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Tasmanian Arts and Crafts Houses

Arts and Crafts Architects in Tasmania

Arts and Crafts Architects in Tasmania

Arts and Crafts style was driven by architects, not builders:
 

  1. Alexander North was a renowned church architect, and brought together the Gothic and Arts and Crafts styles in Tasmania, and was a pioneer of concrete architecture. He was instrumental in forming the Tasmanian Association of Architects in 1905 – the precursor to today’s Institute of Architects.

    1. Caretaker's Cottage, King's Bridge Launceston

    2. Holm Lea, 25 West Bay Road, Rowella
       

  2. Alan Cameron Walker ​(1864–1931)developed a simple rural church in the Arts and Crafts style, St Raphael's (1892) at Ferntree, near Hobart, an early example of Arts and Crafts freestyle. With Johnson, he created a roughcast church at Claremont (1914).
    Walker designed the lovely St Canice’s Church, Sandy Bay,  Walker and jeweller Harold Sargison were actively involved with the Arts and Crafts Society of Tasmania. Interestingly, Walker had been articled to the renowned Hobart architect Henry Hunter, himself a lifelong devotee of Pugin.

    1. Greystanes, ​3 Melrose Court, Lower Sandy Bay (possible)

  3. Walter Butler of Melbourne, created a township of Arts and Crafts cottages at Lutana Village, Glenorchy (1917-1922) for the Electrolytic Zinc Company. 
    -  Read more: 
     

  4. Bernard Ridley Walker, a Hobart architect, designed

    1. Markree in 1926 for Cecil Baldwin (1887–1961) and his wife Ruth (1878–1969).

    2. At the same time Walker designed adjacent Red Knights  for Ruth’s unmarried sisters, Hilda and Mary Maning. 

    3. The Elms, 452 Elizabeth Street North Hobart

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“They’re all important as examples of architects striving to develop a style [of arts and crafts architecture] that was uniquely Australian,”

says architect Peter Crone., who’s been praised for his 19-year project of restoring two other excellent arts and crafts houses, both by Desbrowe-Annear, in Heidelberg, Victoria. 

“They used craftsmen to contribute to the concept they had for these houses,

and the arrangement of spaces was so different to the central corridors with rooms off them of the Queen Anne, Victorian and Edwardian periods. 

“These are so much more open plan – which didn’t come into being again until the 1960s

they had doors sliding into cavities that could open up rooms and windows that opened to the outdoors. It was an enlightened architecture, well ahead of its time.”

 

What the experts say: 

“It was an enlightened architecture, well ahead of its time.”

Architect Peter Crone

What to look for: 

"They look very modern and they’re all about sunshine and light.”

Professor Harriet Edquist 

19 Audley Street, Mount Stuart

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19 Audley Street, Mount Stuart, TAS

Statement of Significance: 

This building is of historic heritage significance as the birth-place of Isabel Dick, popular novelist and writer of novels set in Colonial Tasmania.

This buildings is of historic heritage significance because of its ability to demonstrate the principal characteristics of a two storey Federation Arts and Crafts domestic building.

Description: 

This is a two storey house with a complex hipped cement sheet shingle roof form, brick base, stucco first floor with battened walls and several weatherboard additions to the rear.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts

What to look for in an Arts and Crafts building:

 

  • Clarity of form and structure,

  • a variety of materials,

  • asymmetry,

  • Traditional construction and Craftsmanship.

