By Cathy Jones
Churchill Avenue Strathfield is located between The Boulevarde and Homebush Road. Part of this street is located in the Strathfield Town Centre. The construction of Raw Square, in the late 1960s, had the effect of bisecting the residential area of Churchill Avenue from Strathfield CBD.
Churchill Avenue was originally known as ‘The Avenue’. The name was changed due to duplication with a street with the same name in Homebush. The name Churchill was adopted after World War II and named after British Wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
Churchill Avenue, between Elva Street and Homebush Road contains primarily Federation styled buildings. The relatively late development of this estate occurred, because the much of the land was considered unusable due to the presence of a large watercourse, created by overflow water from Powells Creek (which runs at nearby Elva Street and finishes at Strathfield Square).
Most of the houses in Churchill Avenue were built in the early 1900s. The area between Elva Street and Homebush Road was listed as a heritage conservation area in 1987 in Strathfield Council’s Local Environmental Plan.
86 Churchill Ave Strathfield is located on land originally granted to Thomas Rose. Part of the land was acquired by James Richard Powell, who in 1903 sold nine acres to Robert Joshua King (1934) and Mary Anne Balmain (d1934), the wife of surveyor and Town Clerk of Strathfield Council, John Hope Balmain. King and Balmain subdivided the land into residential lots which was marketed as the ‘Kings Estate’. The Kings Estate created the western end of Churchill Avenue (then called The Avenue), Redmyre Road (part) and Homebush Road (part).
In 1908, John Lyon Gardner, a prominent Strathfield builder, purchased Lot 25. Gardner was responsible for the design and construction of a number of houses in Churchill Avenue, Redmyre Road, Albert Road and Vernon Street Strathfield.
Gardiner is the likely builder of the house which was constructed in 1909-1910. The house was named ‘Yularai’. In December 1910, he sold the house to Elsie May Wundaberg (1948), a widow. Wundaberg lived at ‘Yularai’ for a short time in 1912 and then rented the house to Arthur Yabsley in 1913, who called the house ‘Brantwood’. Wundaberg married Peter Almond in 1916 and a couple lived at the house, renaming it ‘Honumu’. Mrs Almond remained at ‘Honumu’ after the death of Peter Almond in 1924.
After 1925 the house was again tenanted, this time by John D Durham JP from 1927 to 1932. Mrs Almond is listed in 1936 and 1943 electoral rolls as residing on The Boulevarde Strathfield.
In 1949 after the death of Mrs Elsie Almond (in 1948), the house was transferred to Gordon Clarke Thompson and Henry Cecil Wilson and went through a quick succession of owners before being purchased by Ethel Mary Waters, a widow and Leonard Newman Poole, a solicitor in 1951. Waters and Poole retained the house until the death of Ethel Waters in 1962, where Leonard Poole was registered as the surviving owner. In 1962, Robert Killalea, medical practitioner and Ivy Killalea, his wife were registered as joint tenants.
References
Strathfield Council Building Registers
Land Title searches, NSW Land and Property Information
Sands Sydney and Suburbs Directory 1881-1933
