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Knutsford Street
Knutsford Street is named after the birthplace (in Cheshire) of Henry Thurstan Holland, the Lord Knutsford, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies (aka Colonial Secretary), 1887-1892, and for whom nearby Holland Street is also named. Originally named Hill Street, changed 1951/52.
Hill Street was an earlier name (changed 1951/2) for that part of the present Knutsford Street which adjoins Monument Hill (formerly Obelisk Hill).
Buildings in Knutsford Street
The first block, from Holdsworth Street to Ord Street/Hampton Road, is entirely occupied on the RHS (going east) by the Prison. On the LHS are some unimportant 1950s (?) houses, some of which have become professional offices. Knutsford Street no longer crosses Hampton Road/Ord Street and is a no-through-road on both sides of the highway.
The next block, from Hampton Road to Bateman Road, is on a major hill east of town and so contains older, up-market housing.
From Bateman Road to Swanbourne Street, the Monument Hill reserve occupies the whole of the LHS. The RHS now contains some pretty ordinary recent housing, some of which is overdue for replacement by some good architecture, particularly the two awful blocks of flats between Solomon and Swanbourne Street.
The house on one corner of Solomon Street, at 13 Knutsford Street, is of interest, and was was once owned by David Parker when he was a minister in the Dowding ministry 1983-88, and Deputy Premier 1988-89. On the other corner was the magnificent Birkdale House.
Knutsford Street continues to Montreal Street, where it terminates at the Golf Course. The four blocks on the RHS have all always been reserved for industrial and storage purposes, including a number of oil tanks. The tanks have now been removed, and the whole area is ripe for redevelopment, probably mostly for housing, but perhaps with some provision for arts of various kinds. The area on the LHS, to Blinco Street, has been designated an 'arts precinct' - tho one whole block, between Chalmers and Amherst Streets has already been entirely filled with medium-density two-storey housing. That development, called 'Knutsford' is all black and white, designed by Michael Patroni.
References and Links
Image of Holland from Wikipedia.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 7 March, 2021 and hosted at freotopia.org/streets/knutsford.html (it was last updated on 18 November, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.