Bungalow 702


Bungalow 702 is a heritage-listed house at Lam Lok Loh, Drumsite, Christmas Island, Australia. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 June 2004.

Description

Bungalow 702 is a rendered brick masonry and timber building on rendered masonry piles with prominent concrete caps, set approximately above ground level, accessed by concrete steps. The building has a central gable-roofed section with masonry walls surrounded by a skillion-roofed enclosed verandah of timber framing. The roof cladding is in asbestos cement sheet. Servants quarters are located at the rear of the building, connected by a covered way and roofing is corrugated asbestos cement, with newer sections in corrugated fibre-cement. This building retains its angled ventilation shutters to the verandah openings. Servants quarters are of rendered concrete masonry with a gable roof clad in corrugated asbestos cement.
There is a strong oral tradition on Christmas Island that this bungalow was used by the Japanese as a radio station during the Island's occupation in World War II. The bungalow has become a symbol of this phase of the Island's history and is of considerable social significance to the Christmas Island community.

Condition

The building was damaged by a storm in March 1988 during which sections of the roof were blown off and less serious damage sustained in other parts of the building. The building was re-roofed in 1991.
The building has since been sold and was in the process of being refurbished in January 2001.

Attribution