Where I Work

(no, not here, this is an undemolished house around the corner from home) 

If had been sitting in my current office working away as a solicitor in 1935 (most unlikely given my gender) this is what my building would have looked like:

The National Trust has just released an app which tracks demolished buildings of Melbourne.  Like every city, there are many, although we demolished maybe more enthusiastically than others.  Save for the English of course.  Bill Bryson points out in his book At Home that literally thousands of magical country homes were demolished in the middle of the last century, a sad fact now the subject of a site which Lisa pointed me to in a recent post.

The building above was used by the US General Macarthur as his residence during WW2, and also played host to Mark Twain and Alexander Graham Bell.It was demolished and replaced with the current high rise. 


Almost too sad to think about, that such a building has gone for good.


There are plenty more where that came from.  Remember the 1950's? I don't but apparently old things were considered ugly and out of fashion, and people wanted new clean lines.   There were very limited heritage controls and so people could buy large blocks of land, demolish the inconvenient Italianate mansion located on it, and build a lovely orange brick block of flats.


Here are some no longer with us, just in my area:

(Alta Vista, South Yarra, 1859)

(Corrabert, Toorak) 

(Leura mid 1800s, Toorak)

(Norla, Irving Road Toorak)

So many memories and people laughing, all gone.

But fear not, there are many buildings which have survived.

(Ripponlea in the suburb of the same name)

and many more still in private hands:

(Coonac in Clendon Road Toorak)

(Miegunyah, Orrong Road Toorak) 

(Images via the Age, National Trust (thanks!)

I have a very personal reason for feeling sad about demolished houses.


I grew up in a pale pink 1920s house, which we sold when my parents divorced.  To me that house was happiness incarnate.  I still dream of it.


Eventually, it sold and then sold again.  A few years ago I happened to drive past, and the wreckers were there, busily pulling it down.   I pulled over, a stared in unbelieving horror.  The gingko tree we climbed on, the ancient pear trees, the morton bay fig, the terracotta roof, the slate verandah, all gone.   A little bit of me died that day, I tell you. 


And what is there now?  A large block of neo Georgian neo Tuscan neo Palladian apartments.     What can you say?


Happy post next time, I promise. 

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The Best Rooms of 2010...?

Australian House & Garden does a feature every year where they list the top 50 rooms of the year.  The 2010 picks have just been released.   There were quite a few which did not grab me at all as they looked too styled, too display home, or just a teeny bit ugly.  These are my five favourites:

 

You can see that I like white, clean and bright.  And this did get me thinking about this question: what exactly is Australian style?   

There is a lot one could say on this topic, one could mention our 'easy going' inside \ outside sunny lifestyle.   But that forgets of course that a substantial part of the south of the country has cold winters and even snow.   One could talk about how we love to use colour, but then what about all those lovely white and neutral interiors we see everywhere?  Or we could look at all the natural timbers and fibres we use, or our hard edged modern back extensions.  

My answer is much simpler, and harks back to the days of the Australian Impressionists who, inspired by the French, gathered at Heidelberg outside Melbourne to paint in what was then a radical new style.   They found that the light in Australia was completely different to the light in Europe.  It means that they had to adjust their painting technique and subject matter and colour to address the hard squinty brightness of the light.

This is illustrated by these wonderful works, all painted in the same year:

Charles Conder 'Herricks Blossoms' 1889

Arthur Streeton 'Golden Summer Eaglemont' 1889

(this is now an inner suburb of Melbourne)

Arthur Streeton 'Windy and Wet' 1889

I think this hits the nail on the head.  The light in Australia is different to the light in other countries.  It is harsher and brighter (and burnier, as I have found out at some cost).  This means you have to decorate and design differently.  You need shady spots, and you have to be careful with too much white.  It means that colours show through clearly and cleanly, so the shade of red which may look burgundy in a room in France is fire engine red here.  And that lovely white Swedish room may cause sun blindness here.

I know someone whose mother died in the 1980's and when they packed up her home they found an Arthur Streeton painting hidden under her bed.   Why would you hide the work of such a wonderful artist?    


(Images: (1)(5) Australian House and Garden (6) from the book 'Living the Modern - Australian Architecture) (7) - (9) from the National Gallery of Victoria)

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St Kilda Dreaming

On Saturday the AFL Grand Final was held before 100,014 people crammed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

(Corvey, Brighton Road St Kilda, fell into disrepair and then demolished)

For only the third time in more than a 100 years the game was drawn at 67 points all.