Many Arts and Crafts homes share these traits:

  • enveloping rooflines, deep eaves. exposed rafter ends

  • roughcast (battered) gables

  • verandah columns with over-scaled verandah brackets,

  • surfaces covered with pebble-cast or rough-cast, and shingles 

  • tall tapered chimneys, often built as (external) buttresses, 

  • Structural “authenticity: exposed beams, strong posts, rafters that extend past the roof line

  • Simplicity: open floor plans with built-ins, smooth surfaces, lack of intricate carving

  • Native materials: wood (especially oak), locally sourced stone, stucco, brick

  • Natural influences: earth tones, attention to wood grain, decorative items made of shell or bone

  • The hand of the artist: hand hammered metals, handmade tile, embracing of imperfections

  • Emphasis on home life: dim, homey, glowing interiors, prominent fireplaces, art glass to soften light

Author Isabel Dick
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Author Isabel Dick

  • Born: in North Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - June 24, 1881

  • Died: September 12, 1959


Charlotte Isabel Atkins Dick, aka Mrs. Ronald Dick aka C. I. Dick.

  • Isabel Dick was born in Tasmania, and wrote 25 books set there.


Isabel, or Daisy, was the daughter of Kate Shoobridge (born 1850), one of Charlotte Shoobridge’s hard-working daughters, and Quaker accountant Charles Atkins.

  • In 1887, when Daisy Atkins was six, several died during a typhoid epidemic in Hobart;

  • Daisy caught it from her father and was, for a time, deaf, blind and speechless; her life was despaired of.

  • She recovered, but wore thick-lensed glasses thereafter.

​​

Isabel Dick’s historical romance novel Wild Orchard was published in 1946.

There are very scarce references to Dick in the history of Tasmanian and Australian fiction and even less critical engagement with her work.

Set almost two decades after the events of the 1820s, the atrocities of Van Diemen’s Land’s macabre past appear within the novel as echoes; the pages are haunted by the island’s history. 

A Romance of Old Tasmania: Isabel Dick’s Wild Orchard

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Caretaker's Cottage, King's Bridge

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Caretaker's Cottage, King's Bridge, Bridge Road, Launceston

Kings Bridge Cottage is an historic building constructed in the 1890s for the gatekeeper of Launceston's remarkable Cataract Gorge Reserve. 

Once the 19th Century Gate Keepers and Caretakers cottage for the first basin, it is now a residence for inspiring artists provided by Launceston City Council at the entrance to the magnificent Cataract Gorge. 

Fall under the spell of the mesmerising, dreamlike river that snakes through the steep rock cliffs of the gorge.

Statement of Significance: 

The Caretaker's Cottage is of historic heritage significance because of its associations with architect, Alexander North and prominent builder J and T Gunn.

This building is of historic heritage significance because its townscape associations are regarded as important to the community's sense of place. Caretaker's Cottage,

King's Bridge is of historic heritage significance because of its ability to demonstrate the principal characteristics of a small Federation Arts and Crafts cottage.

Description

A small timber building located on the edge of Cataract Gorge. It features exposed rafter tails with brackets and battened gables.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts

Connorville and garden, ​ Macquarie Road, Longford

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Royal Tour, Launceston

Connorville and Garden,
at Connorville Rd, Cressy and
Macquarie Road, Longford

 

Statement of Significance: 

Connorville is of historic heritage significance because of its associations with Roderick O'Connor the Land Commissioner in the 1820s, who built it, and HRH Queen Elizabeth who stayed there in 1954.

Roderic O'Connor arrived in 1824 in Hobart on his own ship, The Ardent  bringing with him farming implements, waggons, carts, a large town clock and a bell. 

In 1989, a 100 Kg bale of superfine merino wool from 'Connorville' was sold for a record price, ten times more than the previous record price. - Source

 

Connorville is of historic heritage significance because it is a Federation Arts and Crafts domestic building with a grand collection of farm buildings from the Old Colonial Georgian building.

Description: 

The House was built in 1920-22, and is a good example of shingle style architecture.

It is two storeys in stuccoed brick with shingle gables, tiled roof, and Tudor style windows and chimneys.

The plan is assymetrical with the interior of beamed ceilings and stained panelled walls.

There is a large collection of brick Georgian farm buildings of vernacular style amongst which are interspersed small timber cottages.

The group of farm outbuildins on a grand scale are bound together with brick walls. Roofs are of hipped iron, windows are twelve paned and there are unusual quatrefoil type vents to several buildings.

