the district. Edward Wood alsopurchased land and commenced farming, as well as opening his store on the corner of Woodand High Streets. His bluestone store became the centre of the local community.Another early centre of farming was the Goodwin subdivision of small farms in the areabounded by Dundas, High and Bell Streets and the Merri Creek. Goodwin’s house OakoverHall is the only one left of the few large houses built in the district in this era. The smallfarmers built modest cottages, usually of timber, and a few remain in Plenty Road near GowerStreet (Carroll & Rule, 1985:25-7; Forster 1968:20-4; Summerton, 1997:15).Figure 40 Oakover Hall, 1975Photographer:John T. Collins[National Trust (Victoria),FN: b3716]5.3 Developing the suburban idealNineteenth century ‘boom time’As noted in Chapter 2, much of the land within Darebin was subdivided and offered for saleduring Melbourne’s land boom in the late nineteenth century. Although Darebin was poorlyserved by transport systems in the 1880s, much of central Northcote was built on during theseyears. Preston also joined in the land boom with enthusiasm, with 25 estates on offer, mostly inthe central area south of Tyler Street. The arrival of the railway in 1889 stimulated sales, andby 1891 Preston’s population had risen from 2054 to 3568. According to Carroll, newresidents were mainly newly-weds moving out from Fitzroy, Collingwood and Northcote.They rented, built or bought simple timber double-fronted Victorian villas or single-frontedcottages. However, by the end of the boom many of the blocks in the estates remainedunoccupied, and only the south central part of Preston had begun to take on a suburbancharacter (Carroll, 1985:69-71).Mansions and middle class villasBelleview Park Estate bounded by James Street in the south and Westbourne Grove was soldin 1884, and the part facing High Street was acquired for the new Northcote Borough’scivic precinct. Belleview Park Estate and the higher parts of Northcote nearby attracted peoplein the skilled trades, professional and business classes and civil servants. They built orpurchased Victorian terraces and villa houses. Grandview in Prospect Grove was built bybutcher William Smith, who established one of Northcote’s leading bacon factories. In thesame street, Olinda, was built by William Swift, the town clerk of Northcote Borough.Frederick Harris, who owned one of Northcote’s brick and pottery works, built Barunah, theItalianate mansion on the corner of Dundas and Newcastle streets. When the boom collapsedthe demand for building materials ended and Harris’ company, the Builders Brick and TileSupply Co. went into liquidation. Their brickworks site in South Preston was only redeveloped69