RECOMMENDATION OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

SIGNIFICANCE UNDER PART 3, DIVISION 3 OF THE HERITAGE ACT 2017

Name Esme Johnston House Location 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton, City of Bayside Hermes Number 202765 Heritage Overlay Number N/A

Esme Johnston House (July 2019)

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE HERITAGE COUNCIL:  That the Esme Johnston House NOT be included in the Victorian Heritage Register under Section 37(1)(b) of the Heritage Act 2017.  The Heritage Council may wish to consider exercising its powers under s.49(1)(c) of the Heritage Act 2017 to refer the recommendation to the Bayside City Council for consideration for an amendment to the Heritage Overlay of the Bayside Planning Scheme.

STEVEN AVERY Executive Director Recommendation Date: 9 August 2019 Advertising Period: 16 August 2019 – 14 October 2019

This recommendation report has been issued by the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria under s.37 of the Heritage Act 2017. It has not been considered or endorsed by the Heritage Council of Victoria.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 1 NOMINATED EXTENT OF REGISTRATION Two nominations were received for the Esme Johnston House at 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton.

Nomination 1: Date that the nomination was accepted by the Executive Director 23 May 2019

Written extent of nomination The whole of the property within the title boundaries (TP: 248542Q)

Nomination extent diagram

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 2 Nomination 2: Date that the nomination was accepted by the Executive Director 7 June 2019

Written extent of nomination The total area within the title boundaries.

Nomination extent diagram

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 3 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESPONSE SUMMARY It is the view of the Executive Director that this place should not be included in the Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) for the reasons outlined in this report.

The information presented in this report and the attached documents demonstrates that the Esme Johnston House may be of potential local significance, rather than State level significance. The Heritage Council may wish to refer the recommendation and submissions to the relevant planning authority for consideration for an amendment to include the place in the Heritage Overlay of the planning scheme.

BACKGROUND WHAT IS AT THE PLACE? The Esme Johnston House is a three-storey dwelling situated towards the rear of a rectangular block at 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton. The dwelling comprises a tall but otherwise simple, volume distinguished by an unusually steeply-pitched roof creating tall gables to either end. The dwelling adopts a, broadly, Tudor Revival expression with half-timbering to external walls. The front garden largely comprises lawn, with specimen planting around the edges. Rock walls line the driveway with a front brick fence. A number of outbuildings are located in the rear yard. An original flagstone paving treatment to a rear service area partially survives.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE PLACE? Actress, writer and radio announcer, Esme Johnston designed the dwelling at 38 Grosvenor Street in 1928. From its design and approval in 1929 to its completion in 1930, Johnston appears to have acted as project manager for the works, procuring materials, engaging and supervising the various builders and tradesmen while undertaking some of the work herself. The house was sold by Johnston in c.1939 and has remained a private dwelling in various ownerships since that time.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 4 RECOMMENDATION REASONS REASONS FOR RECOMMENDING INCLUSION IN THE VICTORIAN HERITAGE REGISTER [s.40] Following is the Executive Director's assessment of the place against the tests set out in The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Thresholds Guidelines (2019).

CRITERION A Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION A The place/object has a CLEAR ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life in Victoria’s cultural history. Plus The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history. Plus The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria.

Executive Director’s Response The Esme Johnston House has a clear association with the following phases, processes or customs in Victoria’s history:

 The rise of Tudor Revival and related architectural styles.  The emergence of women in the architecture and building professions.  The construction of designers’ own homes.

These phases are of historical importance, having made a strong contribution to Victoria’s development.

1. The rise of the Tudor Revival and related architectural styles. The Esme Johnston House is an example of an interwar suburban home drawing inspiration from Tudor Revival sources. In the 1920s, the Tudor Revival expression was one of the leading architectural styles for suburban dwellings. The Esme Johnston House illustrates the development of the style in Melbourne’s suburbs through the interwar period.

2. The emergence of women in the architecture and related professions After World War I, women began to pursue new and different professions. Changes in architectural education in the first part of the twentieth century contributed to women training and practising in architecture and other design professions. Esme Johnston was not formally trained as an architect or designer, but appears to have undertaken the roles of designer, project manager and part-builder for her own house. As a consequence of the legibility of its provenance and publicised authorship, the Esme Johnston house has a clear association with this historical phase and illustrates the rise of female involvement in the design of the built environment during the Interwar period.

