Design Guidelines

This page outlines Design Principles for the Conservation of Environmental Heritage and forms supplementary information to the provisions of Part H of the WDCP. The below is a guide only; please check any building plans against the WDCP.

1. Conservation Principles

The fundamental objectives applying to all heritage items and conservation areas are to ensure that:

the fabric which makes a place significant is conserved, and
new development is sympathetic with the old.

In simple terms, conservation is all about extending the existence or usefulness of resources and thoughtful maintenance is a key to successful conservation.

The preferred approach to conservation is based on principles set out in a document known as the "Burra Charter". (This Charter establishes the nationally accepted standard for the Conservation of places of cultural significance). These principles assist in deciding what is significant, and what works are appropriate. Article 1 of the Burra Charter defines conservation as:

"all the processes of looking after a place so as to retain its cultural significance. It includes maintenance and may according to circumstance include reconstruction and adaptation and will be commonly a combination of more than one of these."

1.1 The Importance of Fabric

The "fabric" of a building or conservation area refers to the physical material of which it is comprised. To varying degrees the fabric represents and expresses the history and significance of the place. Thus when original fabric is removed from a heritage building or a conservation area, the significance of that place is diminished.

Careful judgement is also needed to avoid damaging external wall surfaces by trying to reverse old changes; some of these may also prove to be valuable evidence of a building's history. For example, while it would be appropriate and relatively easy to remove an unsympathetic 1960’s verandah enclosure comprising aluminium windows and fibro construction from a standard 1920's California Bungalow, an earlier verandah enclosure with 1930's detailing, such as leadlight windows and more solid construction, may be significant and could be worth retaining.

Beware of irreversible changes to the fabric of an old building such as painting brickwork. Such changes often diminish the value of the property (as people become more aware of what is authentic and what is not and are often willing to pay for the more intact original property) and often lead to long term increased maintenance. More appropriate ways of reviving the appearance of a building are generally possible.

The three preliminary steps to be taken before beginning any conservation work are:

Research;
Informed Advice; and
Attention to Detail.

1.1.1 Step 1: Research

In the case of older buildings, knowing what not to do is as important as knowing about what has to be done.

Looking at similar buildings in your locality can help in working out why things were done the way they were or seeing what decayed or missing parts of a building may have looked like.

Careful inspection of the building itself can reveal evidence of original detailing. For example, a verandah may have been removed, holes in fin walls may indicate a former handrail, paintlines may reveal the profile of a moulding or the shape of a former corrugated iron roof and nail holes may show the sites of cast iron brackets or timber friezes. Carefully scraping protected or difficult-to-paint areas, (such as under window sills and in tight corners,) can reveal original colour schemes.

Part 3 Bibliography - indicates the large amount of published information which can help owners of old buildings to learn about their design and significance, construction materials and methods, and conservation techniques.

Documentary research through archives, such as historical societies or Council's records, may locate an old photograph, title deeds may indicate the building's layout over time, or approaches to previous owners can also help in seeing what is original and identifying the significant building fabric.

Maintenance, repair and restoration work can then be carried out with the objective of conserving the maximum possible amount of this fabric.

Remember - retaining the original is preferable to replacement with reproduction. Reproductions should be carefully selected and only those which meet the standards of original items in terms of design, materials and finish should be used.

Looking at similar buildings in your locality can help in working out why things were done the way they were or seeing what decayed or missing parts of a building may have looked like.

1.1.2 Step 2: Advice

Obtain help from suitably qualified professionals, such as architects, who are skilled in heritage work. Don't rely on guesswork- seek advice whenever you have any real doubt. A project which involves considerable expenditure and effort should start with sound research and advice and conclude with confident and competent execution.

A list of material suppliers and tradesmen is attached to this document as Part 4 – List of Conservation Materials Suppliers and Services. Council also holds a list of Consultants that specialise in heritage work. The NSW Heritage Office and The National Trust of Australia (NSW) hold similar lists of suitably qualified professionals.

1.1.3 Step 3: Detail

A building is designed with a consistent approach to detail, and it is important to first understand this approach. New work should be relevant to the design of the building or place; it is unwise to simply imitate something from another place or site without the backup of research.

Maintain existing features. Adding decorative elements such as false shutters, aluminium lace, etc. can detract from the value of the property. Remember the original absence of decorative elements can be distinguishing, e.g. on Georgian buildings or austere inter-war bungalows.

Wherever possible, reinstate missing components, such as joinery, verandahs, chimneys and the like but do not add what was never there. A 1910 wooden picket fence is not appropriate to a 1930's house: this sort of detail diminishes the character and value of both the individual item and of the streetscape.

1.2 Maintenance and Restoration

The first principle of conservation is Maintenance – that is, simply looking after old buildings and places as and when they need it. Appropriate maintenance is perhaps the most influential aspect of conservation.

Regular maintenance should be an important part of every building owner's approach to their property management: it means that problems such as water penetration or termite infestation, which could lead to severe deterioration in older buildings, do not get out of hand. Maintenance should have priority over restoration or reconstruction.

Restoration and Reconstruction both mean returning the existing fabric of a building or work to a known earlier state. Restoration may involve removing insignificant accretions or reassembling existing components without the introduction of new materials, while reconstruction introduces materials – new or old – into the fabric to replace missing elements.

Maintenance, restoration and reconstruction should aim at compatibility with the original design and materials: this often means using original materials for structural as well as aesthetic reasons. Original materials should be matched with suitable second-hand materials if possible.

Mixing modern and traditional materials without careful consideration can be problematic. The long life of traditional materials and methods testifies to their practicality. Substitute materials such as aluminium windows instead of timber framed or concrete tiles for original terracotta may not have the same aesthetic qualities as the original. Bear in mind also that older building components of 'imperial' dimensions are larger than their metric equivalents when replacement is unavoidable.

Lack of maintenance and inappropriate or poorly conceived and executed restoration and reconstruction works debase architectural heritage, and can amount to demolition of a building or place.

The following principles regarding traditional methods and materials are a general guide. The information provided needs to suit the subtleties of the particular maintenance, restoration or reconstruction case.

1.2.1 Roofs

Roofs of older style buildings are usually a very dominant element of their design. Certain roofing materials relate to particular styles of houses. Because the roof is so dominant, its shape and cladding material are often major unifying factors in the conservation areas.

The repair of slate roofs of some Victorian and Federation buildings is a job for a skilled tradesman. Problems usually result from delamination of the slates, requiring replacement, or loose fixings, perhaps requiring new fixing battens and re-fixing with copper nails.

Patching with recycled slate is practical but, without sufficient care, a "patch work" roof can result. If necessary, concentrate on the front elevation, using slates from rearward facing slopes. Use second-hand slate to patch the less important faces, or use corrugated iron on an inner slope that is not visible to the street.

Some of the many types of modern roof slate now available are unsuitable being too thick, with too rough a texture and may also be too heavy for the original roof structure. Asbestos or fibre cement imitation slates are not recommended as a substitute for real slate.

The use of bituminous paper or plastic sarking may enable the TV antenna to be placed inside the roof space, although many slaters prefer not to use sarking so that leaks can be readily located. TV aerials are best not attached to chimneys.

If unglazed terracotta "Marseilles" tiles on Federation houses need replacing, sound second-hand tiles or new similar tiles of the correct Imperial size should be used. Avoid concrete and glazed tiles, which do not have the subtle colour and texture of the older-style Federation tiles, though these may be suitable on later Bungalow styles.

Where the original roof fabric has been replaced with a modern material, re-roofing in the appropriate style will generally enhance the appearance of the house. If you cannot afford to replace the authentic slate roof on Federation or Victorian cottages, then corrugated iron (now galvanised steel or zincalume) also often used at this time, would be a sympathetic alternative.

A natural finish or a dull prefinished grey colour which most resembles natural weathered iron is preferred, unless the roof has always been painted, when a colourbond finish in period colours might be used in lieu of repainting. Corrugated iron is suitable for subsidiary roofs on Victorian and Federation houses, such as rear skillions or back verandahs, which were often treated with less substantial materials than the main roof structure.

Using the correct gutter shape such as ogee, half round or quad profiles and the round downpipes common until the early twentieth century is important for a thorough finish: where original gutter profiles are evident, consider their reinstatement. Regular cleaning to remove leaves, which produce corrosive acids on decomposing, and painting their insides with bituminous or tax-epoxy paints, can prolong the life of gutters.

