General News
7 August, 2024
First time in a century: home gets new cover
By CHRIS EARL TILES on a historic Inglewood home have been replaced for the first time since it was built more the a century ago. The Anchorage was last week surrounded by scaffolding as tradesmen scaled the roof to place more than 6500 tiles and...
By CHRIS EARL
TILES on a historic Inglewood home have been replaced for the first time since it was built more the a century ago.
The Anchorage was last week surrounded by scaffolding as tradesmen scaled the roof to place more than 6500 tiles and check original chimney pots.
The roof of the historic home built for businessman and town mayor George Porter in the Edwardian era was damaged by storms in early October 2022 and copped another battering 14 months later in the summer storms.
Current owners Stewart and Rebecca Luckman had spent two years restoring the grand Verdon Street home before the first storm damage.
“We had to match the colour and profile of the tiles as The Anchorage has a heritage overlay,“ Stewart said last week as workers put new tiles in place.
“There were tiles of the same profile in Italy but not the colour. The new tiles are in line with heritage guidelines - unglazed terracotta tile, with same or similar profile.
“The roof restoration required two builders, a plumber and six roof tilers taking almost four days from start to finish.
“They also removed hardwood timber battens and replaced the rotten hardwood timber trusses as well as the pointing of the ridge caps after they had been bedded.”
The Anchorage’s heritage overlay says the original Marseilles tiles were considered “to be the original part of the development and contribute significantly to the appearance of the building much like the Dutch gable”.
The Verdon Street property was owned by publican Thomas Tatchell in the 19th century before selling to the Porters who replaced the original weatherboard cottage with the brick and tiled roof home.
According to heritage studies, The Anchorage was one of the only Inglewood homes to have a tiled roof until the 1950s.
“The architecture of the house is not common in Inglewood and perhaps suggests the work of an outside architect.
“The residence reflects the social prestige of the Porter family and contributes to the prosperous character of this part of Inglewood.”
George Porter took over his father’s draper business that had been trading in Brooke Street since the 1880s and served on the borough council for 25 years, with nine terms as mayor.
The Porters were known to entertain family and visitors to town at The Anchorage. In the 1940s, George Porter was a leading advocate of decentralisation and boosting housing in country Victoria.
“We have five pubs, three grocers. three drapers, two butchers. and all the other businesses; and we have the best borough In the! world.” he said as mayor in 1942.
One of his initiatives as mayor was to form the Inglewood Health and Publicity Bureau to attract new residents to the town that had a population of 1100. Metropolitan newspapers reported that his idea attracted “nearly 200 applications for houses, mostly from families of soldiers overseas and they are still coming”.
Stewart said The Anchorage retained original features including a bath made in 1916 and tap fitting. The original servant’s kitchen, detached from the house, has also been restored by Stewart and Rebecca who plan to hold an open day in November.