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.
70 Churchill Ave Strathfield is built on a 1903 subdivision that was marketed as the ‘Kings Estate’. The estate was subdivided by Robert Joshua King (d.1934) and Mary Ann Balmain (d.1943), the wife of surveyor and Town Clerk of Strathfield Council, John Hope Balmain. The Kings Estate created the western end of Churchill Avenue (then called The Avenue), Redmyre Road (part) and Homebush Road (part).
Edward Percy Middleton purchased part lots 32 and 33 and applied to Strathfield Council to construct a brick cottage on September 12 1914. The cottage is described as more than six rooms at an estimated value of £829. The builder was S E Dickson, Rockdale. The completed house was named ‘Le Var’.
After his death in 1938, ‘Le Var’ was transferred to his widow Rosina Blanche Middleton and to his sons Malcolm Edward Middleton and Geoffrey Percy Middleton. Rosina died in 1942 and the property remained with the family until 1951 when it was sold to William Alexander Lord a pastoral inspector. In 1957 it was sold to Charles Beverley Newton, a dental surgeon who retain the property until 1972.
References
Family Notices (1942, April 14). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved January 4, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17811906
Family Notices (1938, May 23). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 10. Retrieved January 4, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17467719
Strathfield Council Building Registers
Land Title searches, NSW Land and Property Information
Sands Sydney and Suburbs Directory 1881-1933
Strathfield Heritage 