Damaged or missing decorative tile trimmings and chimney pots found on Federation houses can be replaced either from demolition saleyards or by new products, their manufacture having recommenced. When fitting ridge crests and finials, the bedding mortar should be stained with red oxide pigment to match the tile colour.

Do not block roof or rafter ventilation holes as good ventilation reduces the likelihood of rot in roof timbers and soffits.

Chimneys add scale and character to buildings of all periods. Chimneys should not be removed when roofs are reclad, the flashings need replacing, or the chimneys themselves need repair. While acids, derived from soot and smoke, attack the mortar pointing of chimneys and loose pots or bricks and flaunching (the mortar weathering on top) are dangerous and allow moisture penetration, these can be repaired by an experienced tradesman. Reconstruction of chimneys, a distinctive feature of Victorian and Federation houses, is also possible and desirable.

Chimneys are a distinctive feature of Victorian and Federation houses

1.2.2 Walls

The coating of render, or stucco, often applied to Victorian houses, protected their exterior walls: it should not be removed to expose the original sandstock brickwork. This destroys the character of the building and allows the destructive entry of moisture: soft, porous sandstock bricks decay and crumble on removal of their protective render. A solid sandstone wall without stucco protection also soaks up moisture which passes through to destroy internal finishes. Cracked or chipped render should be replaced with a similar compatible render (not cement) and usually painted over.

The old face bricks of Federation and Bungalow styles, however, should not be painted. Many Federation houses have a pattern of pressed red brick or red-ochre dressed front elevations, with tuck pointing and contrasting blues or buffs for arched lintels and string courses. Cheaper, variable common bricks were used for the lesser elevations. Any repair work should maintain the distinction between front and sides, which also occurs in standard California Bungalows, though these tend more towards liver brick shades. The textured clinker brick, sometimes in variegated red brown colours with herringbone patterning of 1930's bungalows, should also be retained as a distinctive feature of this period.

1.2.2 - Shingles, Roughcast, Face Brickwork

Paint can be chemically removed from brickwork by skilled tradespeople. Sandblasting is an extremely dangerous process for old buildings, as it removes the outer burnt skin of the brickwork, leaving it exposed to weathering with a pock-marked ragged appearance. Repainting with a more sympathetic "brick colour" as camouflage may be a reasonable alternative to removal of paint.

Mortars for repointing and repair should match the colour, texture and mix of the original. Old mortars were usually a mixture of lime, putty and sand. Professional skills are often needed in selection of mortar mixes for fragile older buildings. Lime mortar can accommodate some movement, while harder inflexible cement mortars cannot, thus causing cracking in the brickwork. Badly rusted and swollen lintel bars should be replaced to prevent walls cracking. Shaped bricks can be specially ordered from various brickworks.

1.2.2 - sources of rising damp, from Rising Damp an information sheet prepared by the Heritage Branch of the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning

Rising or falling damp may be present: its cause may be simple or very complex. Leaking gutters and drains may saturate adjoining ground; cement floors inside or outside may force ground water to rise up walls. It is not always necessary to introduce or replace a damp course to stop rising damp. Improved ventilation and the elimination of water sources may solve the problem but specialist advice, sometimes from a number of sources, should be obtained and compared before deciding on suitable action.

In replacing deteriorated timber shingles, for example on gable ends or bay windows, any pattern in the arrangement or variations in size and depth of courses should be matched to retain the original texture. Compatible soaker flashings and sarking should be used in fixing.

Gable ends and bay windows in Federation and early bungalow houses may be clad with pebble-dash or rough cast on timber or metal lathes or fibre cement sheet with vertical battens concealing joints. Replacement of lathing when it fails through rot or rust is essential to prevent moisture penetration: if correctly applied, the vertical surfaces should bell out towards the bottom to shed rainwater. Modern "metal" weatherboards are not suitable for replacing timber weatherboards in rear extensions or early houses.

1.2.3 Verandahs

Verandahs, balconies and porches are often distinctive architectural features, whose detailing, materials and proportions are important stylistic elements to be carefully maintained and repaired.

The removal of windows and other enclosures to verandahs and balconies, where these detract from the heritage significance of an individual building or break the rhythm of a whole street of similar buildings, is generally encouraged. However, the value of retaining such enclosures needs to be carefully considered in terms of both their architectural contribution and whether the added amenity they provide would assist the long-term conservation of the building.

When verandahs are restored, the original walls and structures should be carefully inspected for evidence of earlier detailing, which can usually be reproduced.

1.2.4 Windows, Doors and Decorative Joinery

Inadequate maintenance often shows first in deterioration of timber work. Alterations to original windows, doors and decorative joinery should be avoided, but where change is essential, the style and character of the particular building should be carefully considered.

Experienced joinery contractors can copy subtle details where replacement is needed because of the condition of the original fabric. Inappropriate replacement of doors and windows amounts to defacing a building. It is also important to recognise when repair of joinery is beyond the capability of the home handyman and is a job for experts.

Where it has been damaged, the wide vocabulary of detail in the turned and lattice woodwork of Federation and other significant houses should be copied carefully. Wherever possible, handrails, balustrades and verandah posts should be reinstated in the original style. Any recycled materials must be consistent with the building's design. Similar interior joinery including skirting boards, picture rails and architraves, should be reinstated in the original style where possible.

Timber windows, doors and shopfronts were generally painted externally, not stripped back and varnished. Apart from looking wrong, externally applied varnish usually breaks down quickly, leaving timber unprotected.

Modern acrylic paints are easier to apply and recoat and generally more durable than the older oil-based paints. However, acrylic paints are more thermoplastic and difficult to remove, so are often less suited to door and window frames than for other external paintwork. Be careful that thick paint coatings built up over time do not distort door and window frames, making closure tight and difficult: if necessary, strip paint back. Modern mastic sealants (silicon) can help seal joints between joinery and brickwork, particularly where movement has widened gaps between masonry and timber framework.

The wide variety of leadlights and figured or coloured glass panes found up to the Second World War may be virtually irreplaceable today. Beware of amateur leadlight repairers: appropriately trained craftsmen should be trusted with repairs so that there is minimum disruption of valuable original pieces.

Door and window hardware items, such as casement fasteners, handles and stays, were often decorative items in older houses: generally these can be cleaned and rendered operable.

Steel hinges and fastenings (screws) are generally incompatible with the American redwood used for joinery such as door and window frames in Federation houses and as rust can accelerate timber decay, these are often better replaced by brass fittings.

1.2.5 Shopfronts

It is a common misconception that the maintenance of old shopfronts is too costly and often shop owners do not appreciate the contribution that older shopfronts can make to their business. With simple maintenance and appropriate signage, old shopfronts can be conserved to create effective marketing images of great value to the individual business and the broader business community, especially where groups of shops of consistent or harmonious design give a distinctive identity to the commercial centre. This identity contributes to shopping ambience that encourages and promotes business.

Signage should be carefully designed so that it is integrated with and does not overwhelm the building's form – its facade massing, proportion and fenestration can suggest suitable signage opportunities.

1.2.6 Colour Schemes and Finishes

The reintroduction of traditional colour schemes has become popular, with several commercial ranges of "heritage" colours and well researched reference texts available to assist building owners in choosing authentic exterior and interior period colour schemes. The tones of old photographs (including black and white) can indicate varying colours and the relative intensity of shades on different elements of a building to assist in selecting an appropriate colour scheme. Paint scrapings may enable building owners to approximate early or sequential colour schemes, however where a more exact determination is required laboratory analysis or expert assessment is necessary.

While reinstating original or authentic colour schemes helps reinforce the character of a house, ‘over-restoring' buildings to an elaborate appearance that they never possessed is not always appropriate. The patina of age can give an appealing visual quality to a street or area.

An understanding of traditional colour schemes appropriate to a particular building or area will promote an approach which can then be employed to produce a sympathetic contemporary colour scheme which reinforces the character of the area.

Though these guidelines are mostly concerned with the exterior of buildings, interior details may be important for highly significant individual heritage items and also generally influence the resale value of less significant buildings.

