top of page

Previous page: Architects   Next page: Architects Ussher and Kemp

Arts and Crafts Architects

Arts and Crafts Architects 

Arts and Crafts
 Milton Park Homestead by Architects Morrow and De Putron

Above:

Milton Park Bowral NSW by Architects Morrow and De Putron

The Architects of our Arts and Crafts style Houses in Australia


Arts and Crafts architects created some of the most thoughtful, beautifully crafted and inspired architecture in Australia's history.

​​

Arts and Crafts Architecture

Between 1890 and 1930, a number of Australian architects and garden designers were heavily influenced by British and American Arts and Crafts movements.  

  • Arts and Crafts buildings are unpretentious and informal, evoking an atmosphere of comfortable familiarity.

  • There is a strong flavour of morality, with stress on the truthful use of materials and the honest expression of function.

  • In Australia, Federation Arts and Crafts architecture exhibits qualities similar to those of the overseas models from which it drew inspiration.

  • Buildings in this style are domestic in scale and make free use of traditional (usually English) vernacular motifs to achieve an unassuming, homely, well-established character.

  • Designers aimed for informality in planning, massing, fenestration and landscaping.

 

Arts and Crafts architecture developed in the same time-frame as Federation style, and just as Queen Anne style claims most of the early innovations in domestic housing, Arts and Crafts style informed the architecture of the later, grander houses built after the 'boom' period.
  • Noted historian Harriet Edquist positions Arts and Crafts as the central tradition of turn of the century Australian domestic architecture, and 'Federation style' as the speculative and ultimately unproductive result of the 1880s Queen Anne and Old English domestic revivals.

Arts and Crafts Architects

"Some of the best-known architects of the arts and crafts movement in Australia include Walter ButlerHarold Desbrowe-AnnearWalter Liberty VernonRobin DodsHorbury Hunt, Robert Haddon and Rodney Alsop.

Sydney

In Sydney the Arts and Crafts movement was established by architects Horbury Hunt, George Sydney JonesEdward Jeaffreson Jackson, FG Castleden and BJ Waterhouse

  • Arts and Crafts houses were buillt in areas of Sydney like the eastern suburbs, the North Shore and the Blue Mountains, and in a few neighbourhoods in Canberra and Brisbane.

  • Many were torn down 20 years ago in the push for brand new homes by buyers who never truly understood their value and importance in pioneering modernism, says Edquist,

    • but a number have been carefully restored, and often heritage-listed to protect them forever. They come up on the market, however, only rarely. " 

Melbourne

Arts and Crafts architecture was most developed in Melbourne, spearheaded by architects Walter ButlerHarold Desbrowe-Annear and Guyon Puchas.

  • Other architects in this style in Victoria were Robert Haddon, Rodney Alsop, WAM Blackett and Philip Hudson. 

  • Homes of this style were built generally in pockets of Melbourne, around Toorak, Kew, Malvern, Armadale and Camberwell,


From Arts of living: Arts and craft houses having their time in the sun by SUE WILLIAMS DOMAIN REPORTER MAY 20, 2016

​​

Arts and Crafts Architecture
Arts and Crafts Architects
Pioneers of Modernism by Harriet Edquist
Perth Mint
George Temple Poole


 

1. George Temple-Poole, W.A.

  • Perth Mint, 1896

     

















    Perth Mint, 310 Hay Street, Hill and Goderich Streets, East Perth.
     

  • Perth Mint has aesthetic value for its high level of craftsmanship, fine detailing, proportion and composition and the amenity achieved in the design and construction of the buildings, designed in the Free Romanesque style of architecture.

  • The complex is a significant streetscape element featuring Tamala limestone (some of which came from Rottnest Island), red brick and a rich roofscape of Marseilles tiles and corrugated iron cladding.

  • The building is a landmark in the street with its fine detailing and industrial chimneys which punctuate the skyline and the fine detail throughout gives the place a high degree of unity in its streetscape setting
     

  • Perth Titles Office, 1896

    Cathedral Av, Perth, WA, Australia




















     


 

  • This is one of Perth's most handsome and vigorous buildings. It was intended to be extended along Hay Street. The close relationship of building to street, generated by the overhanging balconies, has a sophistication unequalled in Perth.

  • Also one of the best known landmarks in Perth.

  • This magnificent building was designed by G Temple Poole and built by Paterson and Taylor in 1896-98. The building was basically of brick construction with some steel and reinforced concrete elements incorporated into the boldly projected verandahs.

  • The arched window openings on the top floor, and the second level classical colonnade with a heavy balustrade of the balconies, create a most interesting play of light and shade bringing the whole of facade to life.

  • Government Astronomer House, Perth, 1896















     

    Perth Observatory and Government Astronomers Residence (former)

    4 Havelock St, West Perth, WA, Australia

  • The Government Astronomer's residence is historically significant as the remnant of the earliest Western Australian (WA) purpose built observatory.

  • The residence was one of a pair of buildings, the second, which housed the telescope dome and support facilities for the collection of astronomical and meteorological data from the early 1900s until 1963, is no longer extant.

