144 Adderley Street

Historical Note – 142, 144 & 148 Adderley Street, West Melbourne

The land now occupied by 142–148 Adderley Street was first developed in the early 1870s, when Peter Cunningham erected a group of simple timber weatherboard cottages.

Those earlier dwellings were later demolished. In 1891 the then owner, Hugh Cunningham, lodged a notice of intention to build with the Melbourne City Council (fee £7 10s 0d) and engaged an architect named Webb to design three two-storey houses. At that time two architects of the name Webb practiced in Melbourne: Charles Webb of Brighton and William H. Webb of Errol Street, North Melbourne. On the balance of probabilities it is William H. Webb who is considered the designer of these three terraces. The builder named on the notice was W. A. Butler of South Street, Ascot Vale.

The 1895 Melbourne & Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) map records three identical building outlines on the site, each complete with a front verandah, confirming the form of the 1891 terrace group.

142 Adderley remains in unaltered state however sometime during the 1930s, houses 144 and 148 underwent remodeling that removed their archways, columns and upper verandahs. Behind the altered front walls, however, the essential structure of the original 1891 buildings designed by Webb and constructed by Butler remains intact.

This account has been assembled with gratitude for the painstaking work of Miles Lewis and the many volunteers who deciphered the Winston Burchett cards and compiled the Australian Architectural Index, thereby enabling the scattered pieces of this local history to be brought together.

Burchett index