(captains of Collingwood and St Kilda looking stunned at the end of the game)

I don't really follow football, and I can tell you that is pretty unusual in Melbourne. But I always watch the Grand Final and it was an amazing, heart stopping 1970s style game on Saturday.   I actually 'barrack' (I use that word very loosely) for Richmond but St Kilda comes a close second. For no reason other than I love the suburb and spent many happy years living there.

Do you know what happens in AFL when a game is drawn?  Unlike 99.9% of the other ball games played on this planet, there is no extra time.  No no.  They replay the game next week.   Although for future finals, they may need to rethink this.

So here,  for  my second most favourite team, are some St Kilda iconic buildings.   All demolished now.   Do you think we have learned not to demolish beautiful buildings?  I am not so sure.   St Kilda was a wealthy suburb in the 1800s and full of Italianate and Victorian mansions.   Many were saved simply by virtue of being converted into apartments.   Others were demolished in the 1960s to make way for brick flats or glass towers. 

(Iloura in St Kilda Road demolished in 1964)

(Armadale in St Kilda Road, demolished in the 1970s)

(Summerland House, located near the corner of Fitzroy Street and Acland Street, St Kilda)

I read an interesting story on the origins of the name of the suburb.  The buyer of the land on which Summerland House was located was a Lieutenant James Ross Lawrence.  He was captain of the schooner Lady of St Kilda. Captain Lawrence named Acland Street after Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, the ship’s owner.

Acland’s ship was in turn named after a Lady Grange. In 1734, it is said that she was imprisoned by her husband for seventeen years on the St Kilda group of islands, the westernmost point of the British Isles, and way beyond the Scottish Outer Hebrides. Only on his death could she be released. Her crime was in remonstrating with him about his schemes to restore the position of Bonnie Prince Charlie. There are seven islands in the group, but Hirta is the largest. It has not been continuously inhabited since 1930. Lady Grange was probably left on Hirta.

I will remember that next time I remonstrate with my husband about his schemes. 

(Images:  (1) Not sure sorry (2) The Age (3) (4) The Collector (5) St Kilda Historical Society

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Face on Building

At the end of Swanston Street in Melbourne lies the old Carlton and United Brewery site. It is huge, and has been a bit of a bombsite for as long as I can remember.

This week the developer released images of the building it is proposed to be built there.   It is designed by Melbourne architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall.  

The face is that of William Barak, an Aboriginal elder who lived between 1824 and 1903. He was the last traditional elder of the Wurundjeri people, whose land was where the city of Melbourne now sits.  He was an accomplished bark artist, and a respected, articulator for Aborginal interests in the 19th century.

The face is only visible from a distance.   It is certainly original although I haven't seen any commentator yet point out that the concept is identical to an idea ARM had for a residential building in Darling Harbour in Sydney, which would have had an image of the Max Dupain photo 'Bondi' on it.  This was never built.

How does the face work?  ARM's website describes the process for the Dupain building as follows:

To build this image the famous original photograph was scanned and processed into black and white strips using a sophisticated computer generated technique. Each strip became curved and rippled like ribbons or driftwood. Together these strangely evocative balustrade forms create the vivid optical illusion of the original picture, which becomes clearer as distance increases, to emerge as if from a mirage.

ARM are truly original. I wish they did more residential work, like these fabulous pointy angular beachouses:

They tend to stick more to urban design and iconic buildings, like this:

(new visitor centre at the Shrine of Remembrance)

 (RMIT Storey Hall. I especially like the pink tram in this image)

Do you think it would be slightly odd to live in a building with a face on it , or would you not notice after a while?

(All Images from ARM)

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Drive by Houses - Avoca Street, South Yarra

I often drive up Avoca Street on my way to the Tan for a run.

This is my absolutely favourite street in all of Melbourne. I know there are more perfect streets, and more well known streets, and more paved with gold streets, and this one certainly has its share of 1970's brick 3 storey apartment blocks. But it is on a hill, and is a short walk to the Royal Botanic Gardens, and it has some amazing houses.

I do love a good sticky beak at the outside of houses. It is why I prefer being a car passenger than driving. I am sure I have almost had many near misses, distracted by some wonderful facade as I drive past. In some ways gazing upon the outside is more satisfying than seeing inside a house. I often don't like the inside of people's houses. Especially those houses owned by people with lots of money. Sorry but it's true.

My way, one can furnish the house oneself. Elegantly, sparsely and relatively true to the period, with lots of modern touches thrown in.

Anyway, I thought I would take some sneaky photos to see if you agree with my assessment.