  • The remaining residence, built in 1896, is architecturally significant as a fine example of the Federation Free Classical style, designed by government architect, George Temple-Poole The building also has high townscape value and is an important landmark located in a prominent position near Parliament House and the old Hale School

  • The headquarters of the National Trust in Western Australia is located in West Perth on the former Perth Observatory site. The location is a prestigious one, set in a park like landscape close to the centre of the city, Parliament House and Kings Park.

  • Read more: 

​​

George Temple-Poole

Above:

Chadwick House Eaglemont VIC by Architect Harold Desbrowe-Annear

Above:

Quick summary of design style for Arts and Crafts Architecture

The examples below are drawn from the above book: 'Pioneers of Modernism' by Professor Harriet Edquist

Above: Portrait of George Temple-Poole, architect

Perth Titles Office, 1896
Government Astronomer House, Perth, 1896

2. Walter LIberty Vernon, NSW








 

 

 

 

 


 

Above Left: Fire Station, The Avenue, Randwick

Above Right: Drummoyne fire station NSW

Above Left: Jenolan Caves House

Above Right: Rangers Cottage

 
Above: The Chalet, built in 1890–1891 adjacent to Government House,

 

  • Walter Liberty Vernon was born in Buckinghamshire, England. He was trained in England and emigrated to Australia in 1885. In 1890, he was appointed the Chief Government Architect (NSW).


    “Throughout Vernon’s 21 years in this post, hundreds of building were designed and constructed by the Public works Department under his supervision, such as The Art Gallery of NSW, Mitchell Library and Sydney Central Railway Station.
     

  • He employed a range of styles, but all reflecting his early training and English influences.





     

 

 

 







 

 

 

Above left,: Walter Liberty Vernon, NSW Government Architect

Above: The Art Gallery of New South Wales, completed in 1909.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 











 

 

 

 

 

Above and Left: Jenolan Caves House - a great hotel designed by Walter Liberty Vernon

 

Jenolan Caves House (1896)

In 1896, the grand hotel, Jenolan Caves House, was built, as a wilderness retreat for the wealthy. It was designed in the Colonial Architect’s office, under the supervision of Colonel Walter Liberty Vernon (1846 – 1914).

  • The rambling, 4-storey hotel complex was designed in an ‘English Domestic Revival’ style, which was then being employed for the best hotels in Britain of the 1890s.  This style is now known as the ‘Federation Arts & Crafts’ style.

  • It is characterized by craggy façade, picturesque gables, knobbly tile roof and deep recessed openings with multi-paned windows, giving the new building an instant air of old-age, charm and respectability

Caves House appears to be Liberty Vernon's first public building employing an English vernacular (Queen Anne) revival style.

  • Caves House can be seen as influenced by the large country houses in England such as Standen in Sussex, St. Alban’s Court in Kent, Avon Tyrrell in Hampshire and Cragside in Northumberland.

    • All are in the English vernacular revival style with its stress on homeliness and simplicity and whose advocates took care to base each building on the building customs and materials of the region in which it was built.”

  • Jenolan Caves House was built from limestone quarried on site.
     

Neutral Bay Houses (1890s)​
  • Walter Liberty Vernon, Government Architect, was a resident of Neutral Bay and Alderman of the Borough of East St. Leonards, and was responsible for changing the name of Thrupps Point Road to Kurraba Road.
     

  • However his own house, Wendover, built in Normanhurst in 1895, was a more modest affair. Named after a picturesque village in Buckinghamshire, England, the unpretentious exterior belied an elegant interior decorated with antiques and fine furniture. The sprawling grounds featuring large trees and cottage gardens allowed Vernon to indulge his passion for gardening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Above: Arts and Crafts house by Walter Liberty Vernon, 45 Kurraba Road, Neutral Bay NSW

 

The impressive Victorian Villa residence on the intersection of Wycombe and Kurraba Rds is one of the surviving houses designed by Walter Liberty Vernon, Government Architect and resident of Penshurst (house formerly located to the north in present Penshurst Avenue).

  • Walter Liberty Vernon was also a member of the Neutral Bay Land Company syndicate which promoted leaseholds in this vicinity in the late 1880s.
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Chalet, Inner Domain near Government House, 1890

The Chalet Cottage (1890)

The Chalet is located at the northern end of the Western Terrace, Domain Park, for Government House, NSW.

  • The Chalet and its covered walkway breaks with the Gothic style of Government House.

  • It is designed in the Arts and Craft style, constructed of timber with a terracotta roof. It has half timbered gables and broad brick chimneys and an oriel window.



 

 














 

Above: Hay Courthouse, 418 Moppett St, Hay, NSW, Australia

  • Court House at Hay, NSW 1892

  • Hay Courthouse makes excellent use of brickwork and reflects some characteristics of Federation Bungalow style as applied to a public building.

    • The design helps to some degree to show Architect W L Vernon's concern for adapting buildings to their harsh environment; the building was the first courthouse designed by Vernon after he became Government Architect.

    • The 1892 courthouse was built by contractor, Mr Brown from Young, at a cost of 6,500 pounds.