Esme Johnston acted as designer and project manager for her project and also undertook procurement of both trades and materials. However, it appears that she undertook only limited building work and no role as an early owner-builder has been established.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 5 3. Designers’ own homes Architects’ and designers’ homes often serve as the vanguard of popular tastes. There are numerous noted examples throughout Victoria of designers and architects who have designed their own homes. Esme Johnston’s House is an example of this aspect of Victoria’s history. This is partially evident in the fabric of the dwelling and has been reported in documentary sources.

Criterion A is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE TEST FOR CRITERION A The place/object allows the clear association with the event, phase etc. of historical importance to be UNDERSTOOD BETTER THAN MOST OTHER PLACES OR OBJECTS IN VICTORIA WITH SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME ASSOCIATION.

Executive Director’s Response 1. The rise of the Tudor Revival and related architectural styles. A very large number of free-standing homes in various English Revival styles exist in the suburbs of Melbourne. The most significant of these are included in the VHR and many other examples are included in Heritage Overlays. These important individual buildings allow the development of the style to be understood. The Esme Johnston House does not allow this phase to be understood better than most other places in Victoria with substantially the same association.

2. The emergence of women in the architecture and related professions During the interwar years, formal female representation in the design professions increased. There are a number of examples of women who were training and practicing as architects, landscapers and designers in this period. These include architects such as Muriel Stott, Edith Ingpen and Ellison Harvie and landscape designers such as Edna Walling.

Esme Johnston differs from these women in that she was not a trained architect or designer and the somewhat ad hoc nature of her own home, reveals this lack of training. Johnston was a journalist by trade who wrote on a number of topics, including design and building. Following the construction of her house, Johnston was not involved in any further architectural projects as designer or builder. This is in contrast to figures such as Walling or Ingpen, who were responsible for, or played a significant role in, the construction of many important buildings (and landscapes in the case of Walling) throughout their careers.

There are currently only two places in the VHR which are attributed to female designers working alone. These are Muriel Stott’s, Little Milton (VHR H1738) and Edna Walling’s, Sonning (part Bickleigh Vale, VHR H2053). However, this largely reflects the unacknowledged, but often substantial, role of female designers within firms or partnerships during this period rather than a lack of female involvement. As a consequence of its well- publicised authorship, the Esme Johnston house allows this historical phase to be understood. However, the built work of other female architects notably, Edna Walling, Edith Ingpen and Muriel Stott were better- publicised and acknowledged than Johnston’s single design. Consequently, their work is better known and understood than the Johnston House. These buildings, rather than Johnston’s, are more readily understood than most other similar places in Victoria with substantially the same associations.

A similar example to the Esme Johnston House is the house at 300-302 Yarra Street, Warrandyte included in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the City of Manningham (HO200), which is attributed to Alexa Goyder, another untrained female designer who designed and built her own home in the 1920s. This illustrates the emergence of women in the architecture and design fields. However, it has been assessed as a place of local, rather than State significance.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 6 3. Designers’ own homes Victoria has a long history of architects designing residences for their own use. These can illustrate the lives and tastes of their designers. In some cases their construction responds to a desire to demonstrate their skill and talent to potential clients. Often, these buildings serve as advocacy, promoting Old English, Tudor or Arts and Crafts or another preferred style. A number of examples in Victoria from the Interwar period are included in local heritage overlays but are not included in the VHR. Buildings of local significance include: Rodney Alsop’s home at 17 Tintern Avenue, Toorak (Stonnington, HO518) and Marcus Martin’s residence, Broome, at 6 Glyndebourne Avenue, Toorak (Stonnington, HO264). Edith Ingpen, likewise, designed her own home at 65 School Road, Crossover.

A number of architects’ houses from other periods are included in the VHR including Robin Boyd’s House II in South Yarra (VHR H2105) and Roy Grounds House in Toorak (VHR H1963).

Edna Walling’s house is the only instance of an interwar dwelling to its owners’ design included in the VHR. It is included as part of a group of houses designed and/or constructed by Walling at Bickleigh Vale.

At a superficial level, these architects’ roles compare to Esme Johnston's role at 38 Grosvenor Street. However, Johnston was a minor figure of the interwar period, was not widely known and whose lifestyle and tastes were of limited interest to Victorians more broadly. Further to this, Johnston was not an architect and did not build as a way to bring substance to a philosophical position. She built once and designed no further buildings and indeed, does not appear to have been inclined towards a career as a building or interior designer. Apart from a broad affinity with the emerging English cottage style established by Rodney Alsop, R B Hamilton and, her soon to be friend, Edna Walling, Johnston did not develop an individual architectural platform. The only note of self-promotion in the Australian Home Beautiful article written by Johnston advertising her adventure in home designing is that building your own home is ‘a lot of fun.'