It is a village-like grouping of buildings with a mill race encircling the garden. The mill is completely enclosed in a three storey building.

There is a one storey brick stable with a two storey central section and field.

There are two storey stables, coach house and feed rooms - all of brick.

 

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts, Old Colonial Georgian

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Connorville Garden, Connorville Rd, Cres

The garden is rich in cultural features, providing vistas of old farm buildings, and containing nineteenth century tree plantings and a mill stream.

The garden has an overlay of twentieth century additions including fernerys, compartmentalised gardens, a pond, rock-edged flowerbeds, and entrance gates (Criterion A 3). 

The garden demonstrates predominantly an Edwardian style by the design layout, plantings and features (Crtierion B 2). 

The garden is associated with the O'Connor family who have retained ownership since the establishment of the Connorville property and who are famous for fine wool and cattle breeding (Criterion H 1).

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Description

Connorville is situated on rising ground near the Lake River, with a mountain backdrop of O'Connor's Bluff, named after the owner's forebear.

The avenue leading up to the house is composed of a mixture of deciduous and native trees.

The original estate was established in the early nineteenth century by Mr. Roderic O'Conner and plantings of deciduous trees date from that era.

The mill stream which passes through the garden was diverted from the Lake River to service the mill established in 1836.

 

The garden is laid out in self contained sections enclosed by brick walls and Hawthorn hedges and was established by Mrs R O'Connor in the nineteen twenties as a setting for the newly established Arts and Crafts style main house.

The garden is part of the original Connorville estate acquired by Roderic O'Connor and is still owned by the family, well regarded for their cattle and superfine wool breeding.

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Connorville a Restful Home for Royalty -

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The Elms, 452 Elizabeth Street North Hobart, TAS 7000

 

The Elms is a magnificent Federation Arts and Crafts mansion in a beautiful mature garden setting. The substantial urban allotment is over 2000 square metres. The Elms, with views over the extensive gardens and the Derwent River has been sold for $2.05 million in June 2018. - Property Observer

​​

The Elms, 452 Elizabeth Street North Hobart
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Situated an easy five minute stroll from popular North Hobart precinct and 3km from Salamanca Place and Hobart's waterfront district, the property is well located.

Designed by renowned architect Bernard Walker and built in 1917 for Albert Flexmore as a family home, the property was then sold to the Palfreyman family in 1933.

The distinctive building has beautiful bow or oriel windows to the front and northern side providing glorious views over the extensive gardens and with views to the Derwent River. 

The interior is striking with dark timber panelling in the entry and hallway and a grand staircase with barley twist bannister.

The main reception room is impressive with ceiling beams and sandstone fire surround.

  • Successfully operating as a visitor accommodation since the mid 1990s, the property has had up to ten suites. The owners now enjoy a comfortable lifestyle running four guest suites on the ground level, Elms, Hawthorn, Maple and Willow. 

Read more:
Greystanes, ​3 Melrose Court, Lower Sandy Bay

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Greystanes, ​3 Melrose Court, Lower Sandy Bay

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C. F. A. Voysey, The Orchard, Hertfordsh

Above: CFA Voysey, The Orchards

Statement of Significance: 

Greystanes is of historic heritage significance because of its ability to demonstrate the principal characteristics of a two storey Federation stuccoed Federation Arts and Crafts domestic building.

Description

This is a two storey stuccoed building after a style that was employed by Scottish architect CFA Voysey on several important buildings of the late 1880's.

 

This building closely follows those with a powerful hipped roof with differing sizes of projecting gables, casement windows, roughcast rendered walls and towering chimneys.

 

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts

Read More:

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Highlander, ​89 Cambridge Road, Bellerive​ TAS

Statement of Significance: 

This site is of historic heritage significance because its townscape associations are regarded as important to the community's sense of place.