    • The courthouse's large, simple roof planes and its deep verandahs are features of Federation Bungalow style architecture, in this case applied to a public building.

    • The court room in this symmetrical building is double height and centrally placed; it is topped by a gable with the coat of arms and a finial. To the sides of three narrow windows are round, multipane windows.

  • Read more:​

Jenolan Caves House - a great hotel designed by Walter Liberty Vernon
Walter Liberty Vernon
Standen House and Garden, UK National Trust
St Albans Court Kent UK
Penshurst residence of Walter Liberty Vernon, Neutral Bay 1884
Jenolan Caves House - a great hotel designed by Walter Liberty Vernon
Neutral Bay Houses
Walter LIberty Vernon, NSW
Caves House 1890

Stylistic influences for Jenolan Caves House:

Above: Standen in Sussex

Below: St. Alban’s Court in Kent

Above Left: Portrait of Corporal Walter Liberty Vernon of the Sydney Lancers on horseback at Penshurst, Neutral Bay

Below Left: 'Penshurst', residence of Walter Liberty Vernon, Neutral Bay 1884

Court House at Hay, NSW 1892
The Chalet
The Highlands,  9 Highlands Avenue    Wahroonga
The Highlands,  9 Highlands Avenue    Wahroonga

Hordern family houses

As wealthy merchants and graziers, members of the extended Hordern family owned and built many important, and now heritage-listed, homes in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands.  From Wikipedia:

Major dwellings are:

3. John Horbury Hunt, NSW

See also page Architect John Horbury Hunt



















 

  • Booloominbah is of State heritage significance as one of the largest private country houses built in Australia during the 19th century and amongst the most avant-garde domestic Arts and Crafts style designs of the time.

  • Designed as an interpretation of an English country house, Booloominbah sits in a relatively intact landscape. As such, it is exemplary of the work of architect John Horbury Hunt.

  • As well as being large, it is also extravagant in decoration, in particular the use of stained glass. The fabric substantially demonstrates the wealth and influence of pastoralism in NSW in late 19th century.
     

  • Its gift by Thomas R. Forster was the catalyst for the establishment of the New England University College, the first in Australia to be located outside of a capital city.

    • The gift of such a substantial house demonstrates the historical circumstances of the White family's involvement, the impetus from the local church and community groups, and the 'new state' movement in establishing Armidale as a major educational centre in NSW.
       

  • Pibrac, Warrawee, 1889

 







 

Pibrac, 11 Pibrac Avenue, 1889, architect John Horbury Hunt,
 

  • In 1888, the public servant and patron of exploration Frederick Ecclestone du Faur built his house Pibrac in Pibrac Avenue.

  • The house was designed by John Horbury Hunt, a Canadian architect who settled in Australia and favoured the Arts and Crafts style, as well as the North American Shingle style, which he introduced to Australia.

  • Later alterations were carried out by B.J.Waterhouse. The house is composed predominantly of timber, with extensive use of timber shingles, on a sandstone base. It is considered a good example of Hunt's work and is listed on the Register of the National Estate.

  • Travenna, Armidale 1889



     



















    Trevenna is the residence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

  • The house was built in 1892 and is located off Trevenna Road on the western side of the main campus in Armidale. There is no public access to the property or gardens, but the gardens have been open for public viewing, once in 1996 and twice in 2005.

  • Designed by Canadian-born, Boston-trained architect, John Horbury Hunt (1838–1904), Trevenna was originally the home of the Wrights, a prominent New England family of graziers. It was originally built for Mrs Eliza Jane Wright. The homestead and its grounds were bequeathed to UNE as the Vice-Chancellor’s residence in 1960 by Mrs Florence May Wilson.

  • The house itself comprises three storeys and features an imposing main entrance on the southern side. Some of the trees in its garden, including horse chestnuts, pines and planes, date back to the 1890s when Trevenna was built. The garden is constructed on several levels. A sunken garden, complete with stone sundialand fish pond, is on one side of the house, while on the other a series of hedges encloses a private lawn.

  • The front garden slopes away into a series of hedges and wide perennial borders lead the eye across the Bellevue area of the University with the city of Armidale and Mount Duval in the distance. Trevenna's gardens were the feature of a Woman's Weeklyspecial in 1971.
     

  • The Highlands,  9 Highlands Avenue    Wahroonga 1890-1893



     


















    “Highlands” was built in 1892‐93 for Alfred Horden and his wife, and was located on twenty‐four acres of land in the area between Edgeworth David Avenue, Myra Street, the railway corridor and Bundarra Avenue, near Hornsby, formerly known as Waitara, now Wahroonga.

  • Highlands is an excellent example of the north American shingle style of building and is late nineteenth century domestic architecture of very high quality.

  • Built for Alfred Hordern in 1891, the house reveals J Horbury Hunt's mastery of timber and brick detailing, spatial composition and complex massing forming a harmonious unity.

  • Heritage:

    • A large two storey timber house built 1891. Essentially East coast North American style with roof and walls originally sheeted with timber shingles, those on roof have been replaced by cement tiles (after a fire).

    • Main framing, including window openings, is New South Wales hardwood, window sashes and doors cedar.

