13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs, NT
Arid A Type Residence
13 McMinn Street – southwest elevation.
Source: Environment Resources Management, 2009.
Finance ID
Number
DFD61029
Commonwealth
Heritage List
(CHL) Place ID
Number
105436
Current Status
(including CHL
Place ID Number)
Arid A Type Residence,13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs is listed on the
Commonwealth Heritage List (Site ID: 105436)
Ownership
13 McMinn Street is owned by the Department of Finance on behalf of the
Commonwealth.
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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Location
Location of 13 McMinn Street
Source: Google maps
Description
13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs, is an ‘Arid A’ type house situated on a
rectangular plot without a formal garden or lawn, although several mature trees
line the property boundary along the fence.
The house is a 3 bedroom, single storey, timber framed and fibro clad house. It is
elevated by concrete piers and has a galvanized iron roof and guttering. The
building is divided into a living room with a brick fireplace, bathroom, kitchen,
laundry and two breezeways, which flank the interior rooms allowing air
circulation through multiple windows.
External windows are wooden and side hung with separate fly wired screens.
Internal windows are louvre. The floors are timber, covered in linoleum. The
kitchen is new with wooden cupboards and an electric stove.
There is a detached, concrete outhouse positioned at the rear of the property,
adjacent to which stands a small galvanized iron shed that is a later addition to
the property.
13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs.
Source: Department of the Environment, 2007.
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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Landscape Setting
The plot is located on the east side of Alice Springs, which is a flat area of land
developed approximately 50m east of the Todd river.
The property includes a house located almost in the centre of a plot (Lot 489,
1330 square metres) facing south, a small improvised garage located
immediately behind and to the north of the house, as well as an outhouse, small
shed located at the rear of the property along the northern fence, and plantings.
Heritage Objects
and Collections
Not applicable.
History and
Summary of Uses
13 McMinn Street was one of 16 ‘Arid A’ type houses of a total of 37 Lots on the
East Side originally built for government use by the Commonwealth government,
which administered government affairs in the Northern Territory until 1978.
Since then, the property has remained in Commonwealth ownership. Both
Territory and Commonwealth governments owned a substantial number of
houses and flats for rental purposes on favourable terms to permanent
employees of government services.
Timeline
1949 Lot 489 (13McMinn Street) was set aside for returned servicemen but was
withdrawn and reserved for Government use.
1950 As at July 26, only the foundation for an Arid 'A’ type residence had been
laid.
1953 The residence is completed.
1966 The detail plan of August shows no change from the 1953 plan.
1970 Current tenant takes up residency while working as a government
employee. According to the tenant, the residence had been unoccupied for some
years prior to 1970.
1984 A freehold Certificate of Title, in the name of the Commonwealth of
Australia, was registered on February 14.
1991 A report prepared for the National Trust, describes the condition of the
house as ‘suspect’ but that it remained the most pristine example of an Arid ‘A’
type house and therefore worthy for inclusion on the Register of the National
Estate.
2003-2008 The house is renovated with new external and internal paint,
renovated internal roofing, new linoleum over wooden flooring, new kitchen.
Present day Today, only one ‘Arid A’ type house, 13 McMinn Street developed
by the Commonwealth government remains in Commonwealth Government
ownership.
Statutory Heritage Values
Gazetted
Statement of
Significance -
The building has integrity as an example of the Arid Type ‘A’ House, a
transportable housing type developed by the Post World War II Northern
Territory Administration to provide urgently needed accommodation for its
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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Commonwealth
Heritage List
employees at a time when materials were scarce and it was difficult to attract
skilled labour to a remote community. This type of housing was specially
designed to cope with the arid climate with the principal living area isolated from
the exterior walls by passage ways along the front and rear of the house
(Criterion D2).
Criterion A Processes
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion B –
Rarity
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion C –
Research
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion D –
Characteristic
Value
The building has integrity as an example of the Arid Type " A" House, a
transportable housing type developed by the Post World War II Northern
Territory Administration to provide urgently needed accommodation for its
employees at a time when materials were scarce and it was difficult to attract
skilled labour to a remote community. This type of housing was specially
designed to cope with the arid climate with the principal living area isolated
from the exterior walls by passageways along the front and rear of the house.
Attributes
All aspects of the building's design, particularly its transportability and its use of
passage ways along the front and rear of the house.
Criterion E –
Aesthetic
characteristics
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion F –
Technical
achievement
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion G – Social 13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Value
Criterion H –
Significant people
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion I Indigenous
tradition
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Department of Finance’s (Finance) updated heritage assessment
Finance’s updated
Statement of
Significance
Finance completed a Heritage Management Plan for the place in 2009. The plan
validated the CHL listing with no proposed amendments to the statement of
significance. However, the assessment against the CHL criteria identified
additional values.
Criterion A Processes
13 McMinn Street demonstrates the response of Government to a housing
shortage in Alice Springs following WWII.
Criterion B –
Arid A type houses are an unusual architectural type of government housing of
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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Rarity
the post-war era. 13 McMinn Street is an uncommon, surviving and largely intact
example of this type of building.
Criterion C –
Research
As a well preserved example of the ‘Arid A’ type house, which utilised new
building materials, 13 McMinn Street stands as an historical marker of the
evolution of building in Australia. The building represents a design, which was
cheap to build and suited the conditions of Alice Springs.
13 McMinn Street reflects an era of expansion and growth experienced
throughout Australia after WWII.
Criterion D –
Characteristic
Value
The building has integrity as an example of the Arid Type " A" House, a
transportable housing type developed by the Post World War II Northern
Territory Administration to provide urgently needed accommodation for its
employees at a time when materials were scarce and it was difficult to attract
skilled labour to a remote community. This type of housing was specially
designed to cope with the arid climate with the principal living area isolated
from the exterior walls by passageways along the front and rear of the house.
Criterion E –
Aesthetic
characteristics
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Criterion F –
Technical
achievement
The house is an excellent example of an architectural design that utilised new
materials at the time of its construction, such as fibre-cement, which were to
become synonymous with the post-war housing boom in Australia.
The basic house design was expressed in a range of floor plan variations and was
part of an evolutionary process to provide low cost housing options at a time
when housing was in short supply in Alice Springs as well as throughout the
country.
Criterion G – Social 13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Value
Criterion H –
Significant people
The house is important as an intact representative of the Arid A type housing
form designed by B C G Burnett recognised as an innovative and influential
architect of the housing landscape in both Darwin and Alice Springs.
Criterion I Indigenous
tradition
13 McMinn Street does not fulfil this criterion.
Non-Statutory Listings
Register of the
National Estate
(RNE)
13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs, is included on the Register of the National
Estate, (Ref. 100233).
Additional information
Property Access
13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs is not accessible to the public.
Consultation
Department of Finance consulted with relevant Indigenous Community Groups,
and internal Finance stakeholders and contractors.
Any additional external consultation with other interested parties should include
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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the Compliance, Environment and Heritage team, Department of Finance.
Conservation
Documents/
References
Environmental Resources Management (2009), Heritage Management Plan: 13
McMinn Street, Alice Springs, NT. Department of Finance.
More information
For further information regarding 13 McMinn Street, Alice Springs, please
contact the Department of Finance.
Record last updated 15 January 2015 |
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