Building record MDR10869 - 63-67 Main Street, Kings Newton, Melbourne

It is possible that there have been buildings on the site of Nos 63-67 since the 12th century, rebuilt piecemeal over the centuries. The earliest surviving features of No. 65 are the two pairs of crucks, and the difference in their design suggests that they represent two building phases. Documentary sources suggest that Nos 63-67 were a single farmhouse in the early 17th century. It would appear that this farmhouse was divided into five one-bay cottages by 1790. In 1840 the property consisted of six cottages, presumably five along the street front, and a sixth behind the present No. 67. In addition a sixth cottage (now demolished) had been built at the north end of the croft. The cottages were reroofed as a whole, probably in the 1920s, when the eaves were raised. In the 1960s the cottages, with the exception of No. 65 which was tenanted, were gutted and substantially reconstructed. No. 65 is a single bay structure in the middle of a two-storey row of cottages, built mainly of brick and with tiled roofs. It is the sole survivor in unreconstructed state of the five one-bay cottages of 1790, and it is contained on its east and west sides by cruck trusses. The front elevation is of painted brick, and probably late 18th or early 19th century, except for the upper section which is early 20th century. (1)