| Photographs: | |
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| List: | Register of the National Estate |
| Class: | Historic |
| Legal Status: | Registered (14/05/1991) |
| Place ID: | 3352 |
| Place File No: | 1/17/001/0009 |
| Statement of Significance: |
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| Haberfield was Australia's first comprehensively planned and developed garden suburb, establishing a model for Australia's suburban development in the twentieth century (Criterion B.2). Astutely conceived and promoted by Richard Stanton, a Summer Hill real estate agent and former Mayor of Ashfield, Haberfield comprised individually designed, locally adapted Queen Anne style houses, set along tree lined streets, which were antithesis of the unhealthy crowded inner city suburbs (Criterion D.2). Haberfield's significance derives from its successful adaptation of the garden suburb idea and the architectural quality of its houses related in style and character, but carefully individualised in form and detail (Criterion F.1). |
| Official Values: Not Available |
| Description: |
| Haberfield was largely developed in the first quarter of the twentieth century, as a number of housing estates marketed by Richard Stanton, with later adjoining estates by other companies seeking to emulate Stanton's success in the area. On his estates Stanton offered design and build packages, each house individually designed by the company architects, with interior fittings and finishes selected by purchasers from the on site showroom display and gardens established by his estate staff. Through his comprehensive marketing and covenants on the titles to his sites, Stanton achieved a remarkably harmonious and homogeneous, development. Unsympathetic alteration of the suburb's houses and redevelopment of some individual sites led to community concern in the 1970s, which stimulated State and local governments to take conservation action. Regulations and guidelines for conservation and development works within the suburb are now being fine tuned in a comprehensive conservation study and while some older residents still have difficulty in accepting the constraints imposed by recognition of the area's heritage value, increasingly buoyant property values and enthusiastic newcomers support the conservation approach as part of the suburb's future. The Wadim (Bill) Jegorow Reserve has a monument with a plaque recording the naming of the Reserve in recognition of the services rendered between 1959 and 1980 by Alderman Jegorow MBE to the Ashfield Municipality and to the ethnic communities of New South Wales and Australia. Part of the inscription on the plaque is in Russian and this Reserve is the only public place in Australia under the control of the Federal, State or Local Government with an inscription in Russian on a monument. The Wadim (Bill) Jegorow Reserve and the Reg Coady Reserve are along Iron Creek. These reserves and the Richard Murden Reserve along the Hawthorne Canal are valuable buffers of landscaped passive recreation areas between Haberfield and adjacent suburbs. Federation Place is a valuable town square constructed in 1986 with planting, paving, recreation facilities and a pavilion on the corner of Ramsay Street and Gillies Avenue. It is also named Piazza Federazione as an acknowledgment of the great contribution to the development of Haberfield made by the numerous Italians residing locally. The Place is used by the community for functions and markets. |
| History: Not Available |
| Condition and Integrity: |
| While a small number of the Stanton houses have been altered irreversibly, the majority are in fair to excellent condition and capable of restoration/reconstruction works which would enhance their cultural significance. Some later housing on individual sites has been intrusive, but more strict planning policies are now being pursued in relation to infill development. (1990) |
| Location: |
| About 200ha, comprising the whole of the suburb of Haberfield (Post Code Area 2045), being the area bounded by Iron Creek, Iron Cove, Hawthorne Canal and Parramatta Road, Haberfield. |
| Bibliography: |
|
Burke,S. 'The
Development of The Garden Suburb Idea before the Great War and the conservation
of Haberfield', University of Sydney thesis, 1985. Crow,V. 'Haberfield - The Development of its character', 1978 Crow,V. 'Tour of Haberfield' 1978. Crow,V. 'Haberfield - The Federation Suburb' 1983. Heritage Council of NSW, 'Haberfield Conservation Area Proposed Guidelines' 1980. Heritage Council of NSW, 'The Conservation and Maintenance of Federation Houses', Seminar Proceedings, 1981,82,84,86. Moore,R.A. et al 'Haberfield Conservation Study' 1988. |
Report Produced: Wed Feb 10 00:50:59 2010