Criterion A is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

CRITERION B Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria’s cultural history.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION B The place/object has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, custom or way of life of importance in Victoria’s cultural history. Plus The association of the place/object to the event, phase, etc IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources or oral history. Plus The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, being one of a small number of places/objects remaining that demonstrates the important event, phase etc. OR The place/object is RARE OR UNCOMMON, containing unusual features of note that were not widely replicated OR The existence of the class of place/object that demonstrates the important event, phase etc is ENDANGERED to the point of rarity due to threats and pressures on such places/objects.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 7 Executive Director’s Response The Esme Johnston House is an uncommon building illustrating:  The emergence of women in the architecture and building professions  The Tudor Revival expression in Victoria

1. Emergence of women in the architecture and building professions As noted above, Esme Johnston was not formally trained in architecture. Nonetheless, she performed the role of a traditional architect in the design of her own home and the place has an association with the emergence of women in the architectural and related professions in the interwar period. The growing contribution of women architects at that time is not widely-known. However, there were numerous women who were training and practicing in design fields during this period.

The VHR contains two instances of buildings designed solely by female designers. However, this is not to suggest that every place designed by a woman which is not included, is immediately of cultural heritage value. There are a number of examples of such places included in local heritage overlays. This is not a class of place which can be considered to be rare, uncommon or endangered.

2. As an element within the Tudor Revival style The house itself adopts an unusual Tudor revival style to an unorthodox form arising from a singular approach by an untrained designer. It is not one of a small number of buildings remaining that demonstrates the Tudor Revival Style nor is it an exceptional example of the mode. Tudor Revival buildings survive in large numbers throughout suburban Melbourne. Apart from its steeply pitched roof, its design features were typical rather than extraordinary. The unusual steeply-pitched, timber-shingled roof was not widely replicated.

Further to this, it is accepted that the Esme Johnston house is rare insofar as it is a Tudor Revival building designed by a non-trained, female designer in the interwar period. However, this is a classification which relies on too many qualifiers, which is one of the exclusion guidelines for Criterion B.

Criterion B is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION C Potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION C The:  visible physical fabric; &/or  documentary evidence; &/or  oral history, relating to the place/object indicates a likelihood that the place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE of historical interest that is NOT CURRENTLY VISIBLE OR UNDERSTOOD. Plus From what we know of the place/object, the physical evidence is likely to be of an INTEGRITY and/or CONDITION that it COULD YIELD INFORMATION through detailed investigation.

Executive Director’s Response There are no known elements within the physical fabric of the building or in documentary evidence relating to the building that is likely to yield information that would contribute to an understanding of Victoria’s cultural history.

Criterion C is not likely to be satisfied.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 8 CRITERION D Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION D The place/object is one of a CLASS of places/objects that has a clear ASSOCIATION with an event, phase, period, process, function, movement, important person(s), custom or way of life in Victoria’s history. Plus The EVENT, PHASE, etc is of HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE, having made a strong or influential contribution to Victoria. Plus The principal characteristics of the class are EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response The Esme Johnston House is a one of a class of place that has a clear association with the development of Tudor Revival expression in Victoria.

The Esme Johnston house is an example of a suburban house demonstrating aspects of Tudor Revival architecture in Victoria. It has a clear association with the development of this form of residential design in the interwar period. These English influences coalesced to produce a range of recognisable local built form outcomes that form an important part of Victoria’s cultural history. The principal characteristics of this class of place, as an example of Tudor Revival or English Cottage design, are evident in the physical fabric of the Esme Johnston house.

Criterion D is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE TEST CRITERION D The place/object is a NOTABLE EXAMPLE of the class in Victoria (refer to Reference Tool D).

Executive Director’s Response Considered as an element within the Tudor Revival catalogue, Johnston’s house is a particularly late example constructed at a time when the style was being renounced by the architectural profession. While it is an eye- catching design, it presents as an unusually blunt interpretation of this popular form of architectural expression.