    • The complex has a single storey kitchen wing, verandahs, balcony, tower and good brick chimneys. Basic massing consists of two simple rectangular steeply pitched shapes, linked by low service wing.

    • Highlands is significant as evidence of women shaping architecture.

      • Mrs Caroline Hordern was a keen cook and the two-storey kitchen wing was heavily influenced by her. 

      • The landscaping was also of her creation and Mrs Horden introduced many exotics from the Pacific Islands to adorn the garden.

    • This distinctive two-story house comprises two conjoining components.

      • The prominent part is the house proper, the kitchen wing sits a separate pyramidal roof. The separation of these two functional centres was advanced for its time.

    • Both roofs were originally shingled, like the walls. The wall shingles curve out over verandahs and openings, to shed water away from the walls. This is a feature of several of Hunt's Shingle Style houses.

    • The verandahs are supported by massive timber posts, minimally decorated. The verandahs are recessed under the eves, another design element commonly used by Hunt.
















       

  • Hamilton House, Moss Vale, 1893

 

Beautiful historic building - originally named Hamilton House now known as Tudor House Preparatory School - an initiative by The King's School.

Read More:

Hamilton House, Moss Vale, 1893
The Highlands

Above and Below:

Highlands residence, Waitara, New South Wales, ca. 1970 [picture] / Wes Stacey

The Highlands
Travenna, Armidale 1889
Pibrac, Warrawee, 1889
Booloominbah, Armidale NSW, 1886-1888
John Horbury Hunt, NSW

4. Edward Jeaffreson Jackson, NSW

 

 





 

 



Hollowforth's architect E. Jefferson Jackson is regarded as a leading architect of the period and the house ranks alongside a number of Horbury Hunt's commissions as the finest examples of the shingle style within the State.

  • Hollowforth which is both innovative and bold is an outstanding example of the American shingle style displaying further influence by the Art nouveau and English Arts and Crafts movement.

    • Hollowforth reflects the Art Nouveau influence the theme of which is carried through into the fluid geometric pattern of the shingled wall surfaces.

    • Its roof is a dramatic composition of stepped hips, broken gables, massive brick chimneys and dormer windows with conical caps.

    • The shingled upper walls are bellcast over the lower brick walls supported on a sandstone base. The variety of window forms is typical of the period. The interior contains several fine Art Nouveau features such as leadlighting, tapered stair balusters and joinery details. Prior to its conversion into 2 strata units, the house was being used as 13 flatettes.
       

  • Dr. Capper's House, North Sydney, 1892




















    This building is designed in the Federation Arts and Crafts style.

  • The site was the 1870 home of James Husband and family. A new house, designed by E. Jeaffreson Jackson, was owned by Dr. Capper and his mother. From this a hand-carved mantelpiece remains in the front building.

  • The house was used at times as a home and hospital.

  • Remodelled, this was opened in 1926 by the Rt. Ho. W.M. Hughes as the Council Chambers, enlarged again in 1938. The northern end was burnt out in 1976, restored and re-opened in 1978. The Wyllie Wing, in McLaren Street, designed by Harry Seidler, was completed in 1977 [16]

 

House for Henry Gullett; Builder: Brown and Tapson; Cost: £1,685

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Hindfell, 11A Lucinda Ave Wahroonga - State Library NSW

Above: Hindfell, 11A Lucinda Ave Wahroonga - – photo taken for the Exhibition of the Town Planning Associationof NSW and "The Commonwealth Home" at the Garden Design Exhibition, London, 1928 - State Library NSW

"Journalist Henry Gullett (1837-1914) retired as editor of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1899 and travelled to England. On his return, he commissioned this house from architect E. Jeaffreson Jackson.

  • Though built as a retirement home, Gullett was coaxed out of retirement to edit the Daily Telegraph from 1901 to 1903. Henry Gullett’s personal manuscript papers are held by Mitchell Library at MLMSS 1473.


The design of the house, with its shingling, arches and prominent bracketed oriel window under a large jettying gable was very influential.

  • An almost identical design was used some years later by builder William Richards for “Mounteray”, in Burwood Road, Burwood, as part of George Hoskins’ Appian Way subdivision.

 

 

Above: Mounteray, 318 Burwood Road by Appian Way, Burwood

“It is, in the first place, an essentially comfortable Australian home; it is picturesque without any obvious straining after effect; it has absolutely no unnecessary ornamental detail; and it groups well. No money has been wasted in attempting to achieve mere prettiness, and yet the house cannot fail to be interesting to any one who cares in the slightest degree for domestic architecture.”

"A large, dramatically designed Federation Arts and Crafts style house on an important harbourside site. Design is attributed to noted architect E Jeaffreson Jackson. Site includes a stone wall which may be associated with "Thrupps Cottage" or "Craignathan" both important early houses. It forms a part of the collection of large fine houses in the vicinity.

 

Above: The Hastings, 2 Hayes Street, Neutral Bay, NSW

 

"A two storey brick house with attic rooms below a multi-gabled roof of terracotta tiles. It features a roughcast rendered upper floor and square tower with battlemented parapet, bracketed, oriel windows, timber shingled gable ends, and sills and lintels and windows, dramatic arched brick verandah entries and timber slat balustrades to upper verandahs. This building is designed in the Federation Arts and Crafts style."

