When the Yarralumla Brickworks was established in 1913, it was isolated from the rest of Canberra.  From 1913 to 1916 the workers lived in tent camps, as did everyone else building the new city, although the manager’s house built in 1914 was of galvanised iron.  The brickworks were closed between 1916 and 1921.  When the works reopened in 1921 it was decided to build permanent cottages on site.  These were some of the earliest Canberra houses, immediately following those built in Braddon in 1921.

The designs were taken from the Littleton housing development at Lithgow, NSW.  Littleton was implemented in 1919 by the Federal Department of Works and Railways, the which Department was also responsible for building Canberra.  Littleton and post-Griffin Canberra shared many Garden City planning ideals.  As the two towns also shared a similar climate, Yarralumla Nursery provided trees and shrubs to Littleton.

Design and layout of the 1921-22 houses included hedges and backyard garages, with substantial open space within blocks and street trees typical of Griffin’s suburban planning concepts.  Houses at 37, 35 and 33 Hutchins Street and 39 Bentham Street retain the original architectural style and character, and now form the Yarralumla Brickworks Housing Precinct.  An additional 23 timber cottages were built in 1927, some of them still standing in Hutchins, Muller, Banks and Novar Streets.

Because the houses were built as part of the brickworks complex, they were not regarded as a suburb until the residents petitioned for the same rights as other Canberra residents.  Initially designated Westbourne, the area was renamed Westridge by Walter Burley Griffin in 1917 and finally Yarralumla when gazetted as a suburb in October 1935.

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