Lime plaster which is a common lining material in houses of Federation and earlier eras should be patched or replaced with matching material (not cement which is too hard and unyielding). Damaged cornices and ceiling roses can be replicated in fibrous plaster.

Patient work on interiors may occasionally reveal intact decorative paint features such as dado stripes, stencilling or wallpapers. While sometimes old decoration can be seen on the surface under oblique light, often it is not, so razor blades or scalpels should be used carefully where owners are keen to expose earlier finishes and recreate these.

1.2.7 Landscaping, Fences and Gates

Fences, gates and landscaping have a large impact on streetscape. Planting consistent with the established garden character can enhance the architecture and may even hide unsympathetic alterations. The maintenance or restoration of a garden suited to the taste and style of the era adds to the authentic restoration of a house.

In some cases, garden beds, trees and other landscaping elements, such as paths of paving bricks or tessellated ceramic tiles, have their own heritage value, for example, the well established gardens with their landmark trees which provide remarkable settings for some Victorian mansions along the Mowbray Road ridgeline and, on the other hand, the bushland settings of the Griffin houses in Castlecrag are each integral elements of their particular styles.

Be aware of changing taste and fashion in landscaping as much as buildings. In general, early Victorian and Federation era gardens were based on traditional English designs, using introduced plantings in ordered and symmetrical patterns. Federation gardens introduced curving garden paths and beds and combined exotic and native species but a strong trend toward indigenous species developed with the California Bungalow.

If you are reinstating or adding to an authentic garden design for your house, consider not only the historical examples, but "try to consider your garden from all angles: from the street, as an entrance to your home and from the inside looking out to maximise all your efforts".

Because of their proximity to the street, fences have a strong visual impact: fences and gates sympathetic to the style of the house can maintain and unify the character of both the individual item and the street, just as inappropriate fencing can destroy it. Keep surviving original fences in good condition, where deteriorated, save and repair as much as possible before using new, closely matching elements to replace what has been lost. Be cautious about using reproductions when the originals can be maintained.

Traditionally, the finest and most elaborate fences were placed towards the street, with rough sawn paling fences on the rear and sides of properties: sometimes a tall latticed fence and gate separated front and rear gardens.

In Willoughby, many streetscapes are distinguished by their low fences (for example, the Artarmon Conservation Area), or the absence of fencing (for example, the Griffin Conservation Area) and these qualities should be retained where this is characteristic of the streetscape and does not compromise the amenity of individual properties.

1.3 Alterations and Additions

Alterations to older buildings should generally be made to their less prominent areas – to the rear or set back from their principal elevations – and carefully scaled and designed to enable the heritage character of the building to be maintained. This approach accepts that many buildings are changed during their lives – to better satisfy their original purpose, adaptation for some new use, or to make them more attractive to their occupants. Poorly designed and built alterations might provide functional solutions but can ruin any building, marring its appearance and detracting from its value.

Any project to alter or add to a heritage building should start by carefully assessing the heritage significance of the building involved and its context, to suggest what changes can be made. While it is considered that additions should reflect their time, it requires considerable skill to make changes appear as a subtle and natural amendment to the building rather than to create an architectural tour-de-force which overpowers and diminishes the significance of the original building.

1.3.1 Sympathetic Development

All new development affecting heritage items- whether alterations, additions or infill- should acknowledge the heritage values of the existing place or building and respond to the established heritage characteristics of the building, place and neighbouring area by seeking to avoid any reduction in its value or any undesirable intrusion into the streetscape.

The degree to which additions or changes to heritage items should reflect the style of the significant fabric- whether the new work should blend in, be imperceptible, or be clearly distinguishable as new work- will be determined by the interplay of two basic considerations as these apply to the particular case. An alteration or extension must have regard to:

the architectural character and style of the building concerned; and
the characteristics of development in the locality.

The proposed size, siting and function of the addition or alteration and the significance, intactness and features of the heritage item and its setting or locality all interact in determining the most suitable solution to a sympathetic form for the new development.

In general, alterations or additions to a house should be carried out in a similar manner to the original structure, avoiding the destruction of important elements such as chimneys, windows and gables. Unsympathetic alterations, which may include the use of modern roofing and other materials, the removal of chimneys and verandah joinery, and the enclosure of verandahs, detract not only from the house itself but usually do considerable damage to neighbouring houses and the streetscape.

A sympathetic alteration or addition will blend and harmonise with the building. Even where the new work is suitably intended to be distinct from the original, it will fulfil the essential criterion of "belonging" to the building, in terms of scale, proportion and massing.

1.3.2 Principles

The following general principles apply:

a) Scale

Scale refers to size. Don't overwhelm the original. An alteration or extension should not be of a size or scale that dominates the original building, challenging or destroying its identity, or changing its contribution and importance in a significant context.

For example, cottages cannot be turned into large houses or mansions without major changes of character that are inconsistent with the conservation of their heritage significance as small-scale cottages. Major changes in scale to individual buildings, which are components of a conservation area, can also destroy the consistency, unity and cohesiveness of a group or a streetscape.

Height and bulk are critical in determining scale. In this respect, the building envelopes identified for specific heritage areas and generic building types are a guide to the desirable height and bulk.

Maintain consistent levels. In houses, the main wall plate height, which determines the external wall height and the point from which the roof structure and form springs, should generally be consistent throughout a building or otherwise this may conform with the pattern of a consistent plate height throughout the main rooms, with a lower roof area and plate height to the rear for less important rooms or service areas. Additions visible on front or principal elevations should maintain the same or a consistent level or height above natural ground level. Split level floors may be the preferred option through side elevations on sloping sites: these should step down the slope, maintaining a similar relationship for plate heights to natural ground levels as the front of the original building and thus minimising the overall scale of the rear extension.

b) Form and massing

Form and massing refers to the shape of building elements and the arrangement of these elements. Where an addition is proposed, the characteristic form and massing of the existing building or of the locality should be observed and reflected in the new work.

The massing of a building may be symmetrical or asymmetrical: the distinctive qualities of many heritage buildings depend on the balance between the symmetry or asymmetry of its various elements. For example, small Victorian cottages usually have windows symmetrically positioned on either side of the central entry door on their front facade. Small Federation cottages typically have asymmetrical massing with a projecting gabled bay almost always placed to one side of the street facade.

c) Siting

Additions are usually best sited to the rear or side, to allow the character of the original building to be maintained. Avoid significant alterations to the street facade wherever possible to minimise the impact of change.

d) Design and Proportion

Proportion refers to the relative size of distinct parts. Respect the existing built form – roof type and pitch; verandah support spacing; the proportion and groupings of doors and windows; the ratio of solid to voids. Roof form and pitch should closely match the existing, whilst the repetition of eaves and gable projections and details can help tie in new to old. The size, proportion and position of existing openings should be respected.

e) Materials

Use materials that reflect and harmonise with original materials to maintain the character of the building. The use of materials such as aluminium windows, flush faced doors, non decorative posts or columns, quarry tiled or slate floors, painted face brickwork, arched brick colonnades and modern cladding materials should be avoided, where they do not respond to the original palette of materials in the locality.

f) Consistency

Be consistent with the original. Observe the massing, scale, proportion, character and details of the existing fabric when blending new with old. Consider traditional solutions – it is easier to successfully add in a traditional manner than in a contemporary idiom, although modern designs can be an acceptable solution if well designed and executed.

g) Intactness

The preferred approach when adding to an existing building of heritage significance is to keep the original fabric intact and distinct, whilst subtly yet clearly distinguishing new work, to avoid confusion in reading the history of the building. This approach requires sophisticated design skills.

1.3.3 Types of Additions to Houses

Certain design approaches are more suitable to the building's heritage significance, architectural style, siting, the accommodation needs and the proposed use. Flat-roofed extensions and extensions which rely on 'Cape Cod', "pop-ups" A-frame and mansard roofs, are not suitable for most traditional houses. Expert help is usually advisable to reach the best solution.

a) Simple “Lean-To"

This is usually the cheapest form of addition and can be used extensively with a variety of styles. Preferably sited at the rear of the house, this type of addition can also be used to form a new verandah or in combination with a wing. The use of a verandah addition, either at the rear or the side, may be a means of sympathetically relating a new extension with the existing house.