5. George Sydney Jones, NSW

  • Architect George Sydney Jones [1868-1927] was the grandson of retailer David Jones and the son of Sir Phillip Sydney Jones [1836-1918], a prominent physician. The Jones family resided at ‘Llandilo’ on The Boulevarde Strathfield [now Trinity Grammar Preparatory School] from c.1878.

  • George Sydney Jones spent his childhood and early life in Strathfield and many of his early designs are located in Strathfield.

  • George Sydney Jones was educated in architecture in London, qualifying for the diploma of Associate in the Royal Institute of British Architects [ARIBA] in 1890. He returned to Australia in 1891 and started his own architectural practice. He was elected a Fellow of the NSW Institute 1896-1901, Editor of Art & Architecture 1909-1912 and President of the NSW Institute of Architects [1912-1914 & 1920-21] .

  • George Sydney Jones designed six properties in Strathfield

  1. ​‘Trinity Congregational Church’ [1889],

  2. ‘Springfort’ [1894],

  3. ‘Darenth’[1895],

  4. ’Bickley’ [1894],

  5. ‘Treghre’ [1899], and

  6. ‘Luleo’ [1912].
    With the exception of ‘Springfort’ and ‘Luleo’, all properties were built for or financed by the Jones family.

  • ‘Luleo’ was a private commission, it was built on land jointly owned by Sir Phillip Sydney Jones and his uncle, stockbroker Thomas James (TJ) Thompson

  • Three survive reasonably in-tact, ‘Springfort’, ‘Darenth’ & ‘Trinity Congregational Church’.

 

  • Springfort, Strathfield, 1894

     




















    Above Left and Above: Springfort, 108 Redmyre Road Strathfield, the residence of the late Arthur Royce Lysaght, Esq.  

  • ‘Springfort’ was built in 1894 to a design by architect George Sydney Jones for Alexander Troup.

  • The house was illustrated as ‘A Cottage in Strathfield’ in the Australasian Builder’s and Contractor’s News in its issue of November 10 1894, which stated:
    ‘The cottage... was erected at Strathfield some months ago, and is situated on the heights of the Sydney suburb. The walls are brick, with white dressings, mouldings etc of the same material, and the roofs are covered with American redwood shingles, with tiled ridging. The architect was Mr. G Sydney-Jones, ARIBA, of Hunter-Street, Sydney, and the work was carried out by Mr J C Horne of Alexandria, the contract amounting to 1414 pounds’.

​​
 

  • Darenth, Strathfield, 1895


















     

  • ‘Darenth’ 32 Albyn Road Strathfield was designed in 1895 by architect George Sydney Jones as a private residence for the Reverend George Littlemore, Minister of the Strathfield Trinity Congregational Church.

  • The building was financed and owned by his Jones’ father Dr Phillip Sydney Jones, a close friend of Rev. George Littlemore. The Rev. Littlemore was the occupant of ‘Darenth’ until his death in 1929.
    The Register of the National Estate listing describes the house as ”

  • ‘Darenth’ is a single storey house of face brick in stretcher bond, tuck pointed and colour washed. The roof of unglazed Marseille tiles is broken into a number of hipped and gabled forms, and there is a prominent corner tower with a tall pyramidal roof of flat terra cotta shingles. The front verandah has turned timber posts and timber brackets.

  • The architectural style is mainly Federation period Arts and Crafts style, shown in features such as

    • the long runs of roof and exposed eaves;

    • the use of timber shingles for fascias and over the entrance porch;

    • the variety of window shapes including bulls eye and horseshoe; and

    • the tones of face brick and tiles using decorative moulded bricks for string courses and hood moulds.

  • At the same time there are a number of unconventional features including the split level plan, banded brick chimneys and curious corner brick buttresses which extend above the eaves line to form square topped pilasters, a typical Federation Free style motif.

  • There are unsympathetic modern openings in the front wall. A mature front garden conceals the house from the street. There is a brick and timber picket front fence. The rear garden has been altered to accommodate and elevated patio and swimming pool.”

Aerial view: Springfort, 108 Redmyre Road Strathfield
Springfort, 108 Redmyre Road Strathfield
Street view: Springfort, 108 Redmyre Road Strathfield
Darenth’ 32 Albyn Road Strathfield
'Mounterry 318 Burwood Road Burwood NSW
Architect George Sydney Jones
Edward Jeaffreson Jackson, NSW
Hollowforth, Neutral Bay, 1892
Dr. Capper's House, North Sydney, 1892
'Hindfell', 11A Lucinda Avenue, Wahroonga, 1901-02
Hastings
George Sydney Jones, NSW
Springfort, Strathfield, 1894
Darenth, Strathfield, 1895
Hordern Family Houses

6. Rodney Alsop, Vic

See also page Architect Rodney Alsop

Below Left: Gallery of Alsop's designs

 

 

Architects: Klingender & Alsop 1908: for Sir Everard Studley Miller

 

Glyn, a large mansion townhouse, was designed in 1908 by the noted architect Rodney H Alsop (1881-1932) for Sir Edward Miller (1848-1932) the leading financier and second son of Henry "Money"..Miller (1809—1888). After Sir Edward's death Glyn was owned and occupied by his son Everard Studley Miller (1886-1956) the art patron, collector and philantropist.

