The Cliffe

The Cliffe is one of the first residential dwellings built in the Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove.

The house is located at 25 Bindaring Parade, Peppermint Grove and has historical associations with the prominent McNeil, Brisbane and McComb families.

The original house was designed by architect Clarence Wilkinson and built in 1894 for businessman and timber merchant Neil McNeil. Substantive additions, undertaken in 1899, were designed by prominent Western Australian architect J. Talbot Hobbs. Later additional and modifications to the house occurred in the 1930s and the 1960s when the northern wing, previously servants quarters were refurbished.[1]

The dwelling is designed in the Federation Bungalow style and built predominantly of jarrah. In 1914 Dr James Battye in his Cyclopedia of Western Australia described the dwelling as follows:

From the substantial foundation to the shingle roof every part of the structure is of jarrah, and after nearly twenty years - the house having been built in 1894 – every plank and beam and joist remain in as sound condition as when first they were cut to the contractor's design. Over twenty rooms are roofed beneath these jarrah shingles, and the interior is fitted up with all that art and comfort can suggest, while surrounding the house is a park of ten acres, tastefully laid out with lawns and flower-beds, and further beautified by the introduction of decorative statuary in bronze, collected by Mr McNeil on various trips to England and the Continent.

The Cliffe was built in 1894/95 by Neil McNeil on 10 acres (4 hectares) of land he had purchased in 1892 - one year after Peppermint Grove was surveyed into building allotments. McNeil was one of the first five landowners in the area and his name was given to McNeil Street which ran along the southern border of his property from the Swan River to what is now Stirling Highway. McNeil was one of the owners of the Jarrahdale Timber Company which exported timber for the paving of London Streets at the turn of the century. Because of his strong business interest in timber and his conviction of its suitability as a building material, McNeil built his home as a showpiece of jarrah construction. Unfortunately, McNeil's vision of majestic timber houses, rather than houses constructed of brick and stone, was not shared by the Peppermint Grove Road Board which later legislated against timber construction in the area.

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