31 Burton Road

This is a house dating from 1907-8, designed by Parker & Unwin in the Arts & Crafts style. It is constructed from brick and pebbledash, with a plain tile roof that overhangs, featuring a cruciform brick ridge stack and a stack rising from a dormer in the roof pitch.

The house has an unusual layout of two rectangular blocks forming a basic ‘L’ shape, with projecting sections on the outer sides, and the entrance diagonally across the inner angle. The northwest, or entrance, elevation features a flat-roofed porch bay of polygonal plan in the angle, containing a plank door flanked by two-light casement windows. Further two-light casements are to the left and right of the porch. The first floor has two single-light eyebrow half dormers, with a grouping of three treated as a single feature. The west elevation includes a three-light, a two-light, a single-light, and a two-light casement window, all with dripmoulds, alongside one eyebrow half dormer. A full-height square bay with four-light casements to each floor is a distinctive feature of the north elevation.

The garden front has two full-height bow windows at the outer angle of the ‘L’, each with an overhanging roof projecting at a right angle and a five-light window to each floor. An extruded bay to the right has two two-light casements on the ground floor, a two-light and a three-light above. Further along is a projecting verandah, now incorporated into a later conservatory, with a catslide roof, and a Mansard roofed dormer above featuring a tall brick stack flanked by casement windows, with a tile hung outer face. A projecting wing is to the left of the bows, with a two-light casement on the ground floor, recessed and set diagonally across the angle, accompanied by a single light window to the return of the recessed bay. To the left are two single light windows, finished with a three-light eyebrow half dormer above. Lean-to service rooms are situated to the left.

Internally, the original open-plan living space was quickly divided by timber partitions, possibly designed by Parker & Unwin. This created a division by a staircase with stick balusters, ball finials, and a wrought iron lamp bracket to the upper flight. The dining room contains a fireplace alcove with built-in seats, cupboards and a wine rack, alongside a fireplace with a keyblock and exposed beams. The sitting room showcases segmental arches to the bows and a fireplace splayed diagonally across the inner wall. Bedrooms feature various fitted cupboards, window seats, and a blue tiled alcove serving as a built-in washstand. Original features include plank doors and wrought iron and brass door furniture.