 

Glyn is of architectural and historical importancefor the following reasons:

  1. As an important early and fine example of the work of the architect and craftsman Rodney Alsop who played a major role in the introduction of the Arts and Crafts movement into Victoria in the early 19005.

    • This movement, which had its origins in Britain in the 1850s, drew together amateur and professional artists, architects, educators and craftspeople.

  2. Glyn's interiors contain splendid examples of decoration in the Arts and Crafts manner, including leadlights, metal door and fireplace furniture and carved woodwork using Australian native flora motifs.

  3. As one of Victoria's grandest Edwardian period houses.

  4. For its historical associations with the financier Sir Edward Miller (1848—1923) and his son Everard Miller (1886-1956) .

Below: Gallery of Glyn's masterful design

Above: Edrington, Melville Park, Berwick Vic

Edrington was built in 1906-07 for the West Australian pastoralist Samuel P McKay. It was designed by Rodney Alsop in 1906.

  • It is a two-storey red brick example of the English vernacular style with some reference to the Queen Anne style.

  • Previously the property was known as Melville Park. It had been owned by Captain Robert Gardiner. He sold it to James Gibb who planted many of the surviving trees. The property at that time was used as a stud and for cropping. Gibb was a local Councillor in the Shire of Berwick and was Shire President six times, State Member for Mornington 1880-86 and Federal MHR for Flinders 1903-06.

  • Although the barn and shearing shed have been demolished, the former stables and a brick cottage still survive from this period.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

In 1907-08 the Arts and Crafts homestead was built to a design prepared by architects Klingender and Alsop, and the garden laid out to a plan prepared by William Guilfoyle, Director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens in 1909.

  • The large house was constructed in reinforced concrete, an early use of this material for a domestic residence. It has an asymmetrical composition with a dominant steep roof form featuring gables, gabled dormers and tall chimneys.

  • The interior includes notable elements such as the handsome Arts and Crafts inspired timber staircase leading to a timber-balustraded upstairs gallery which overlooks the large living space below. Around 1927 the Melbourne engineer and World War I General Sir John Monash was commissioned to extend a small dam into a 22 acre lake. The pump house and a small shed were built in similar materials and style to the 1908 house.

  • The raised terrace of the house looks across the sweep of lawn and lake to the distant vista of the Pyrenees Ranges and Mt Cole.

  • Read more: Architect Rodney Alsop

Rodney Alsop, Vic
Glyn
Edrington
Mawallock

7. Guyon Purchas, Vic

  • Foster Homestead, Boisdale,1892
     
















    Boisdale Homestead was erected in 1892 for Askin Morrison Foster, son of pioneer pastoralist John Foster, who leased the run in 1841.

  • R G W Purchas, a Melbourne architect, designed the present single storey brick and timber residence with a steep broken pitch roof clad with Marseille tiles and capped with a monitor skylight. The V plan form and exterior form reflect American influences in the design.

  • Boisdale Homestead is a distinctive East Gippsland residence and a notable work of R G W Purchas, an innovative architect working in the late 19th century.

  • The style of Boisdale is clearly derived form contemorary American developments and contrasts with Purchas's revivalist work, of which his own house, Tay Creggan, in Hawthorn, is the most important.
     

  • Boisdale is an early settled pastoral run and the present residence is dramatically situated on a granite outcrop overlooking the Avon River. The interior is finely crafted. Boisdale homestead and outbuildings are maintained intact and in excellent condition.

 

Left: Tay Creggan Hawthorn Victoria, now an educational institution

In 1898 Guyon designed the large mansion, Tay Creggan, near the Yarra in Hawthorn as a residence for himself. The mansion is of Queen Anne design, and only the constructional details and working drawings remain. 

  • Purrumbete, Camperdown, Vic 1901



     















    In 1901 architect Guyon Purchas was commissioned by W.T. Manifold to again enlarge and modify the house, resulting in a highly unusual Federation Arts and Crafts style building. The most significant changes were made to the rooms along the front wing with addition of a first floor, the inclusion of a substantial hall with minstrel's gallery, and the modification of the drawing room.
     

  • Externally the resulting homestead is Arts and Crafts in character, with remnants of the earlier phases evident. The textured bluestone and red brick building is highly asymmetrical in composition with dominant multi-gabled roofs containing dormer windows, and encircling verandas. Detailing includes terracotta shingles in gable ends and bulbous terracotta veranda columns, exaggerated timber brackets and dressed with luestone quoining and architraves. Decorative Art Nouveau lamps remain at the porch steps.

