Historical information

The National Trust (Victoria) citation on the Heritage Victoria Database describes Lalla Rookh as charming and rare example of a substantial domestic building from the depths of the depression of the 1890s. It was Classified by the Trust on 22/04/1971. The first Kew Urban Conservation Study established that the house was built in 1897 for John Duncan, civil servant. By 1910 William Robert Frayne, chemist, had purchased the property. When the building was listed by the National Estate the building was described as: '... Single-storied, the symmetrical, stuccoed house features a central porch with an arched opening and pedimented consoles and a bull-nose verandah which returns down both sides and is constructed with cast iron columns and friezes. A balustraded parapet crowns the main walls of the house. The encaustic tiled verandah is distinctive.'

Significance

"Lalla Rookh", 41 Fellows Street, Kew, is of architectural interest as a representative example of a villa house of the period and also forms pan of the townscape of Kew. In a late version of Boom Style Classicism, the basically modest and conventionally planned house is proportioned to emphasise the porch and heavy balustrade, contrasting with the verandah and plain wall surfaces. The parapet may have had urns originally. The encaustic tiled verandah is of note. ... Of local significance.'

Physical description

Photographic print positive of the facade of Lalla Rookh at 41 Fellows Street, Kew.