The Cliffe

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The Cliffe east verandah from the road

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

1 Location
2 Heritage value
3 Early Owners
4 Recent owners and residents
5 1990's and recent
6 Heritage Act issue
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Location

The dwelling is located at 25 Bindaring Parade, Peppermint Grove and was constructed in 1894. The substantive additions to the dwelling, undertaken in 1899 were designed by prominent Western Australian architect J. Talbot Hobbs and the dwelling has historical associations with the prominent McNeil, Brisbane and McComb families.

[edit] Heritage value

The dwelling is registered with the National Trust, State Register of Heritage Places and is in the Register of the National Estate.^[1]

In accordance with the Heritage Council of Western Australia's assessment The Cliffe is a rare example in metropolitan Perth of a substantial weatherboard 'gentleman's' residence, which has, intact, the subsidiary buildings of coachhouse, stables, summerhouse, servants cottages, and part of the original gardens.

[edit] Early Owners

The original owner of The Cliffe was Neil McNeil, who purchased the land in 1892 - only one year after Peppermint Grove was surveyed into building allotments. 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.^[2] The property was sold in 1927, following McNeil's death, to Lance Brisbane, a prominent West Australian industrialist.^[3] When Lance Brisbane moved in 1933, Brisbane's brother, David Brisbane, and his family, occupied The Cliffe until his death in 1960.

[edit] Recent owners and residents

Dr Harold McComb, a prominent plastic surgeon ^[4] and Dr Athel Hockey (AO), a renowned geneticist^[5], subsequently purchased The Cliffe and lived there until April 1995. The McComb's had four sons, two of whom (David and Robert) performed in the iconic^[6]^[7] Australian post-punk rock band, The Triffids. According to rock historian, Bleddyn Butcher,

"Between 1978 and 1981, the Triffids recorded six collections of original songs at The Cliffe. The house remained a sanctuary and source of inspiration throughout their career. Its peculiar location, an eyrie on Devil's Elbow overlooking Freshwater Bay, gave David a startling perspective as well as a beautiful view. When he became interested as a teenager in forming a band, he and the future Triffids would gather in the cellar at The Cliffe to practise, the size of the grounds ensuring there were few neighbours to disturb."^[8]

The cover of The Triffids' last album, The Black Swan (1989) was photographed in the stables at the rear of the house.^[9]

[edit] 1990's and recent

In 1995 the dwelling was sold to Sharon Creasy, wife of prospector Mark Creasy, for $2.7 million.^[10] In October 1995 when the Creasys proposed to redevelop the property the Heritage Council of Western Australia sought to have the property listed on the State Register of Heritage Places and subsequently lodged a conservation order on the property. The Creasys contested the interim listing for nine years, and in 2004 the Heritage Council removed the dwelling from the interim listing and placed it on the permanent register. There was a legal dispute as to whether the listing was done correctly, resulting in the Heritage Council re-registering it on the permanent list in May 2005.^[11] The Creaseys estimate that the dispute has cost them $225,000 in legal fees^[12] and that the house was now uninhabitable, estimating it would cost at least $2.8 million to make it liveable and much more to renovate it completely.

[edit] Heritage Act issue

On Thursday June 5, 2008 the Legislative Council supported Parliament's first delisting of an order by the Heritage Council so that the house could be demolished^[10] on the basis that the Government was potentially exposed to a $20 million lawsuit under clause 76 of the 1990 State Heritage Act. The clause, never used, allows owners of heritage-listed properties to ask the Government to buy their property if its heritage listing makes it "incapable of reasonably beneficial use, and that the carrying out of any reasonable development could not render the land capable of reasonably beneficial use".^[13]