Where the addition links into an existing roof the materials should be matched. Where the lean-to addition is constructed at the rear and not visible from the street, materials need not match the original. Depending on the land's slope, the size of a lean-to addition will be limited by the need to provide adequate head height. (A wing addition overcomes this difficulty). Light access can be improved with a lean-to addition by adding gablets or skylights to the rear face of the roof.

b) Wing Additions

Wing additions should be made at the side or rear of the building to minimise disruption to the main elevation and the streetscape. The size and slope of the land and the form of the house will usually dictate the location of the wing, which is generally better suited to asymmetrical buildings.

Where the original design produced a picturesquely irregular plan and roof shape, an additional wing, gablet or dormer to one side may reinforce this theme. However, it should not dominate and preferably should not be located in the same elevational plane as the original work. This can be achieved by stepping the extension back. Side additions should not remove the possibility of car access to the rear of the site unless there is alternative rear lane access.

The existing roof form and pitch can be repeated and new detailing should reflect the gables, hips, eaves, ventilation, window hoods and other projections of the main roof.

c) Pavilion

The pavilion solution involves constructing a separate block element which may repeat the general form of the original house. It is particularly appropriate where the architectural proportions, scale, symmetry or detailing of the main house would be adversely affected by another type of addition. For example, a pavilion addition could be used where the original design would be upset by a lean-to or wing addition, or where the use of either of these would result in the loss of natural light or views.

Pavilions may be connected to the main building by a breezeway or small utility area, such as laundry or bathroom. Pavilions may be the best solution for long deep allotments and can also be functionally integrated with landscaping to provide internal courtyards.

d) Roof

Providing the existing roof volume is sufficiently large and the roof profile is generally maintained, one or more habitable attic rooms may be created. Dormer windows should not dominate the original composition of roof elements through excessive scale and should generally be located to the rear.

The roofs of Federation-style houses are characterised by multi-hipped and gabled roofs. Additions to the roofs of these houses should be in a traditional gabled, hipped or lean-to form, matching the materials and roof pitch of the original structure. Occasionally, the design of larger Federation mansions may lend itself to the construction of a tower room.

Roof additions should generally be confined to the rear of the existing building and should not alter the essential form and character of single storey buildings, for example, simple, modest Federation cottages should not be transformed into elaborate two storey "Queen Anne" style mansions.

e) Basement

A basement addition is created by constructing rooms within the foundation area of an existing house. Houses built on sloping sites may possess a large underfloor area which can often be excavated to provide additional living space.

Before initiating this form of construction, carefully consider the type of materials to be removed, access for machinery and equipment, the removal of piers and installation of alternative support structures, drainage and the possible need for retaining walls. Care must be exercised to ensure adequate underfloor cross ventilation and to avoid water seepage or rising damp. Engineering advice is recommended and will probably be required.

Additional considerations include the placement of stairs and their effect on other areas of the house, the appearance of new windows and exterior doors which should be designed in terms of the overall appearance of the building and retention of most of the original foundation materials, such as sandstone. Garages can often be successfully accommodated in undercroft areas.

1.3.4 Car Parking and Access

Garages and carports should preferably be located to the rear of the house and not dominate the streetscape. Priorities for accommodating the car are:

locate at rear, with access from rear lane;
locate at rear, with access from the front;
locate at side of house, setback behind house alignment; or
provide an uncovered, paved parking space at the front.

Rear lane access should be used wherever available in preference to interrupting the street facade and setting with additional driveways and parking facilities.

Extensions and additions should not sever the possibility for car access alongside the dwelling to the rear of the site. Where new garages at the rear of the site behind the house would be seen from the street, their design should not detract from the qualities of the house. The horizontal proportions of many rollershutter doors are generally unsuitable, and tiltadoors clad with vertical panels may be more appropriate.

Single car openings are preferred to double garages and stacked parking of cars may be encouraged to minimise the width of the structure as seen on the street frontage. Garages should have simple hipped, gabled or skillion roof forms of the smallest practicable scale in a given situation: the use of lean-to or skillion roofs over any attached to the main part of the structure will help minimise scale.

Where car parking is to be provided beside the building, it should preferably be uncovered. If one covered space is needed, a simple, unobtrusive lean-to carport would generally be preferred to a more elaborate structure. Great care is needed to ensure that any attached structure fits in with the main horizontal lines of the building such as the eaves line or top plate and that it does not obscure major features such as windows, doorways or verandahs. Side carports should be set behind the building alignment.

Garages may be incorporated unobtrusively in the undercroft of a building or provided by excavation of the front alignment on sloping sites but only in cases where these options have been "traditional" solutions in that locality.

Car parking facilities forward of the main building should preferably be openstand areas or where covered car parking is needed, a single carport is preferred to minimise the scale of the structure, and competition with the main building.

Generally, simple, open, lightly framed, pergola-like structures are preferred to elaborate carports, even where these emulate elements of the main building design. The open pergola type can complement Federation or California Bungalows without competing with, obscuring or overwhelming the main building in the way that elaborate structures, particularly with heavy tiled, visually dominant, gabled or hipped roofs, tend to do.

The construction of new outbuildings, such as garages and the like, forward of the building line can detract from the heritage significance of the house and streetscape, where such structures compete with the main dwelling primarily due to their grand scale.

Where a carport is designed to emulate elements of the main building, great care is needed to ensure that its siting, scale, materials and visual complexity are appropriate, and that it complements rather than competing with or obscuring the main building: out-of-scale details can visually detract from the more sophisticated contours of early buildings.

1.3.5 Pools, Tennis Courts and Other Outbuildings

Other major structures such as tennis courts, swimming pools and barbecue areas should be designed and sited carefully. These will almost invariably be best sited to the rear, or otherwise where lot width allows, beside the house. As with other extensions and additions, these will not be acceptable where access to existing or likely future car parking facilities at the rear of the site is cut off, and would necessitate the introduction of new, obtrusive car parking facilities.

Inground pools are less conspicuous than above-ground types. The pool and/or tennis court and its surrounds should be designed with the aesthetics of the period in mind to harmonise with the house and its landscaped setting.

The use of close-jointed brick paving or stone flagging, with internal finishes in subdued tones such as deep greens, blues or browns, is highly compatible with Victorian and Federation sites, pebble aggregate, quarry tile or mosaic tile aprons are equally suitable for some later bungalow and functionalist styles.

Childproof enclosures might be timber screen fences or picket fences, perhaps with an attached pergola, archway or lytchgate where appropriate. If mesh fences are used, these can be underplayed by painting them dark green or adding a hedge, shrubbery or vine screen.

Changing rooms, equipment stores, plant rooms or garden sheds will generally be less obtrusive if built as simple sheds, similar to modest early garage designs or as pavilions repeating some of the design elements of the house, provided that these are of modest scale and not over elaborate.

New tennis courts should not be sited so as to intrude on the setting of the main residence.

1.4 Infill Development

1.4.1 "Filling in the Gaps"

Infill development must also achieve a sympathetic relationship with either nearby heritage items or the conservation area of which it is a part. Infill needs to display architectural "good manners" by respecting the significant characteristics of nearby and adjoining development.

For the purposes of this document, infill development includes wholly new development on the site of a heritage item, on a vacant or newly subdivided allotment in a conservation area, or on sites which are in the vicinity of heritage items or conservation areas. Similar principles underlie successful infill development as apply to alterations and additions.

1.4.2 Imitation vs Sympathetic Design

It is preferable that new buildings in conservation areas understand the characteristics of the past as these resulted from specific historic parameters. Reinterpreting these characteristics in a way appropriate to the present allows one to appreciate the original work in its context, and not confuse the old with the new.

The preferred approach is to design in a sympathetic but openly contemporary fashion to recognise existing patterns and to interpret them in a manner appropriate to the current social situation. Infill presents design constraints which often need special skill and ingenuity to be both contemporary and compatible.

Infill can be openly contemporary in design when it is well integrated with and relates harmoniously to its older original neighbours. It is essential that the scale, form and detail of the infill does not detract from the scale, form, unity, cohesion and predominant character of the building and development (i.e. streetscape/landscape elements) around it: the particular sensitivity of the whole setting must be respected.

Many popular contemporary kit/project home designs which purport to be "heritage homes" are in fact poorly integrated mixtures of design elements from different eras- a pastiche of older styles and materials, often of a completely different scale to the original older buildings and badly proportioned. These infill developments are intrusive elements which detract from the cohesiveness and amenity of conservation areas, and clearly offend the essential underlying principle of sympathetic development.

