The heritage-listed "Peterleigh Grove and Kalimna Street precinct" in Essendon is a residential area comprising houses from c.1880 to c.1945.
These Federation neighbours in Kiora Street, originally built around 1903, are among intact groups of Edwardian era housing both in Kiora Street, and in Kalimna Street, along with large heritage Edwardian villas and inter-war bungalows along Pascoe Vale Road in Essendon, Victoria.
These Federation homes at 3-5 Kiora Street are notable for their high degree of intactness, and survive with their" presentation to the street being largely unaltered, including original front fences and low height fences meaning that dwellings are easily visible from the street". Car parking is uniformly kept to the rear of the blocks.
Both Federation properties are substantially extended (without being visible from the street) and boast beautiful gardens and landscaping: Text-book examples of sympathetic development. All their updated kitchens and bathrooms are of the highest quality.
"The nineteenth century Victorian-era houses in Essendon are a reminder of the substantial villas and mansions built during the 1880s boom, while the later Federation development provides a tangible illustration of how the development of improved transport networks in the twentieth century led to closer settlement, which included subdivision of nineteenth century mansion estates." - Victorian Heritage
'Kainga' at number 5 has a sweeping open-plan kitchen and living room, with over-sized bedrooms. including a master bedroom with ensuite and dressing room. From this gallery you can see the preservation of Federation features such as fireplaces and Art Nouveau leadlight windows. Extensions include an indoor swimming pool!
The heritage listing for Kianga notes that this house "is aesthetically important as a picturesque villa of its type, because the juxtaposition of the gable ends gives emphasis to the diagonal axis in a comparatively novel manner, this aspect being a distinguishing characteristic of the Australian Federation villa, The spacious mature garden setting enhances its aesthetic values." - Victoria Heritage
The residence at number 3 Kiora Street displays a fusion of period style and contemporary flair delivering a flexible indoor/outdoor lifestyle and includes five large bedrooms and a study. Once again period features are still beautifully preserved.
References:
Victoria Heritage Database: