Historical information

The Kew Historical Society collection includes almost 100 subdivision plans pertaining to suburbs of the City of Melbourne. Most of these are of Kew, Kew East or Studley Park, although a smaller number are plans of Camberwell, Deepdene, Balwyn and Hawthorn. It is believed that the majority of the plans were gifted to the Society by persons connected with the real estate firm - J. R. Mathers and McMillan, 136 Cotham Road, Kew. The Plans in the collection are rarely in pristine form, being working plans on which the agent would write notes and record lots sold and the prices of these.

Significance

The subdivision plans are historically significant examples of the growth of urban Melbourne from the beginning of the 20th Century up until the 1980s. A number of the plans are double-sided and often include a photograph on the reverse. A number of the latter are by noted photographers such as J.E. Barnes.

Physical description

This is a second, more complete version of the Corsewall Estate subdivision that is held by the Society. The Coreswall Estate was a subdivision, bordering on Barkers Road and Auburn Road, which created Corsewall Close. This relatively late subdivision included 29 allotments. The subdivision plan includes the dimensions of each lot as well as the width of the existing and projected roads and turning circles. The Corsewall Close Precinct is now listed on the Victorian Heritage Database (HO147) and is noted for its ‘consistent flat-type development over the entire street, which has been cleverly designed to make multi-unit dwellings appear as single buildings’. In this second version of the plan, the rarity of this late subdivision is emphasised by the auctioneers. The original plan must have contained a photograph, which is unfortunately truncated here.