City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYFigure 42Workers cottages,Northcote Place(image dateunknown)[DHE, ID 468]On the lower slopes of Rucker’s hill pairs of brick cottages and terraces, such as at 5-11 ClarkeStreet, housed trades people and clerical workers. (Lemon, 1983:80; Butler 1992) Workers’houses also provided investment income to local businessmen, such as the dye-works ownerWilliam Lawrence, who built five timber workers cottages in Westgarth Street and rented themout. Four of them still exist (Butler, 1992).In Preston small groups of worker’s cottages were built in streets running off Plenty Road andHigh Street close to the brickworking and tanning industries that established there in the latenineteenth century. In 1890, the South Preston Brick and Tile Co. built houses for its workersin Raglan Street adjacent to the brick kilns.Twentieth century recoveryEconomic recovery and the provision of improved transport facilities brought a new era ofsuburban development to Darebin in the new century. Once again people started moving outfrom the crowded inner northern suburbs and a new wave of suburban development began. By1914, Northcote’s growth was sufficient for the municipality to be raised in status, and theCity of Northcote was proclaimed in April.Figure 43Celebrations in HighStreet, Northcote for theproclamation of the City ofNorthcote, 27 May 1914[DHE, ID 805]As previously noted, Preston experienced phenomenal growth during the 1920s and within thefour years from 1922 to 1926, Preston was raised from a shire, through the stages of Boroughand Town to the City of Preston, proclaimed on 14 July 1926.Developing working class suburbsThe improvements to transport systems by the early twentieth century encouraged thedevelopment of new estates in Northcote in the early decades of the twentieth century. On theRailway Department’s new subdivision at Westgarth, William Lawrence built four workers71