16 Agett Road, Claremont

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c. 1983

Overview

Photograph taken through open iron gates, to lawn and brick paved drive. House with brown shingled upper storey and fawn stucco to ground floor. White woodwork including upper casement windows, struts to wide eaves, decorative moulding on large chimney and double French doors opening onto paved area.

Historical information

16 Agett Road, Claremont sits on a 1402m² lot (aka 55.4 perches or just over a third of an acre in the 1900s terminology). The house was built for himself by Williams, a builder. The shingled first floor, the lack of historical stylisms and the open decorative exposure of construction reflect the influence of the Arts and Craft Movement. Other details are Art Nouveau.

From 'Looking around Perth, A guide to the architecture of Perth and surrounding towns' compiled by I Molyneux for the RAIA (WA Chapter). This imposing, two-storey, unconventional Williams' house, built on a large block, faces West instead of the street. It has wide eaves, ornate chimneys. The upper storey, window shades and porch roof are shingled.

Known as Sorrento when Williams lived there.

When Williams left in 1926 it was converted into 4 flats and subsequently a boarding house until c.1935. It was let as flats in 1950s.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-28--5-271

Item type

Photographs

Themes

Social History

Material

Photographic Materials

Contextual information

There is no record of the reasoning behind the naming of Agett Road.
The estate was subdivided and sold from 1896 and Agett Road sites were advertised from 1897. The story is that the road was named after Du Bois Agett, a stockbroker who worked for the Stock Exchange London before arriving in Western Australia in 1830. Agett settled with his wife and family and was granted a total of 3380 acres (1368ha) which he took up in the Avon Valley near York and on the Swan River west of Caversham. Agett was not successful in his farming ventures and moved to Perth where he was appointed Clerk and Warehouse Keeper at the Customs Department in Fremantle in 1848 and then Assistant District Registrar at Fremantle in 1864. Agett died in1866. It is not known what, if any connection, Du Bois Agett had with Claremont.

Agett Road
Streets Of Claremont, Town Of Claremont

Keywords

1980s

Place made

Claremont, Western Australia, Australia

Year

c. 1983

Links to additional resources

Claremont Museum. [www.claremont.wa.gov.au]

Last modified

Monday, 21 September, 2026

Completeness