| Address: | 210 Ocean Beach Road |
|---|---|
| Suburb: | Sorrento |
Turn of the century housing has been given the name Federation, recalling the establishment of Australia as a nation of federated states that occurred in 1901. These houses are usually larger than the Victorian cottages previously described. In Melbourne a particular type of aesthetic became popular, built of redbrick with a complex array of decorated hip and gable roofs usually made of orange Marseilles tiles. Typically these houses featured various window types, stained glass around entrance doorways, encompassed by a verandah with some timber fretwork and brackets. The Sorrento variation on this type, which we have already met, was built in the local limestone with red brick detailing, a hybrid between the Victorian cottage and the Federation house. Ellerslie is a good example. Tamar, a faux ashlar timber house, exemplifies a simple hipped Federation roof that embraces the verandah at a shallower pitch, and the L-shaped room with gable roof.
Interestingly a number of houses feature a street level garage/shed. These would have housed cars initially and are a reminder of how the car impacted on the town, particularly from the fifties onwards. It is worth considering what they contribute to neighbourhood character, and how the new concrete block garage fits with the old historic exemplars, and the original house on the hill. Such dominating garages are not now encouraged in the MPS Planning scheme.
“Lynwood” and “Ellerslie”, built 1896-99, 187 Ocean Beach Rd: 2013 ----- These adjoin properties continue the local motif of contrasting limestone with brick quoins and window dressing. Constructed for the wife of Cr. Ralph Marsden, owner of the “Stringer’s” stores and the Portsea Hotel.
Rai Rai, built 1903, 228 Ocean Beach Road: 2013 ----- Asymmetrical Victorian timber cottage enhanced by its setting under a bank of cypress trees.
Tamar, built 1920-21, 214 Ocean Beach Road: 2013 ----- An example of a late period style home interpreted with what could possibly be faux ashlar timber construction similar to Annandale.