89 Cambridge Road is of historic heritage significance because of its ability to demonstrate the principal characteristics of a two storey brick Federation Arts and Crafts domestic building.

Highlander, ​89 Cambridge Road, Bellerive​

Description: 

A two storey brick Federation Arts and Crafts building with symmetrical elevation having a projecting gable with side and central covered entry with a cant dormer window above.

 

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts

Read more:

Holm Lea, 25 West Bay Road, Rowella

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Holm Lea, 25 West Bay Road, Rowella

Statement of Significance: 

This building is of historic heritage significance because of its association with the notable architect, Alexander North, who designed it and lived there.

This building is of historic heritage significance because its townscape associations are regarded as important to the community's sense of place.

 

This building is of historic heritage significance because it demonstrates the principal characteristics of a two storey concrete Federation Arts and Crafts domestic building.

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Description: 

This is a two storey Arts and Crafts building with gabled roofs, skillion dormer windows and casement windows.

It is of concrete construction, an unusual construction method for the time. There are also some outbuildings associates with the site.

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Federation Arts and Crafts

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Markree House Museum and Garden 145 Hampden Rd, Hobart TAS 7000

 

An historic 1926 home featuring antiques & family heirlooms & a charming vintage garden.

MARKREE was designed by the Hobart architect, Bernard Ridley Walker and completed in 1926 for Cecil Baldwin (1887–1961) and his wife Ruth (1878– 1969).

At the same time Walker designed adjacent Red Knights for Ruth’s unmarried sisters, Hilda and Mary Maning.

Markree House Museum and Garden
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House Museum and Gardens ...
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Makree House garden
Makree House plans
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
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Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart
Markree House 145 Hampden Rd Hobart

Markree, an intimate house museum and garden, is one of Hobart's hidden treasures.

Markree was built in 1926 for Cecil and Ruth Baldwin. The house, collection and garden all reflect the influence of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Its 1920s Tasmanian oak and blackwood furniture is by local cabinetmakers Coogan and Vallance & Co. The house also contains heirlooms from Ruth Baldwin's family – the Manings, Knights, Fletchers and Hones – who had come to Hobart in the 1820s as merchants, civil servants and lawyers.
 

Markree's rare 1920s Arts and Crafts garden was laid out by Cecil Baldwin who had studied at the Burnley School of Horticulture, Melbourne.

The leading Australian garden designer, Edna Walling had also studied at Burnley. Cecil Baldwin and Edna Walling probably knew each other through projects at Ferntree and Sandy Bay, Hobart. Visitors to Markree will enjoy echoes of Edna Walling's gardens.
 

Cecil and Ruth Baldwin's son Henry (1919–2007) left Markree, its contents and a significant endowment to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of Tasmania.

This was one of the largest single bequests ever received by an Australian gallery. Markree specialises in the social history and design of the early twentieth century (1900–50). Changing displays are arranged to highlight themes such as the Arts & Crafts Movement, women's domestic artwork and 20th century architecture, garden design, decorative arts and social history.

Murrayfield, 120 Tolosa Street, Glenorchy

Murrayfield, 120 Tolosa Street, Glenorchy TAS

Statement of Significance: 

The building is of historic heritage significance because of its rural land-use associations in the Glenorchy area.

There were apple orchards by 1883 and Murray made the first commercial cider in Tasmania. 120 Tolosa Street, 'Murrayfield' is of historic heritage significance because of it demonstrates the principal characteristics of a two storey brick Victorian domestic building with a Federation Arts and Crafts modification.

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Description: 

The original parts of the house are the verandah railing, the end enclosed verandah window panels, verandah roof, brackets, and freize, one ground floor window, and the main front door with transom light. Ground floor windows have stone lintels, sills.

 

Later additons include the second storey with its prominent gables, gable screen and oriel casement windows in the Queen Anne style. The enclosed verandah and addition to one side is also in the later style.

