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St. James Rectory, 12 Harvey St. The rectory is a 1½ storey gable end cottage, built with local yellow brick. symmetrically balanced with a central door, flanked by a window on either side, similar to the small Georgian house, with the exception of a tall, pointed gable over the front door. The standardized plan could be individualized through a host of available details and finishes. The second floor door is one of these oddities that are not uncommon, and probably exists because the builder decided he’d prefer a sloped verandah over a flat-roofed porch with balcony. The verandah roof is supported by a geometric patterned grille design, rather than by chamfered columns or square posts with decorated bases and heads. The steeply pitched front gable, with sculptured bargeboard, culminates with a finial which, instead of just soaring towards the heavens, flows downward, forming a carved teardrop pendant. The front door is “unusually” wide, with sidelights and transom. Large windows, with shutters on either side, complement the central door area in width (7.5 feet) and height (8.5 feet). The interior windows can be opened to the verandah. The 1½ gable ends of the house have bargeboard detail, ending with a finial pointer. Interesting brick patterns are on the top and sides of the windows. A horizontal brick pattern joins the two windows and defines the area between the first and second storey. The stone of the basement wall gradually increases on the slope of the hill, to become the third storey back of the house. The stone of the church, together with the stone of the Rectory basement and the stone wall along Harvey Street, provides a link, holding the property together into one architectural theme or style.
Photograph, c1910, from the archives of the
Perth Museum, Don Little collection.
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