The Esme Johnston House demonstrates a number of characteristics that are typical of the class of Tudor Revival dwellings, although these are arranged in an unorthodox way that does not allow the principal characteristics of the class to be easily understood or appreciated. It is reasonably intact for its age. The key external alteration is the replacement of timber roof shingles with modern glazed tiles. Given the extent to which local buildings in the Tudor Revival mode incorporated terracotta roof shingles into their design, the change is an important one. The later addition of terracotta shingles has produced an outcome that is at odds with Johnston’s design but creates an architectural character that is more typical of local Tudor Revival antecedents. That is, Johnston’s building, as constructed, was not representative of local Tudor Revival design.

The building was not influential and contains no physical characteristics with respect to its design, technology or materials that were copied in subsequent Tudor revival dwellings. Consequently, it is not a pivotal example of this class of place and does not encapsulate a key evolutionary stage in the development of Tudor Revival dwellings in Victoria.

Criterion D is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 9 CRITERION E Importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION E The PHYSICAL FABRIC of the place/object clearly exhibits particular aesthetic characteristics.

Executive Director’s Response The Esme Johnston house is a conspicuous example of an interwar residential building, which exhibits a number of particular aesthetic characteristics, including the prominent gabled front, with half-timbering and a tall chimney that derive from the well-established nineteenth century approach to the mode. The design employs a number of idiosyncratic elements, notably its steeply pitched roof and tall chimney which draws the eye and contributes to an appreciation of its presentation. The absence of an entry feature is likewise of some novelty.

Criterion E is likely to be satisfied.

STEP 2: STATE LEVEL SIGNIFICANCE TEST FOR CRITERION E The aesthetic characteristics are APPRECIATED OR VALUED by the wider community or an appropriately- related discipline as evidenced, for example, by:  critical recognition of the aesthetic characteristics of the place/object within a relevant art, design, architectural or related discipline as an outstanding example within Victoria; or  wide public acknowledgement of exceptional merit in Victoria in medium such as songs, poetry, literature, painting, sculpture, publications, print media etc.

Executive Director’s Response The Johnston House is unusual and idiosyncratic but it has not been noted as a design of exceptional merit or aesthetic force.

The house was the subject of one contemporary account, the Australian Home Beautiful article of 1931, written by Esme Johnston herself. It is also referenced in Peter Cuffley’s Australian House of the 20s and 30s (1989). Neither suggests the house was of particular aesthetic merit. Johnston recounts a ‘kindly’ comment on her house describing it as looking ‘home-made’. Cuffley simply notes that it was an ‘intriguing example of happily eccentric English cottage architecture’.

As discussed above, the replacement of timber shingles in modern glazed tiles has substantially altered the original aesthetic character of the building.

Criterion E is not likely to be satisfied at the State level.

CRITERION F Importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION F The place/object contains PHYSICAL EVIDENCE that clearly demonstrates creative or technical ACHIEVEMENT for the time in which it was created. Plus The physical evidence demonstrates a HIGH DEGREE OF INTEGRITY.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 10 Executive Director’s Response The Tudor Revival Style had its origins in England in the nineteenth century and was well-established in Victoria by the 1910s. The Esme Johnstone House made no substantial contribution to the manner in which buildings in this style or residential building more generally, were constructed nor did it re-invigorate the fading style. The most substantial variation from Tudor Revival orthodoxy relates to the roof which was unusually steeply- pitched and clad in timber shingles which were unsuccessful devices from both an aesthetic and a technical point of view, respectively.

In her Australian Home Beautiful article, Johnston suggests that her dwelling was the first residential building to use concrete stumps in preference to low brick piers to support the floor framing. However, she acknowledges that these were commercially available, having been used in a factory in Geelong some years earlier. Given these items were plainly available as a commercial product at the time of construction, Esme Johnston is more usefully seen as an early adopter than an innovator in this regard.

Criterion F is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION G Strong or special association with a particular present-day community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.

STEP 1: A BASIC TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION G Evidence exists of a community or cultural group. (A community or cultural group is a group of people who share a common interest, including an experience, purpose, belief system, culture, ethnicity or values.) Plus Evidence exists of a strong attachment between the COMMUNITY OR CULTURAL GROUP and the place/object in the present-day context. Plus Evidence exists of a time depth to that attachment.

Executive Director’s Response There is no evidence that there is a community or cultural group with particular associations with the place. Accordingly, there is also no evidence that there is an attachment between a community or cultural group.

Criterion G is not likely to be satisfied.

CRITERION H Special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Victoria’s history.