 

ARCHITECTURAL STYLE:- Victorian, Federation Arts and Crafts

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Waimea House, 42-44 Waimea Avenue Sandy Bay Tasmania

 

A Tasmanian residential price record in 2011 was set when investment financier Greg Woolley bought Waimea House for $8 million from former Sydneysiders Piers Dawson-Damer and his wife, Kim.

Occupying one of the finest positions in Hobart, Waimea House is a Federation Arts and Crafts mansion set on 9726 square metres, with a pool, tennis court, and a smaller second residence with Art Deco influences, a vacant block in Waimea Ave and four vacant blocks in Quamby Ave.​

Waimea 42-44 Waimea Avenue Sandy Bay
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How Hobart became a mainlander’s dream

By Gabriella Coslovich

Good Weekend,
FEBRUARY 27, 2018

 

 ...Waimea House, a spectacular Federation Arts and Crafts-style house in Sandy Bay, bought by Hobart-born investment banker and art collector Greg Woolley in 2012, holds the city's record (priced home) at $8.5 million.

Compare that to the $70 million-plus paid for Australia's dearest house, Point Piper estate "Elaine", sold by the Fairfax family in April 2017.

“We have run out of houses to sell and we have run out of houses to rent,” says REIT president Tony Collidge.

He estimates that greater Hobart urgently needs 5000 new homes to meet demands for affordable rental and private housing.

 

Meanwhile, attracted by the twin treasures of tourism and cheap real estate, international developers have started circling, bringing visions of glittering skyscrapers, prompting fears that the very things people love about Hobart – its human scale, low rise, heritage character and environmental splendour – will be lost.

Located in prestigious Sandy Bay, the landmark property has magnificent harbour and Derwent River views.

  • It was the major house in the Waimea Ave area for forty years. Many regard the landmark property as occupying the finest position in Hobart, with harbour views and complete privacy.

  • Waimea House had only been sold nine months earlier in 2011 for a record $6.06 million.

  • Its latest buyer is the low-key investment banker Greg Woolley from Point Piper, Sydney, who lived at exclusive Point Piper, Sydney, in a house bought for $10.55 million in 2005. (See also Top Homes, Tasmania)

Built in 1908 by Charles Webster of the prominent firm, A.G Webster & Sons, after the design of a leading Sydney architect, the house was offered for sale to the State government in 1924 as a residence for the Governor.

At that time it already had connections to power, sewerage and gas.

The house was originally on a very large allotment and dominated the landscape. This domination has been largely curtailed by incremental subdivision throughout the twentieth century.


Description:

A very large two storey arts and crafts residence of brick rendered in roughcast and with a complex gabled slate roof.

The house is picturesque in form with informal massing of roofs and windows. It includes oriel windows, a sunroom with extensive areas of leadlight windows, two gabled parapets, a first floor bay with slate roofed awning and a large balcony within the largest front facing gable.

Gables have timber decoration and ventilators.

There is a porte cochere at the main entrance. The property also includes a large established garden which includes a stone fountain, a stone sundial, expanses of lawn, mature trees and shrubs and a modern swimming pool.

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Greg Woolley is the Executive Chairman of Woolley Holdings.

Greg attended the Hutchins School in Hobart and the University of Tasmania.  He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Law degree, with Honours.

From 1997 until 2000, Greg practiced Corporate Advisory and Mergers and Acquisitions with Macquarie Bank in Melbourne.

From 2000 until 2010, Greg was the Chief Executive Officer of the LJCB Investment Group.  LJCB is one of Australia’s most significant private investment houses with a range of global investments.

In partnership with LJCB, Greg was the Founder of Global Aviation Asset Management, one of the world’s largest owners of commercial aircraft.  He served as its Executive Chairman from its inception until its sale in 2011. 

In addition to being a director on Fahan School Board he is currently a Director of Kemp and Denning Pty Ltd, the Beacon Foundation and GASP!, a Tasmanian arts institution.

Fahan School Board

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