The preferred approach with new design is:

Keep it simple. Do not try to copy a mixture of design elements from different eras.
Incorporate basic design elements such as the characteristic roof forms and massing of the original development to help integrate the new work.
Do not assume that contemporary project home "heritage" designs will automatically suit any site or setting. Carefully observe and respect local nuances of design to ascertain if they are suitable.

1.4.3 Principles

The following general principles apply:

a) Character

The first principle of infill is to be guided by the established character of the area, so it is essential that the elements that contribute to the special qualities of the place are clearly identified. The aim is to harmonise with and complement the existing streetscape fabric or fabric of individual heritage buildings, not compete with it. Infill should not try to dominate its surrounds but should relate sympathetically to existing scale, mass, proportion, etc. As the town character varies throughout Willoughby, infill should be particularly influenced by its individual street setting or context. Good infill relates well to its context, whether this is an individual heritage site, a group of significant original buildings or a streetscape of heritage value.

Council requires applicants to present a streetscape assessment with an application, as an important part of the design process and as a useful tool for assessment.

b) Scale

The scale (size, height and bulk) of a new building is of paramount importance. It should not dominate or compete with its neighbours or destroy an existing pattern of single or two-storey development.

Most of Willoughby City's conservation areas have a consistent single storey scale: this is frequently an essential unifying principle. On the other hand, Naremburn Township is remarkable for its diverse mix of built scales, as are some parts of South Chatswood and Findlay/Wyvern Avenues, where there is a scatter of two storey buildings and larger mansions among the predominant single storey original housing. The existing diversity of scale in some places might allow a greater freedom of approach, but if uniformity of scale is part of the heritage value of the area, it must be respected accordingly.

Buildings are said to be "in scale" when the elements fit – when they appear to belong in their setting, when there is a respectful relationship that is often recognisably 'right'. Often this means similar height, size and proportion to adjacent buildings.

"Landmark" buildings in conservation areas are special cases: these may be individual heritage items, such as mansions, public or commercial buildings. In such cases, any adjacent or nearby infill should relate to the scale of the existing development around the landmark and respect its prominence. The presence of a landmark building, which may be a two storey building in a "sea" of cottages, should not be used as a precedent for increasing the scale of infill development.

The relative scale of new buildings should consider the profile of original buildings – that is, the heights of the main ridgelines, or perhaps parapets in the case of commercial buildings, top plates/eaves level (or awnings of commercial buildings) and ground floor levels street or natural ground levels.

Ensure the building relates in scale to its site and setting.
Use heights, scale and bulk of original existing buildings as reference points.
Make sure the parts are in scale with the whole.

c) Siting and Setbacks

1.4.3 - sitings and setbacks should respect existing patterns

The relative siting and setback of buildings is also important in forming the character of the streetscape and the relationship between adjoining buildings.

New buildings should be sited to correspond with the existing pattern of relationships between buildings and their sites. Front boundary setbacks should be equivalent to those of neighbouring buildings. Side distance setbacks should also be similar to the rhythm of development in the immediate vicinity.

Where existing buildings observe formal setbacks, or have historically been placed in a certain pattern relative to adjoining streets, that pattern must be considered in the location of any new building. If subdivisions challenge those patterns, the particular approach adopted must be justifiable in terms of its effects on heritage significance.

d) Form and Massing

The form and massing of a building is its overall shape and the arrangements of its parts. Roofs, facades and verandahs are the primary elements of mass in heritage buildings. The distinctiveness of many older styles may be found in the way the massing of larger elements was broken down into smaller.

Infill design should identify the predominant form and massing and then design in sympathy with these forms. For example, the apparent bulk of a building may be reduced by breaking the primary facades into smaller components that reflect the character of their neighbours.

Follow established practice of recessing doorways and emphasising display windows in retail buildings.
Maintain the proportion and skyline interest of old building parapets when inserting new infill buildings amongst old commercial buildings.

The shape of the roof and the pattern it makes against the sky is often distinctive in conservation areas. The form and character of the roof of new buildings can be the most decisive influence upon its successful integration within an established setting. Although the roof reflects the scale, setback, siting and plan form of the building it shelters, its pitch, form and shape will greatly affect the skyline appearance of a street, and may enable an otherwise very different building to blend in with the forms of buildings around it.

Hipped or gabled, simple or complex, steeply-pitched or flat – these aspects of a roof's design will determine its harmony or otherwise with neighbouring properties.

Respect adjacent scale, heights and massing.
Locate the bulk of larger new buildings to the rear.
Consider the importance of maintaining roof form and rhythm.

e) Proportion

1.4.3 - modern garage doors divided into smaller vertical bays

Traditionally older buildings up to the 1930's use vertical proportions reflecting the construction technology of the day. There was a regular ratio of solid wall to openings which reflected the economy of smaller spans. It produced a common pattern and proportion in the doors and windows. Where wider openings were required, this was achieved by multiples of the standard (vertically proportioned) doors, windows and bays.

Modern technology and construction permits much greater spans and often features a horizontal emphasis. New infill buildings in heritage areas should preserve the proportions of the surrounding development, even when using modern materials. The proportions and details of openings displayed by a new building will be read as part of the overall design of the building which contains them, and should only depart from established norms in the street if they are balanced by other factors, e.g., by being placed under shading verandahs or overhangs. Large windows can also be divided into smaller vertically proportioned units, often with structural mullions (supports). Be careful, however, to avoid contemporary "pseudo heritage" mullion patterns which bear no resemblance to any typical traditional styles.

Similarly, modern garage doors can be divided into smaller vertical bays to diminish their visual impact.

The proportions of any architectural decorative features should respect those of the original features from which they derive.

Maintain characteristic proportions of design elements.
Modulate building facades and maintain rhythm of fenestration.

f) Materials and Colours

Materials and their colours will also influence the degree to which any new building will blend with or intrude on the general street or group character established by its neighbours. The materials used in a new building might be completely different from those around its site but can be brought into an overall picture of harmony by careful colour selection.

Materials and details of surrounding buildings need not be copied but can be used as a reference point for infill development. Observe how traditional forms were typically broken into smaller massing elements by using contrasting materials and colours.

Many materials that reproduce original features may be too expensive to use widely even if seen as appropriate. It is usually preferable to use harmonious contemporary materials well. A clean contemporary design solution that observes all the principles of infill is likely to be more successful.

Avoid fake or synthetic detailing: Do not "dress up" a contemporary design with superficial historic detail.
There is no need to slavishly follow past styles except in heritage restoration: use simple, sympathetic but contemporary detailing.

g) Characteristic Design Elements

Architectural devices and design elements may be important contributions to the character of particular conservation areas. For example, verandahs may be a common feature of street elevations. Chimneys can also be an important part of the skyline, visually grouping buildings together. The use of materials in certain feature elements may also be a signature of a place and part of its subsequent identity.

Some of these key elements can be used in a way that makes no immediate or direct reference to architectural style or fashion, but establishes the family resemblance or neighbourly connection with the other buildings and spirit of the conservation area.

2. Typical Building Styles and Periods

The bulk of Willoughby's heritage is important because it demonstrates the City's residential development over time. Understanding the features of the major building styles is essential to evaluate the significance of individual buildings and to decide how a building or place can be maintained, restored, reinstated, adapted for another use, extended or added to.

Where infill development is proposed, understanding the locality's dominant styles and how these combine with the landform, subdivision pattern and landscaping to form distinctive streetscapes is fundamental to successfully designing new development that fits in with the heritage significance of the locality or nearby heritage items.

The distinguishing features of the major building styles found in Willoughby's heritage housing are summarised here as a basic guide to help you identify the period of your house. Important commercial and public buildings may show these or other styles: more detailed information about all styles can be found in the bibliography.

Buildings are rarely "pure" examples of these "typical" styles. Some buildings may combine elements of several styles, as these naturally evolved, for example, the Federation Bungalow has aspects of a California Bungalow, but generally the massing and proportion of the building together with other architectural detailing enables one style to be distinguished from another. Some of Willoughby's streetscapes are significant because they display a consistent style while others are remarkable and attractive because they blend successive building styles and periods of development in a distinctive way.