All the food groups are represented in Avoca Street:

Early Victorian 

Georgian 

Victorian Terrace (at the end of this row (called Lee Terrace) is Waterloo which I wrote about here)

Spanish Mission

Melbourne modern Palladian

1930s Georgian revival

Palm Springs

 Italianate

Forbidding and Inaccessible 

Colonial

Do you see why I like it so much?  

.

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Flowery Florals in central London

The new edition of Lonny contains a story on Cath Kidston's London home. 

Now many seem to like that red living room. Others have some criticisms of this edition. I do like a good on-line evisceration, check out My Favourite and My Best and If the Lampshade Fits for some entertainment.

But what I liked the very most was this brilliant Mies Van Der Rohe style super modern extension to her old home.  I love the contrast between ancient and new, especially that view out onto the old brick wall. 

This part is not at all what I would expect of Ms Kidston.   Let's face it a little Cath Kidston goes a very long way.  I am glad she takes my advice and applies her lovely florals in moderation.  

I love glass boxes.   Partly because I live in one at home.  There is something about the combination of large walls of glass and a grassy outlook.  Here are two more I rather like:

Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe

The Glass House by Philip Johnson (1949)

The other room I loved was her master bedroom.  This is quite a conservative room, and I think that is okay.   It is still really restful, incorporates a wonderful antique really well, and still has little modern touches.  I can relate to this mainly because I actually don't want my bedroom to be faddy and super trendy.  I also agree with her view that the bedroom is a place for very special things.  Just don't keep them in your bedside table drawer.  That is very first place the burglars look.  Trust me, I know.

And this is her red living room which is certainly eye catching but am not sure I could live in it.  I like her art work though. 

Whenever I am in London I visit one of her shops.  She also ships to Australia, although the shipping costs are extortionate.  I tend to prefer her little bags and accessories rather than the major items like bedlinen.

In particular, I love her IPhone cases.  I have searched high \ low for one which will assist me to stop confusing my phone with everyone else's. 

I have also just ordered this wallpaper, to cover a hideous brown Ikea shelf in my daughter's room.    I am doing wallpaper outside, and paint inside the shelves.   Mainly because I think it will be easier.  I will show you once I have done it. 

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Drive By Houses - Sarathon and Joseph Brown

The 1881 Italianate home of the late Dr Joseph Brown, AO, OBE, is for sale.  I have previously written of my love for Italianate tower houses, and Melbourne has a preponderance, including this one, known as Sarathon.

Located at Grandview Grove, Prahran, it has a completely untouched back area which is very unusual and many intact features.   Here is one of the rooms.  

Guess what kind of person resided here? 

It's not hard to guess - someone who lived and loved art.  As beautiful as this house is, perhaps it is most interesting for its owner, Joseph Brown, who died last year

This portrait of Joseph Brown was painted by Sir William Dargie in 1975.  Doesn't he look like a wonderful person?  I imagine him as slightly gruff but charming, and fascinated by all around him.   (Apologies for tiny size of image).

Here are some hight points of his incredible life.  

Josef Breun arrived as a Polish emigre with his father and siblings in 1932, aged 14. He left school at 16 and found a job working in a fashion house.  This was also the age at which he purchased his first artwork (with his first wage).  He established a fashion business making wedding and evening gowns but still loved to paint and scupt.

He served in World War II for his adopted country, and joined the 13th Light Horse Regiment.

He gave away fashion eventually and opened an art gallery in 1967.  He rediscovered forgotten artists (such as John Glover, whose colonial works fell out of fashion in the 1950s) and mentored young artists (such as Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd and Rick Amor). 

He realised early on he could not afford European art and instead over decades amassed an incredible collection of Australian art, spanning centuries.

In May 2004 Brown donated most of his collection of art to the National Gallery of Victoria.  This collection of 150 works ranged from Aboriginal to Heidelberg school works worth $30 million was the most generous single gift ever made to an Australian gallery.  Included are these works:

(Phillipine Girls by Ian Fairweather, 1935)

(Yall-y-Poora Homestead by Eugene Von Guerard, 1864)

Dr Brown kept 300 paintings from his collection.  You can see some of them on the walls of Sarathon.   He repeatedly said he was not a rich man, and emphasised the friendships he had forged with so many outstanding artists. He said in 2004 that he would keep painting himself as long as he could hold a paintbrush. 

((1)-(3) Marshall White (5) and (6) NGV, other sources The Age and Wikepedia).

And thank you all for those who left such nice comments about my friend and her tragedy.  She is doing okay, and you are all very kind to be thinking of her. xoxo

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