  • Internally the mains spaces are Arts ad Crafts in character with Art nouveau detailing. Extensive timber work, such as panelled walls and ceilings, frieze brands, sliding doors, screens, newell posts, fire surrounds, overmantles and inglenook seats, and metal work incorporate sinuous details. The timber fittings were crafted by Melbourne joiners, Murray and Crow, between 1902 and 1904 and, together with the metal work, were probably designed by Guyon Purchas. Manifold commissioned the leading Heidelberg School artist, Walter Wither, to executive six paintings depicting the early settlement and development of the family at Purrumbete, to line the main hall of the homestead.

  • Read more: Architect Rodney Alsop

Boisdale Homestead, a distinctive East Gippsland residence
Boisdale Homestead, a distinctive East Gippsland residence
Purrumbete, Camperdown, Vic
Tay Creggan House and Garden, 30 Yarra St, Hawthorn, VIC
Guyon Purchas, Vic
Boisdale,1892
Purrumbete, Camperdown, Vic 1901
Harold Desbrowe-Annear
Architect Peter Crone outside his beloved Desbrowe-Annear home, Chadwick House in Eaglemont.
OFFICER HOUSE, 55 OUTLOOK DRIVE EAGLEMONT, BANYULE CITY

8. Harold Desbrowe-Annear, Vic

 

Harold Desbrowe-Annear was an influential Australian architect who was at the forefront of the development of the Arts and Crafts movement in this country, and was one of the most innovative architects in Australia in the early twentieth century.

 

Original Architecture

Annear was one of Australia's leading and most innovative Arts and Crafts architects the early twentieth century.

 

  • Trained in the heady days of Melbourne’s 1880s land boom and imbued with the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, he was acclaimed by Robin Boyd as a
    pioneer of modernism.

  • In his first book Victorian Modern published in 1949 Boyd wrote ‘Harold Desbrowe Annear was the first Australian-born to produce original architecture, a big bluff, hearty architect, who knew what he wanted, and saw that his clients got it.’


Desbrowe-Annear embraced the power of architecture to improve people’s lives.

  • Open plan living areas expressed architecturally the new openness and sense of freedom that was flowing through society at the time of Federation – an Australian architecture that responded to climate, use and place.

  • In the spirit of the Arts and Crafts he saw the suburban house in its widest sense – as part of a total ensemble that included the interior, the furnishings and the garden. He promoted the idea of an ‘architecture of democracy’: an art available to everyone. Adopting a variety of styles, the houses were nonetheless all planned for comfort and functional efficiency, as well as good design.

 

The Eyrie Houses, Eaglemont, Heidelberg

These three house are highly representative of this architect's work during this Federation period, which was arguably his most inventive.

Pictured at left:
1. Desbrowe Annear House (1903) 36–38 The Eyrie, Eaglemont, built as a residence for the architect and his family;

2. The Chadwick House (1903) 32–34 The Eyrie, Eaglemont now owned and restored by Architect Peter Crone
3. Officer House - 55 Outlook Drive (1903)​ 55 Outlook Drive, Eaglemont

Annear moved to Eaglemont in 1901 where he was able to develop his Arts and Crafts principles through a number of commissions. The most well known of these are the three houses he built for his father-in-law James Chadwick in The Eyrie of which this is one.

  • The Chadwick houses or Eyrie houses as they are known form a unique collection and are fine examples of the architect's work as well as highly realised expression of the architect's ideas.

  • These houses are considered to be the best and clearest expression of Annear's Arts and Crafts designs. The house is referred to as the Officer House after a George Officer who rented the place from James Chadwick after it was built.

  • Read more about Architect Harold Desbrowe-Annear at Wikipedia

Harold Desbrowe-Annear
Eyrie Houses

9. Walter Butler, Vic

Walter Butler was an architect of great talent and prolific output.

  • He was a pioneer in the use of solar design principles in Australia.

  • His deep interest in arts and crafts principles was a legacy of his early experience with leading arts and crafts architects in England before coming to Australia.

​Butler was rightly considered an architect of great talent, and many of his clients were wealthy pastoralists and businessmen. His country-house designs include

  1. Blackwood (1891), near Penshurst, for R. B. Ritchie,

  2. Wangarella (1894), near Deniliquin, New South Wales, for Thomas Millear, and

  3. Newminster Park (1901), near Camperdown, for A. S. Chirnside.

 

Equally distinguished large houses were designed for the Melbourne suburbs:

  1. Warrawee (1906), Toorak, for A. Rutter Clark;

  2. Thanes (1907), Kooyong, for F. Wallach;

  3. Kamillaroi (1907) for (Baron) Clive Baillieu, and

  4. extensions to Edzell (1917) for George Russell, both in St Georges Road, Toorak. 

Butler was also a garden designer, with Marathon, constructed in 1914, a fine example, having the grandest plan and being the largest and most intact surviving garden of Butler's design.

  • Blackwood VIC 1891 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Blackwood, near Penshurst, for R. B. Ritchie

  • The long single storey gabled composition of Blackwood's main building gives a distinctly Australian character to an architectural idiom derived principally from contemporary English works.

  • The complex of homestead, stable block and coach house date from 1891 when they were erected for R B Ritchie, and still remains in the Ritchie family. The contractor was Charles Hosking.