2.1 Victorian – c.1840 – c.1890

Houses reminiscent of early Colonial buildings persisted in Victorian times. The earliest remaining buildings in Willoughby, of which about one dozen remain, are usually modest single storey cottages in simple, symmetrical Georgian and Regency styles.

2.1.1 Victorian Georgian/Regency

These styles are similar enough given their small number in Willoughby to be treated as one. They share an ordered approach in their symmetrical facades and simple rectangularity of overall shape and individual elements.

As in other colonies in warm and hot climates, the early Australian house protected its principal rooms from the sun by introducing a verandah. The development of new materials meant that roofing slate or corrugated iron were generally used on the main roof with a separate verandah roof of iron. Corrugated iron bullnosed verandahs were often painted in wide stripes of alternating colours, a "motif" derived from canvas awnings used at the turn of the eighteenth century.

Machine tools for shaping timber joinery led to turned posts, balusters and other decorative features. With glass available in larger panes, the 12 pane window of the old Colonial period gradually gave way to the window in which each sash was either divided into two panes of glass or was glazed with a single sheet.

Regency buildings had more sophisticated decoration including simple projecting mouldings, e.g. architraves around doors and windows, louvered timber shutters for sun protection, open-work iron columns, or columns of classical shapes, and an elegantly drooping concave or ogee corrugated iron roof to verandahs. Another feature was a cantilevered balcony with a balustrade of iron or timber.

Local examples: 11 Adolphus; 1 Clanwilliam; 3-5 Clanwilliam (single storey semi-detached); 26 Dawson (sandstone cottage); 34 Forsythe Street (Regency); 171 High Street "Rosewall"; 76 Marlborough Street; 2 Orchard Road; 232-34 Penshurst Street (single storey semi-detached); 98 Sydney Street.

Victorian Georgian/Regency

Scale

Small and low domestic scale, mainly single storey with occasional two storey houses in Willoughby.

Massing

General Roof Shape: Simple hipped roof, or occasional gabled form of moderate pitch.

Building Envelope: Simple formal rectangular shapes with symmetrical plain, undecorated or subtly decorated facades; sometimes cantilevered balcony projection on occasional two storey Regency type.

Facade Openings/Proportions: Regular symmetrical openings, usually from a verandah stretching across the entire front facade.

Materials & Details

Roof: Mainly corrugated iron, some slate in Willoughby; close eaves; low simple often rendered chimney sometimes with moulded capping.

Walls: Sometimes exposed brick work, sometimes rendered, often later painted; some sandstone and weatherboard in Willoughby.

Joinery & Decoration: Simple geometric or turned wooden verandah posts; simple mouldings including stucco architraves; cast iron verandah posts and valances.

Windows & Doors: Sash window with small (often 12) panes, some with large panes; casement or French windows; panelled door; fanlight or transom light.

Verandahs: Usually separate corrugated iron bullnose or drooping convex profile roofs supported by slender, simple verandah posts of classical or rectangular design or open-work or slender cast iron columns.

2.1.2 Victorian Gothic/Italian/Filigree

2.1.2 Victorian Gothic/Italian/Filligree

Willoughby has a small number, about 30, of these buildings, mainly in Gothic and Italianate styles. Their asymmetrical massing and elaborate decoration are usually seen as typically Victorian. These styles grew out of the British Victorian fascination with "the picturesque: many Britons, finding their nation in the vanguard of nineteenth-century industrialisation, felt the need for regular doses of nostalgia to counteract the harsh and ugly aspects of modern life".

The Italianate style drew on images of country villas. A feature common to house design since, "The Great Australian Asymmetrical Front (where the main bedroom pokes out a metre or two towards the street beyond the rest of the house)", began with Victorian Italianate: this is seen in Willoughby.

"Rustic Gothic drew on a romantic image of a rural, vaguely medieval past: it was an anti-monumental style applied to houses in the suburbs or country" and was more modest in scale and decoration than the Italianate.

Some of Willoughby's two storey mansions have a Victorian Filigree character, the principal feature being an intricately textured verandah screen shading the main building mass. This style is an extension and embellishment of the Australian verandah tradition, generally expressed by a two storied verandah on an often relatively simple masonry form with classical medieval or Italianate detailing. A growing demand for more ornate architecture after the gold rush was largely met by the extensive use of decorative cast-iron components, by the 1870's designed and made in Australia, sometimes using local flora themes. A well-known form of this style is terrace housing, which is comparatively rare in Willoughby.

Local examples: Gothic – 118 Ashley Street "Rodondo"; 283 Mowbray Road; 105 Penshurst Street "Pommy Lodge"; Old Stables, North Sydney Technical College; Italianate – 34 Albert Avenue "Brigstock"; 38 Alleyne Street; 13 Archer Street "Churnleigh"; 246 Mowbray Road "Windsor Gardens"; 253 Mowbray Road; Filigree – 143 High Street "Tyneside"; 8-10 Moriarty Street "Waratah"; 245 Mowbray Road "Oakfield"; 142A Sydney Street.

Victorian Gothic

Scale

Intimate and modest scale - usually single storey in Willoughby - despite steeply pitched roof and prominent gables.

Massing

General Roof Shape: Steep pitched (45o-60o) roof with prominent gables over projecting room bays.

Building Envelope: Irregular, asymmetrical massing, though some of the single storey houses in Willoughby have more formal principal elevations with a verandah to one side of a projecting gabled room bay on the front facade.

Facade Openings/Proportions: Decorative facade with asymmetrical arrangement of openings.

Materials & Details

Roof: Usually slate, some iron roofs; tall mediaeval looking sculptured chimneys.

Walls: Grey stucco walls sometimes imitating stone; stone walls; brick walls with decorative quoining.

Joinery & Decoration: Elaborately carved decorative timber "traceried" bargeboards and fretwork; turned finials and pendants.

Windows & Doors: Tall narrow casement windows with leadlight panels; bay windows; groups of windows; masonry mullion.

Verandahs: Intricate cast iron fringes and brackets to cast iron verandah posts.

Victorian Italianate

Scale

Imposing, even for single storey houses, with "landmark" elements of towers and faceted bays.

Massing

General Roof Shape: Generally low to medium pitched hipped roof with octagonal or pyramidal tower elements e.g. over the projecting front room bay, typically found in more modest single storey houses, such as the few in Willoughby.

Building Envelope: Asymmetrical but still formal, principal elevation.

Facade Openings/Proportions: Grouped openings of windows and colonnades.

Materials & Details

Roof: Usually slate; decorative moulded chimney pots.

Walls: Usually grey stucco with moulded ornamental finishes.

Joinery & Decoration: Moulded architraves; bracketed eaves.

Windows & Doors: Curved, arched or stilted segmental window heads; faceted bay windows; coloured and etched glass of reds, blues, greens, purples and yellows; elaborate four panel doors with raised mouldings.

Verandahs: Deep verandahs (loggias); encaustic or tessellated tile or marble hall and porch floors; some iron filigree work on valances, posts, balustrades.

2.2 Federation – c.1890 – c.1915

The main strands of Federation housing found in Willoughby are the Queen Anne style and to a lesser extent the Arts & Crafts and Federation Bungalow styles, though some architect-designed domestic or public buildings exemplify other styles, for example, the Federation Tudor/Gothic of Innisfallen Castle, the Federation and Romanesque of The Hotel Willoughby and the Federation Gothic of Northbridge suspension bridge and St Leonards Catholic Church, Naremburn.

2.2.1 Federation Queen Anne

In the Federation period, wood replaced cast iron for structural and ornamental components of verandahs: "The use of steam and, later, electricity to operate tools such as the bandsaw, jigsaw and the lathe made it possible for pieces of wood of many shapes and sizes to be made quickly, easily, relatively cheaply and in large quantities".

Timber posts, balustrades, brackets and valances had a chunkier quality than wrought iron which by the early twentieth century was seen as rather old fashioned. Some buildings used both: the few buildings in Willoughby combining timber and iron decoration do not have the intricately textured screen that was the epitome of the Federation Filigree style though the two storey mansions at 130 Fullers Road and 27 Archer Street are indicative of this style.

