Australian terraced housing that survived and thrived

Terraced housing was introduced to Australia in the C19th, the design work being based on the architecture of terraces in London and Paris. Rows of terraced houses became common in the inner suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, mostly built between 1855 and the 1890. The populat­ion boom was caused by the Victorian and New South Wales gold rushes of the 1850s and only finished with an economic depression in the early 1890s.

Sydney has some of Australia’s oldest terraced housing houses, a feature of the city from the 1830s on. The Horbury Terrace (1836), which is a Georgian terrace that's now been reused as offices and it is listed on the NSW Heritage Register. Susannah Place (1844) is one of the earliest still surviving. Hortonbridge Terrace, a grand triple storey row of five houses, was built in 1890. Inner city suburbs where terrace housing remains include The Rocks, Paddington, Bondi, Glebe, Surry Hills and Darlinghurst.

Due to Sydney's higher population density, the sandstone terrace houses could have more storeys. Early Georgian style sandstone terraces exhibited regional variations, especially since Sydney’s hills meant that many of the terraces were staggered up hills rather than level or uniform. Sydney terraces were more likely to make a feature of the roof than their Melbourne counterparts, often featuring high pitched windows with dormer windows, but with much shorter, plainer chimneys. Building rules from 1838 required party walls to be raised above the corrugated iron roofline which helped define the Sydney style. The terraces were often built right up to the property line, with cantilevered verandas and no parapet.

As housing developed, verandas became typically Australian as a way of shading the house. From the mid-C19th on, families also loved their verandas to be decorated with iron lacework, often displaying Australian fauna and flora. In contrast to the British practice of having dozens of houses built as a single hous­ing estate, Sydney normally built a short run of houses eg Castle Terrace in Padd­ing­ton.

Melbourne suburbs such as Albert Park, Fitzroy, Carlton, Parkville and East Melbourne were eventually subjected to strict heritage over­lays, to preserve what was left of these streetscapes. The earliest surviving terrace house in Melbourne was Glass Terrace in Gertrude St Fitzroy (1853–4). Royal Terrace in Nicholson St Fitzroy was only slightly younger and is the oldest surviving complete row.

Terraced housing in Melbourne ranged from expensive middle-class houses of two or three storeys, down to single-storey cottages in working-class suburbs. The most common building material used was brick, often covered with stucco. Many terraces were built in the Filigree style, a style using heavy cast iron ornament on the balconies.

Tasma Terrace was built in Parliament Place and St Andrews Place in East Melbourne. Once comprising seven 3-storey buildings, Tasma Terrace was constructed in two stages. The first three buildings were erected in 1878-78 by architect William Ireland for George Nipper, grain merchant and ship-owner. Due to financial difficulties, Mr Nipper had to sell the terrace in 1885 and move into the Windsor Hotel! So the remaining four buildings were constructed in 1886-87 by Dunton and Hearnden for Joseph Thompson, bookmaker and racehorse owner.

The second architect was Charles Webb. This distinguished British born architect also designed the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School (1856), Church of Christ in Swanston Street (1863), Wesley College (1864), the Royal Arcade (1869), the Alfred hospital (1869), Toorak’s Mandeville Hall (1876), the South Melbourne Town Hall (1879) and the iconic The Windsor Hotel (1884).

Castle Terrace in Paddington,  Sydney

Dorset Terrace, Launceston

North Terrace, Adelaide

Tasma Terrace, East Melbourne

Tasma one of the finest boom style terrace architectural works in Melbourne, having a three storey rendered brick structure with bluestone basement and a stunning two storey cast iron veranda. From the beginning, Tasma Terrace was used for rented accommodation and for up-market guest houses. It was customary for many women to conduct boarding houses back then; the name Tasma was associated first with the Nipper family residence in 1905 when Elizabeth Gow created the private hotel, Tasma Guest House. Tasma Terrace’s proximity to the city made it ideal accommodation for movers and shakers.

By the early 1970s all six remaining Tasma buildings were a bit derelict and there were plans to demolish the lot. Although one of the buildings had already been demolished in 1940, Tasma Terrace became the subject of a major preservation battle from 1970-72, led by the National Trust. Thankfully the campaign resulted in the government enacting legisl­ation in 1972 which established the govern­ment buildings advisory council and the nation’s first legislation for the preservation of historic buildings. However the three-storey rear wings, which comprised many small rooms used as bedrooms for the guest houses, kitchens, staff rooms and bathrooms could not be saved.

In 1979 the façade was restored to its original C19th shape. The fine decorative cast iron, with its Australian motifs, was saved. The oak wood grain effect of the front doors is a reproduction of the original finish. The ground floor verandas are paved with UK tiles. There are many surviving Victorian interior elements including heavily modelled cornices, high ceilings and sweeping arches, exactly how these rooms would have origin­ally appeared. Most of the fire places are original. The light fittings are reproductions of both gas and early electric lights.

Tasmania, being one of the oldest European settlements has a number of good examples of terraces, despite the small size of its major cities in comparison to mainland cities. Inner Hobart has some good examples of terrace housing. But it is Launceston that has some great extant examples. We will focus on the lovely, heritage-listed Dorset Terrace, a row of five 2-storey homes erected in 1888 and named after England’s Dorset county.

Hepburn Terrace
East Melbourne

The Italianate boom style of Dorset Terrace in Launceston was typical of Melbourne’s super confident style, not Tasmania’s. Note the prominent mid terrace parapet featuring a Palladian temple style triangular pediment. The top has a prominent finial with the inscription of the name and date of each house. And note the double storey bull nosed veranda featuring alt­ern­ating colour corrugated iron roof. The large French arched windows of the upper storey and ground floor Victorian four panel door and fanlight are flanked by vivid polychrome bricks. As expected, Dorset Terrace features finely detailed wrought iron filigree.

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After Federation in 1901, terraced housing in Australia fell into disfavour and detached housing became the popular style in Australia. Two formal changes occurred. Firstly the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects in 1910 identified “the housing problem” as being the small size of inner city allotments i.e they had no spacious back yards for cricket, football and dogs. Secondly The Housing and Slum Reclamation Act of 1920 shifted the responsibility for slum reclamation to local councils. So some local councils actually sought to ban terraces completely, after WW1 ended! The consequence was a shift toward quarter acre blocks and to urban sprawl. During the 1920s, many terrace houses in Victoria were converted into flats.

In the 1950s many urban renewal programs were aimed at eradicating terraces entirely, in favour of high-rise develop­ment. So how sad that by the time families wanted to gentrify inner-city areas and their surviving terraced houses in the 1970s, so many had disap­p­eared. Nowadays terrace houses in Australian cities are highly sought after, and due to their proximity to the CBD of the major cities they are often very very expensive.

Many thanks to each state's National Trust and to Australian Terrace Houses for their carefully researched descriptions of this category of Australian architecture.