  • The perimeter walls of the house are constructed in bluestone.

  • The terra cotta tile roof (the tiles were imported from Bridgewater (in the east of England) and is punctuated by a variety of half timbered gables and clusters of tall red brick chimneys.

  • The variety of window types displayed across the facade reflect the scale and importance of the rooms they illuminate

  • Myrniong VIC,1907

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Above: Myrniong, Hensley Park Road Myrniong

Myrniong Hensley Park Road Myrniong,Vic is of Victorian state significance for its architecture and its garden.

  • It is of regional significance for its historical associations both with its first owner, Leslie Jenner and its present use as the Alexandra College.
    Butler, Kemp or Ussher?

  • Myrniong may have been designed by the architect Henry Kemp who, with Beverley Ussher, was responsible for the 1904 design of Eildon, at 34 Thompson Street Hamilton.

  • At least on stylistic grounds the design can be attributed to Walter Butler who was active in the Western District.

    • He had designed Blackwood, near Penshurst, in 1891.

    • He designed extensions to Murndal, at Merino, in 1906.

    • English born and trained, Butler was a critical link between the Queen Anne style and the full flowering of the Australian Federation style.

    • Butler worked in association with several key architects including Kemp and for many elite clients during his long and distinguished career. He also considered himself to be a landscape architect.

  • Myrniong's garden, although now compromised by modern school buildings and facilities, is particularly significant for its individual trees and avenues. Some are both rare and especially fine specimens. Myrniong, both house and garden, survives significantly and is in excellent condition.
     

  • The Gables, Hamilton VIC (1908)

 

 

Above: The Gables 69 French Street Hamilton VIC

This building has regional significance for its architectural interest as a fine example of the Queen Anne style house and for its historical associations with Harold Learmonth (1863-1933) of Peter Learmonth & Co., stock and station agents and auctioneers, a prominent Hamilton townsman and mayor.

  • It was probably designed by the leading society architect, Walter Butler. He was active in the area at this time and associated with the Learmonths.

  • The house is an important foil to both Eildon, now the Napier Club building, designed by Ussher and Kemp in 1904 and Myrniong, designed by Butler (or Henry Kemp) in 1906. All three architects were closely associated.

  • Notwithstanding the verandah, it is a very English version of the Federation style and hints at the Arts and Crafts movement in its detailing.

  • Studley, Toorak​ VIC (1912-1918)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above: Studley, 392-400 Toorak Road, and 41 Tintern Avenue, Toorak

A complex of early flats which particularly exemplifies changing attitudes and a semi-servantless lifestyle as developed by the end of the Great War.

  • "Butler’s Old Masterpiece" By JOHN WESTWOOD The Age 14 June 1985
    "DAME Nellie Melba is among the past residents of a remarkable development of flats at Toorak, one of which has come onto the market, a rare event in itself.

  • "41 Tintern Avenue was where Melbourne architect Walter E. Butler at the turn of the century built a fine home for himself and his wife, who was Millicent Howard, ot the Howards who established a grazing property east of the city, named Studley Park.

  • "Butler named his Toorak house Studley, but its character changed to a remarkable degree about 1918 when he had the idea of adding some flats to it. He built some on the tennis court, a few more on the main block near the house and also turned the house proper into a series of maisonettes."

The work of Architect Walter Butler

Above: Selected works of Architect Walter Butler

Butler, Kemp or Ussher?
The Gables
Blackwood VIC 1891
Walter Butler
Studley, Toorak​ VIC
Myrniong VIC 1907

Early Arts and Crafts Houses in Australia

  1. 1882 Fairwater, 560 New South Head Rd, Point Piper NSW - Architect John Horbury Hunt

  2. 1888 Pibrac, Pibrac Avenue, Warrawee - Architect John Horbury Hunt

  3. 1891 Mount Alverna, Burns Road, Wahroonga - designed by renowned local architect Richard George Howard Joseland

  4. 1896 Shirvington's Mosman Mansion

Arts and Crafts Shingle style
  1. 1886 Glen Alpine. Werris Creek (destroyed 2014)

  2. 1890-1893 Highlands Wahroonga, NSW

  3. 1892-1893 Hollowforth, 146 Kurraba Road, Kurraba Point, NSW  - Architect E. Jeaffreson Jackson

 

20th Century Arts and Crafts Designs:
  1. 1905 Fairhaven Kirribilli - Architect James Peddle

  2. 1906 Clayfield House 8 London Road CLAYFIELD, QLD

  3. 1908 Crossways - Centennial Park - Architect B.J. Waterhouse of Waterhouse & Lake.

  4. 1908 Glyn House, 224 Kooyong Rd, Toorak - Architect Rodney Alsop

  5. 1909 Waimea 42-44 Waimea Avenue Sandy Bay, TAS 7005

  6. 1913 Eaton House Thorngate SA - Architect Kenneth Milne

  7. 1913 Rowardennan, Warrawee NSW - Architect B.J. Waterhouse

Keep Reading:
Early Arts and Crafts Houses in Australia
Arts and Crafts Shingle style
20th Century Arts and Crafts Designs
bottom of page