The other major material changes were the use of unglazed terracotta Marseilles pattern tile roofing – though slate roofing with terracotta decoration (ridge cappings and finials) also occurred in the early period – and reddish face brick walls, usually tuck pointed on the street facade, which replaced Victorian grey stucco finishes.

The roof became a dominant feature with its steeper pitch and, on larger houses, an ensemble of varied roof shapes evolving from a usually hipped, pyramidal main roof. A prominent gable usually faced the street and the verandah tended to be incorporated in the main roof.

The Federation Queen Anne style embodied influences of the English and the more extravagant American styles of the same name, along with some distinctly Australian features. This was the dominant style of Australian domestic architecture during the decades immediately before and after 1900, a period of accelerated suburban expansion based on improved public transport. The first growth spurt in Willoughby occurred at this time with more dense urban settlement near the new railway stations and along tram routes. Willoughby has a wide range of Federation housing types in a variety of locations as a result.

Local examples: 28 Albert Avenue (large single storey house); 97 Ashley Street "Ashley House" (two storey mansion); 17 Beauchamp Street (single storey house); 21 Beauchamp Street (single storey house); 34 Johnson Street, Chatswood; 238-238A Penshurst Street (large single storey house); 11, 13, 17, 21 Robinson Street (single storey houses).

Federation Queen Anne

Scale

Moderate domestic scale of usually single storey in Willoughby, varying from picturesque but imposing larger two storey mansions to elegant grand villas, modest single dwellings and narrow fronted workers' cottages.

Massing

General Roof Shape: Roof dominant with an ensemble of varied roof shapes of moderate to steep pitch; prominently featured subsidiary gables of different sizes; conical tower-like or pyramidal "candle snuffer" roof elements; multiple chimneys, tall with decorative cappings, e.g. lantern shaped with terracotta pot or pots.

Building Envelope: Asymmetrical, informal, picturesque massing, including projecting room bays and diagonally projecting corners; deliberate avoidance of three dimensional simplicity. Smaller houses often have simple plan-shapes with corridor from front door past living rooms and bedrooms to the kitchen, bathroom and laundry at the rear: typically one room at the front projects forward towards the street and a veranda extends across the remainder of the frontage in the more modest houses and worker's cottages.

Facade Openings/Proportions: Varied informal ensemble of openings, usually tall narrow windows, often grouped.

Materials & Details

Roof: Slate gradually supplemented by the more common French Marseilles tile; terracotta ridge and apex ornaments.

Walls: Warm red brick, often dichromatic, with tuck pointing on street facades; some contrasting rough cast walling; half timbered effects in gable; occasional pressed metal wall and verandah ceiling sheeting.

Joinery & Decoration: Painted timber detailing; timber gable screen; bracketed projecting or "flying" gable; ornamental timber frieze or valance often with turned or fretwork elements; sometimes curvilinear Art Nouveau timber ornaments.

Windows & Doors: Casements with Art Nouveau inspired leadlights; sometimes casements on front facade but double-hung on side walls with multi-paned, (sometimes coloured glass) upper sashes; accent windows, including round windows, bay windows and oriels.

Verandahs: Wide verandah, often wrapped around more than one side on larger houses; timber posts with ornamental brackets, balustrades and valances.

2.2.2 Cottage Forms

Most of Willoughby's Federation housing was fairly modest. Naremburn's unique and cohesive settlement of small single fronted workers' cottages developed within walking distance of the station, brick pits and other industry. And, on the other hand, two storey mansions and commodious single storey grand villas were scattered or found in enclaves in select new suburbs and on more isolated, larger land holdings.

While sharing similar characteristic Federation materials and design elements, there are considerable differences in scale, complexity, massing and richness of decoration between the grand villas, houses and single fronted workers' cottages of this period as illustrated below. The roof profile of the smaller forms, while still prominent visually, is much plainer: cottages tend to have a single gabled room bay to one side of the main hipped (sometimes gambrel) form, while the single fronted cottages in Naremburn usually have either a reduced version of this roof shape or a single gable facing the street with a hipped roof behind.

2.2.3 Arts & Crafts

Compared with the Queen Anne, the Arts & Crafts' style is less common in Willoughby: it tends to be more informal in planning, massing, fenestration and landscaping and have a more unassuming, homely feeling. The roof is a dominant element, featuring gables (with barges or parapets) and/or hips of medium to steep pitch with prominent eaves, sometimes wide enough to require brackets.

In contrast with Queen Anne red brick, painted pebble-dash stucco (rough cast) is commonly used on exterior walls and chimneys, together with other materials having earthy, "natural" colours and textures, such as wooden shingles, often used in gable ends, and stone, often used for basework and trim. In Willoughby, sandstone is much used for these purposes and also for fences of the period: "Hilton", 315 Mowbray Road makes a unique use of decorative stonework in an architect designed building which is more formal than the generally vernacular style of the bulk of Arts & Crafts houses in Willoughby. Touches of sinuous Art Nouveau detail are also common, for example in woodwork and stained glass.

Local examples: 19 Centennial Avenue; 8 Devonshire Street; 18 Findlay Avenue; 17 Fitzsimmons Avenue; 267 Mowbray Road (two storey house); 315 Mowbray Road "Hilton" (large architect-designed two storey house); 40 Stanley Street "Sherborne".

2.2.4 Federation Bungalow

This is a transitional style, which is a forerunner of the ground-hugging inter-war California Bungalow, with which it shares qualities of homely simplicity and robust honesty. It differs from the earlier Federation styles in its broad simple roof planes, often featuring an awning-like gabled roof with the ridge parallel to the street and with the main roof extending over the verandah.

It is generally single storey but sometimes has attic rooms in the roof space, which have small "eyelid" dormer windows, though this is very rare in Willoughby. Eaves are wide with exposed rafters. A prominent gable facing the street is often decorated with wall hung stained shingles and roof ventilators.

Verandahs have simple masonry pier supports and/or simple, sturdy timber posts. Walls are rough cast and face brick, sometimes in contrasting sections. Stone is also used in Willoughby for basework, verandah columns and pier cappings. Leadlights are used sparingly, usually in simple rectangular or diamond grid patterns.

Local examples: 60 Centennial Avenue; 4 Chapman Avenue; 24 Fullers Road (two storey house); 12 Harden Avenue, Artarmon; 22 Holland Street, Chatswood; 235 Mowbray Road; 237 Mowbray Road; 271 Mowbray Road; (single storey large houses); 50 Sydney Street, Willoughby "Boronia"; 96 Sydney Street, Willoughby.

2.3 Inter-War Modern – c.1915 – c.1940

2.3.1 California Bungalow

This earthy and unpretentious style was based on a distinctive type of rustic, Japanese-influenced single storey detached house which developed in the Los Angeles suburbs to become the standard unit of US west coast suburbia by the outbreak of World War I. The Australian version also became the most common housing style of its time, being embraced by speculative builders from the early 1920's until the Depression. Willoughby has a rich variety of California Bungalows.

The hallmarks of the standard bungalow are a visually dominant, low-pitched spreading roof, with wide overhanging eaves, exposed rafters and bargeboarded gables facing the street, on a simple rectangular house plan, with walls of dark red or purplish, liver-coloured face brick. A distinctive feature is the deep, shady verandah under a low pitched or flat roof that is supported by substantial masonry piers, sometimes with squat colonettes or grouped timber posts.

In Willoughby, orange-red Marseilles pattern tiles most commonly cover the main roof, while unobtrusive corrugated iron, or usually bitumimous felt, is used on flat veranda roofs.

Bargeboards are visually prominent but plain, often with raked edges to accentuate the sweep of the roof. Simple designs of strapwork, shingling and ventilators are common end gable infills. External timber joinery is generally plain, compared with Federation decoration, and painted. Window frames, often mounted on the outside face of the wall, sometimes have skirts of shingles or boards.

Occasionally walls are pebbledash though pebbledash accents are more common, for example, on heavy tapered masonry verandah pylons or as infills on low veranda walls. Smooth riverstone detailing, e.g. as verandah supports or as an external chimney wall, is very rare in Willoughby, but rusticated sandstone is frequently used in foundations, decorative masonry finishes and low walls.