STEP 1: A TEST FOR SATISFYING CRITERION H The place/object has a DIRECT ASSOCIATION with a person or group of persons who have made a strong or influential CONTRIBUTION to the course of Victoria’s history. Plus The ASSOCIATION of the place/object to the person(s) IS EVIDENT in the physical fabric of the place/object and/or in documentary resources and/or oral history. Plus

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 11 The ASSOCIATION:  directly relates to ACHIEVEMENTS of the person(s) at, or relating to, the place/object; or  relates to an enduring and/or close INTERACTION between the person(s) and the place/object.

Executive Director’s Response The Esme Johnston House is directly associated with Esme Johnston.

Esme Johnston Esme Johnston was a minor personality in the interwar period through her journalism, acting and radio work. Although well-known in some circles, she was by no means a household name and cannot be considered to have made a strong or influential contribution to the course of Victoria’s history.

Edna Walling Edna Walling is a significant figure in Victorian history in the fields of landscape design and associated architecture. Walling developed a friendship with Johnston in the 1930s. However, the couple met after the house had been designed, approved and constructed. Consequently, there is no suggestion that Walling influenced the design of the house or garden at 38 Grosvenor Street beyond her broad advocacy for English models and her encouragement of home-owners to build for themselves.

On this basis there is no direct association between Edna Walling and 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton.

Criterion H is not likely to be satisfied.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 12 ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE [s.40] The Esme Johnston House is significant as an intact example of an interwar residence in the Tudor Revival/English Cottage style. It adopts a striking form and expression and is regarded as a local landmark. It is of additional significance for its associations with Esme Johnston, a minor personality of the interwar period. However, it is considered not to meet the State level threshold for inclusion in the VHR.

RELEVANT INFORMATION Local Government Authority Bayside City Council Heritage Overlay No Heritage Overlay Controls N/A Other Overlays DDO3 – Building Height Control for Non-Residential Buildings in the Inland Minimal Residential Growth Area DCPO1 – Bayside Drainage Development Contributions Plan Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register No Other Listings No

HISTORY Esme Johnston Esme Johnston was born in Caulfield, Victoria to Frank Oscar Johnston and Carrie Julia Johnston (nee Batten) on 27 November 1896. Little is known of her early life. While Johnston appears to have had no formal training as a writer or actor, by the early 1920s she was working as a journalist and appearing on stage in various productions. In particular, she worked on the editorial staff of Adam and Eve, a Victorian monthly journal and worked as a journalist for the Melbourne radio stations 3AW and 3XY (where she scripted the popular daily ‘Children’s Hour’ series).

From 1928, Johnston designed and supervised the construction of her own house in Grosvenor Street Brighton. Although she appears to have had no training as either a builder or architect, from its design and approval in 1929 to its completion in 1930, Johnston claims to have acted as project manager for the project, procuring materials, engaging and supervising the various builders and tradesmen while undertaking some of the work herself. In February 1931, the Australian Home Beautiful published a three-page feature article by Johnston on her newly-constructed Grosvenor Street home and featured the house on its front cover. It was the first of many articles by Johnston for the magazine; where Johnston profiled the interior, exterior and gardens of Melbourne or Victorian homes in articles that ran from two to four pages. While working at the Australian Home Beautiful, Esme met and befriended noted garden designer Edna Walling.

Johnston married Alexander Francis Good in 1936 but the pair separated in 1939 (although they remained married) and the Grosvenor Street house was sold at that time. Esme continued to write on architecture into the postwar period. She died in 1978.

Tudor Revival The revival of Old English, Tudor or medieval domestic architecture was a more-or-less continuous theme in English architecture from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The evocation of the architecture of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries was firmly favoured by nineteenth century British picturesque architects including John Nash and James Wyatt and strengthened in the mid to late nineteenth century, under the influence of A.W.N. Pugin and John Ruskin. Further extrapolations on the theme were the Old English and Queen Anne styles of Richard Norman Shaw and his disciples. From around the turn of the century, the English

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 13 domestic revival of C. F. A. Voysey and M.H. Baillie Scott and the garden suburb designs of Parker and Unwin extended these ideas.

Turn of the century English architects C.F.A. Voysey and M.H. Baillie Scott placed an emphasis on high pitched gable and hip roofs, roughcast walls, buttressed corners, dominant chimneys and asymmetrical planning in an attempt to move away from high stylism toward a traditional, vernacular expression which emphasised regional building traditions and materials.

These interests were readily communicated to Australia by nineteenth and early twentieth century architects, the majority of whom had, until the twentieth century, received their training in England. Norman Shaw's interest in the Old English and Queen Anne styles was particularly influential at the turn of the century, contributing significantly to the character of a great proportion of late Victorian and Federation architecture in Victoria. The continuity between Federation styles of the 1900s and the various bungalow idioms in the 1910s ensured that elements of the Old English idioms were integral to the local bungalow expression, with half timbering and roughcasting particularly common. The interwar period saw the flowering of these Old English modes which became the dominant expression in Melbourne residential architecture.

Amongst the best-known and most important examples of the influence of Old English in Melbourne in the first two decades of the century were the houses of Harold Desbrowe Annear and Rodney Alsop. In several houses built at Eaglemont from around 1903 (Desbrowe Annear House, VHR H1009; 55 Outlook Drive, VHR H2082 and others), Annear adopted a hybrid manner combining the half-timbering of Tudor architecture with broad verandahs and swirling decorative timberwork. Rodney Alsop, the designing partner of Klingender and Alsop, designed major houses such as Edrington, Berwick (1906-7, VHR H0653), and Glyn, Malvern (1908, VHR H0735), the latter influenced by Voysey. Alsop’s design for a house in Tintern Avenue, Toorak (not included in the VHR) constructed in the c. 1910s includes a number of direct formal similarities with the Esme Johnston House.

In 1920, Klingender formed a new partnership with R. B. Hamilton who continued to employ the English Tudor domestic elements evident in many of Alsop's works of the previous decade. By the late 1920s, Hamilton had become perhaps the foremost exponent of Tudor Revival styling in Melbourne. None of Robert Hamilton’s buildings are included in the VHR.

The 1928 Exhibition of the Melbourne University Architectural Atelier contributed considerably to the public's awareness of the potential of Old English design. Until this time the Old English had remained more or less limited to the large two storey houses of the wealthy elite. From the late 1920s the Old English or Tudor villa/cottage became an increasingly popular alternative as bungalow and Mediterranean modes began to lose their momentum.

In the late nineteenth century, Old English expression had presented as a reaction against the perceived vulgarity and superficiality of contemporary Italianate dwellings. They were perceived as progressive, honest and characteristically English. This positive interpretation waned in the interwar period. Although the Old English styles remained popular at all levels of Melbourne's social scales, these styles lost favour with many architects, who saw their links with the past, and with England, as regressive. While a number of well-known architects continued to achieve success with the mode throughout the 1930s, a great many put it aside completely from around the mid-1920s to concentrate upon the Georgian and Spanish revival idioms.

As a sidebar to the Melbourne experience, it is noted that Old English design was also prominent in American work of the interwar period as part of a movement which dated back to the late nineteenth century. Half- timbering, brick nogging and shingles were adopted in the 1920s in the design of American houses. Contemporary journals such as Architectural Forum ran extensive articles on the idiom which consistently

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 14 drew attention to the similarity between the American buildings and their English counterparts. American Tudor buildings frequently incorporate steep roof pitches producing exaggerated gable ends. The most arresting aspect of the Esme Johnston House is, likewise, its steep roof pitches. It is feasible that these buildings along with a small number of Australian buildings adopting this American variant of Tudor expression provided the motivation for the steep roof of the Johnston House. A notable example of this type of expression is the American Cottage of 1885-6 in Coburg (VHR H0139).

Women in the design professions in the twentieth century In the early twentieth century, education and training in architecture began to be formalised through university/higher education courses. Prior to this, architects were trained in an ad hoc apprenticeship process known as ‘articles’ which was private and unregulated. This required a level of financial standing to support the training which placed significant roadblocks on women entering the profession. Nonetheless, there are some instances of women taking up articled positions during this era. Women architects who qualified via the articles include Ruth Alsop, Muriel Stott and Eileen Good. When the University of Melbourne Architectural Atelier opened in 1917, a number of women enrolled and graduated during the 1920s.

While women architects were in a minority in the profession before World War II, in her 1997 thesis Julie Willis argues that:

The Victorian experience suggests that there were a significant cohort of women training, qualifying and practising in architecture, with a consistent increase in the numbers from their first appearance around 1909. Far from being marginalised into particular areas of practice, such as domestic and interior architecture, Victorian women architects have contributed to a broad range of projects.

While a number of female architects were training and practicing in the interwar period, few worked as sole practitioners or were accepted as partners in established architectural firms. While some women were employed at prominent firms throughout this period, the work of practicing female architects in architectural firms, teams or partnerships, often remains unacknowledged.