The Bungalow usually has only one prominent main fireplace to the living room/main bedroom, with a second chimney to the kitchen/laundry, compared with the multiplicity for earlier styles, and the dominant chimney is sometimes placed externally on or near the street elevation. Window openings are usually grouped, especially on street facades and to main rooms, with casement sashes favoured, sometimes with stylised geometric leadlight glazing having coloured glass, often blue, accents. Half-glazed, usually single, entry doors are typical.

A separate garage, typically for a single car, began to appear to the side and behind the house in the backyard. This was usually a small unobtrusive shed with double hinged timber doors, either lightly framed in timber or steel with a corrugated iron roof or in the same brick and tile as the main house.

Post and wire fences replaced the timber picket fences associated with the former Victorian and Federation styles. Some Willoughby houses still display the timber pergola entryways typical of the era.

A local example: 36 Findlay Avenue, Roseville

2.3.2 1930's Bungalow

The Depression ushered in a period of more austere buildings: the bulk of Willoughby's small houses from this period are usually fairly plain dark red to liver coloured brick bungalows with hipped (concrete or Marseilles pattern) tile roofs.

Massing is still informal but the roof is lower and visually less dominant than the standard California Bungalow: the distinctive gables facing the street are replaced by a simple hipped roof, which sometimes has a smaller secondary hip over a small centrally placed verandah or porch. In others, the main roof is gabled with the ridgeline parallel to the street. Eaves decreased in size: exposed rafters were replaced by boxed eaves. Chimneys became lower, narrower and less decorative. Sometimes the colour of the roof became an important decorative element with variegated multi-coloured tiles.

The deep verandah of the California Bungalow also decreased in size during the 1930's until it disappeared to be replaced by a recessed entry – sometimes a porch with decorative brickwork or slender Georgian style flanking columns. In transitional styles, the formerly open verandah of the California Bungalow was often closed-in with glazing similar to the rest on the front facade.

Sometimes the unpainted face brick walls feature clinker or textured bricks, with occasional herringbone patterns or chequered brick nogging. Rusticated sandstone undercrofts, which occasionally house single car garages, are common on sloping sites and some sandstone detailing, e.g. on columns, occurs.

Windows and doors became visually important decorative elements in what was otherwise an often plain facade in the later houses. Boxed casements, sometimes bayed and supported on corbelled brickwork, gave way to recessed double hung timber framed windows. Leadlight glazing, often in geometric patterns with light blue, opaque white or textured glass accents, was one of the few decorative features.

Earlier houses generally have half-glazed single entry doors, some with textured glass panels. Double glazed entry doors and French doors also occur while the later plainer bungalows tended to have more solid doors with smaller glazed areas.

A single car garage became standard: this was generally provided as a separate building behind the house – usually a simple shed with double opening, sometimes half-glazed, timber doors – or sometimes as a low wing to the side of the house; occasionally, where lot width or topographic restrictions discouraged these more typical options, the garage was built in to a front boundary wall or incorporated as a front projecting wing of the house itself.

The 1930's Depression also saw the period revival styles introduced in the 1920's in the houses still being built for the middle and upper classes. Willoughby has a few simple, symmetrical rectangular Inter-War Georgian Revival houses with their restrained face brick or plain stucco walls and moderately pitched, tiled hipped roofs.

Generally, however, this and other revival styles are found in Willoughby less as clear examples in themselves than as influences modulating the more common "spec built" 1930's brick bungalow. For example, Georgian columns may decorate the portals of the entry porch of an otherwise plain liver brick bungalow or the Spanish Mission style may be seen in the three half-arched windows on a red brick facade.

Many bungalows show one or more aspects of the popular Inter-War Old English (Tudor revival) style: its asymmetrical massing, medium pitch gabled roofs usually of tiles (sometimes in variegated colours) with timber bargeboards and imitation half-timbered gable infills, tall brick chimneys, or textured clinker face brick walls with herringbone or chequered brick nogging, bay windows, casement sashes with diamond pattern leadlight glazing, and arched entry porches.

The final expression of the speculatively built popular 1930's bungalow incorporated a mix of revival styles usually in simplified form.

2.3.3 Spanish Mission

The Spanish Mission style, developed in California after the 1890's, created an image of a romantic past, which was popularised in the Inter-war period by Hollywood stars who used it for their luxurious, well-publicised homes. The style imported to Australia was seen as an attractive option during the Depression for a "middle class" house, a cinema or even a service station: probably its most visible examples in Willoughby are the decorative stucco commercial buildings on opposite corners of William Street at 985 –989 Pacific Highway, though the houses of this type are scattered through the conservation areas.

Spanish Mission houses have generally asymmetrical massing, round-headed arched openings (usually in groups of three) of, for example, windows onto loggias, which are another distinctive feature. The arches are supported by either twisted "barley sugar" or chevron decorated baroque columns or plain, heavy piers.

Walls are stucco with an exaggerated texture "to simulate peon-built adobe masonry", usually cream painted. The medium pitch hipped or gabled roofs often have half-round orange terracotta tiles of Roman or Spanish flavour: the chimney and gables sometimes have a tile capping, with stucco finished up to the underside of the tiles edging decorative parapets. The building is often remarkable for the amount of ornament, including black wrought iron work, for example, as lanterns, balustrades or open work screens in arched window or loggia openings. There are sometimes ledged and boarded window shutters and heavy timber doors with decorative wrought iron screens over their small glazed lights.

2.3.4 Functionalist

The Inter-War Functionalist style was a major departure which had its roots in Europe and in the idea that the designed object should be 'functional' above all else. It was the forerunner of the international styles which developed more vigorously after the Second World War. While not a widely popular movement, the distinctive "oceanliner" or "waterfall" house was its mainstream expression in domestic architecture for the middle and upper classes: Willoughby has a scattering of these as well as a few more radical, unadorned 'Bauhaus' influenced 'Modern' houses though most of these are from the post war period.

The functionalist style is characterised by an asymmetrical massing of simple geometric shapes and contrasting horizontal and vertical motifs. Major changes in materials were the use of steel and reinforced concrete to achieve wide spans, continuous windows and cantilevered balconies, hoods, roofs (even in domestic buildings) and metal framed, usually steel windows, also in large horizontal expanses. The horizontal "ribbon" window was a major stylistic change from the vertical openings of earlier styles. Glass bricks are also used.

The roof is often concealed by a parapet. Walls usually have plain surfaces of light toned cement or face brick. While one strand of this style emphasises sharply rectangular geometric lines, as in the two storey house built in 1949 at 40 Findlay Avenue, the more usual "oceanliner" or "waterfall house" has curving shapes, rounded corners, including curved glass windows, wrapping around corners.

The most common expression of the "waterfall house" was a brick cottage with horizontal rounded corners on its front facade, alternating bands of brick and cream stucco, horizontal steel casement windows on its corners, porthole accent windows (including a porthole on the front door) and boxed flush eaves to its low pitched hipped roof of cement tiles.

Design Guidelines

1. Conservation Principles

2. Typical Building Styles and Periods

1. Conservation Principles

1.1 The Importance of Fabric

1.1.1 Step 1: Research

1.1.2 Step 2: Advice

1.1.3 Step 3: Detail

1.2 Maintenance and Restoration

1.2.1 Roofs

1.2.2 Walls

1.2.3 Verandahs

1.2.4 Windows, Doors and Decorative Joinery

1.2.5 Shopfronts

1.2.6 Colour Schemes and Finishes

1.2.7 Landscaping, Fences and Gates

1.3 Alterations and Additions

1.3.1 Sympathetic Development

1.3.2 Principles

1.3.3 Types of Additions to Houses

1.3.4 Car Parking and Access

1.3.5 Pools, Tennis Courts and Other Outbuildings

1.4 Infill Development

1.4.1 "Filling in the Gaps"

1.4.2 Imitation vs Sympathetic Design

1.4.3 Principles

2. Typical Building Styles and Periods

2.1 Victorian – c.1840 – c.1890

2.1.1 Victorian Georgian/Regency

2.1.2 Victorian Gothic/Italian/Filigree

2.2 Federation – c.1890 – c.1915

2.2.1 Federation Queen Anne

2.2.2 Cottage Forms

2.2.3 Arts & Crafts

2.2.4 Federation Bungalow

2.3 Inter-War Modern – c.1915 – c.1940

2.3.1 California Bungalow

2.3.2 1930's Bungalow

2.3.3 Spanish Mission

2.3.4 Functionalist

Willoughby City Council