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS Designer name: Esme Johnston Architectural style name: Tudor Revival Construction started date: 1929 Construction ended date: 1930

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The Esme Johnston House is situated towards the rear of its rectangular block in Grosvenor Street Brighton. It comprises a tall but otherwise simple, volume distinguished by its unusually steeply pitched roof creating tall pointed gables to either end. The dwelling comprises two habitable storeys plus a small attic created through the later adaptation of the roof space.

From an architectural perspective, its construction and appearance broadly recall traditional English or northern European farmhouses of the Tudor period. Its external walls incorporate half-timbering on all four sides. The panels between are coarsely stuccoed with a trowelled pattern. Windows are typically timber- framed casements, with diamond patterned leadlight to the lounge and dining room. The roof is clad in glazed modern roof tiles, recalling terracotta shingles which replaced the original timber shingles of the Johnston design.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 15 The chimney is understood to have been made from a variety of second-hand bricks. It rises through all three levels and provides the focal point of the dwelling as viewed from the street. The front entry on the eastern side of the building adopts the form of a Tudor pointed arch. The building has been altered externally including through the replacement of shingles in modern glazed tiles.

Internally, the ground floor spaces are arranged around a large central stair hall with living areas located along the northern and eastern sides of the dwelling, with views over the street and side garden. Service areas are located in the south-western sections of the building. At ground floor level, much of the original detailing remains. Walls at ground floor level incorporate dark stained timber panelling to dado level and framing in the hall and stairs, and skirtings, window and door surrounds elsewhere. Similar joinery at first floor level has been overpainted and the contrast lost. Floors are clad in 300mm wide boards with a modern stain.

Landscape The front garden largely comprises lawn, with specimen planting around the edges. It is likely that a Spruce in the northern section of the garden is the only planting surviving from Johnston’s occupation. A garage and shed are located at the rear of the property. Rock walls line the driveway and the front brick fence dates from the 1970s.

The use of flagstones into the garden design is discussed at length in the Australian Home Beautiful article. Some of these survive in poor condition in a service area adjacent to the back door and missing flagstones appear to have been replaced with concrete, tile and other later materials.

Objects integral None.

Archaeology There is no identified archaeology of State level significance at this place.

INTEGRITY/INTACTNESS Intactness – The place is reasonably intact to its original state but with some changes of note. The replacement of roof shingles with modern tiles is an important one. The use of hand split shingles would have contributed substantially to the ‘home-made’ appearance of the dwelling and the change has added a level of refinement to the presentation of the design not present in the original – particularly given that the roof surfaces dominate the appearance of the building.

This change has been understated in assessments of the intactness of the dwelling including Cuffley. This may have its basis in the cover image of the 1931 Australian Home Beautiful article. The hand coloured image depicts the roof in a pale red oxide colour not dissimilar to the colour of the extant modern tiles. This may have reflected the reddish colour of the freshly split shingles. However, these shingles would have faded quickly to the familiar grey of ageing timber. Perhaps the colouring of the image was intended to suggest the finesse of a tiled roof to the homespun design. In any instance, the Australian Home Beautiful cover does not reflect the early presentation of the dwelling or the rustic intent of its designer and similarities in colour between the magazine cover and the building today should not be taken to reflect intactness.

Other than for the roof tiling, external changes principally relate to the changes to fenestration with a number of later windows and skylights introduced. A large, but reasonably sympathetic new window, has been constructed in the western end of the living room. A window to the principal bedroom at first floor level overlooking the street has been enlarged and its original diamond pane glazing has been replaced. A substantial bay window has also been introduced along the western elevation of the building.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 16 The key intervention from a functional point of view relates to the introduction of an additional entry through a laundry on the western side of the building.

Internally the building is reasonably intact in both planning and decoration. Alterations have taken place to the bathroom, kitchen and laundry, and to the first floor stair landing to create an additional bedroom and bathroom. (July 2019)

Integrity – Notwithstanding the physical changes, the integrity of the place is high and the cultural heritage values of the place can be straightforwardly read in the extant fabric. The building continues to be used as a residential dwelling and this use is readily understood. (July 2019)

CONDITION The place is generally in good/fair condition.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 17 COMPARISONS Comparison – Tudor Revival/English Cottage As noted earlier, the Tudor Revival style (sometimes described as Old English) was popular in Victoria in the early part of the twentieth century. Numerous examples are included in the VHR. The Esme Johnston House is a somewhat atypical assembly of the various elements and modes which exemplify the Tudor Revival style in the early Melbourne. It differs from the more successful and recognised examples in its idiosyncratic and somewhat amateurish character. Nonetheless, the following places provide helpful comparisons.

Edrington, 6 Melville Park Drive, Berwick (VHR H0653) Edrington is architecturally and historically significant to the State of Victoria. It was designed by Rodney Alsop in 1906-1907 for West Australia Pastoralist Samuel P McKay. It is a two-storey, red brick example of the English vernacular style with some reference to the Queen Anne style.

Edrington, Berwick

Glyn, 224 Kooyong Road, Toorak (VHR H0735) Glyn is architecturally and historically significant to the State of Victoria. It was designed in 1908 by the noted architect Rodney Alsop for Sir Edward Miller. The house was constructed in the Arts and Crafts idiom, finished with a distinctive render with pebbles pushed into the surface. This finish was complemented by a terracotta shingle roof. The interior contains many distinctive Arts and Crafts features, such as carved woodwork, stained glass and beaten metal ornamentation. It is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria. In conjunction with Edrington, this is a key conduit by which English revival architecture came to Australia.

Glyn, Toorak

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 18 Little Milton, 26 Albany Road, Toorak (VHR H1738) Little Milton is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria. The house was designed by Muriel Millicent Stott in association with Stephenson and Meldrum for the prominent Moran family. Stott had previously designed a house in Olinda for the Morans and Little Milton was her largest, and last, commission in Australia before emigrating to South Africa in 1932 following her marriage. The house is of architectural significance as an outstanding example of the old English/Arts and Craft Style. It is also of significance for surviving landscape elements from Edna Walling designed garden. It is of historical significance as a design executed by women (both Stott and Walling).

Muriel Stott began her architecture training at the form of Fisher and Bradshaw in 1912, completing her articles in 1916. She worked in the office of JJ Meagher for approximately a year before setting up her own private practice in 1917. From 1917 to the late 1920s Stott undertook a number of private commissions becoming a registered architect in 1923. Her most significant commission, and also her last in Victoria, was Little Milton in Toorak, for which she partnered with Stephenson and Turner.

Little Milton, Toorak

Wattle Park [Chalet], 1012 Riversdale Road, Burwood (VHR H0904) The Wattle Park Chalet is of architectural and historical significance to the State of Victoria. It is located within Wattle Park, established at the terminus of the outer suburban terminus of the Hawthorn Tramways Trust. The chalet was designed by tramways architect A.G Monsborough in c. 1928. the building represents a fine example of the English Revival modes encouraged by C.F.A. Voysey. Steeply-pitched gable ended volumes of the kind found at 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton, are employed in force at the Wattle Park Chalet.

Wattle Park Chalet, Burwood

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 19 American Cottage, 21 Station Street, Coburg (VHR H0139) The American Cottage is of architectural significance to the State of Victoria. While adopting the American Carpenter Gothic idiom of the late nineteenth century, rather than reflecting English Tudor antecedents, it illustrates the way in which evocations of the English cottage were transformed in America to incorporate a taller and more pointed expression and then re-exported to Australia. Constructed in 1886-1886 by a local builder, it is a rare example in Victoria of the direct translation of the American timber house traditions to the Australian suburb context and it is notable for the finely executed barge boards and overall romantic picturesque qualities of the design. Buildings of this kind may have influenced the design of the Esme Johnston House.

American Cottage, Coburg

In addition to these examples there are a number of other examples of Old English/Tudor Revival buildings included in the VHR including:

 Westerfield, 72-118 Robinsons Road, Frankston South, 1924 (VHR H2200)  Camperdown Steam Laundry, 6 Paton Street, Camperdown, 1920 (VHR H1386)  Hartpury Court, 9-11 Milton Street, Elwood, 1926 (VHR H0767)  Colinton, 92 Mont Albert Road, Canterbury, 1926 (VHR H1399)  Maternal and Child Health Centre, 12 Civic Square, Croydon, 1930 (VHR H0054)  Women’s Dressing Pavilion, Royal Park, Old Poplar Road, Parkville, 1937 (VHR H1585)  Coombe Martin, 819-820 Esplanade, Mornington, 1940 (VHR H1900)  Montsalvat, 7-15 Hillcrest Avenue, Eltham, 1930s-1950s (VHR H0716)

The examples identified above are all included in the VHR. They are typically earlier, better resolved and more influential examples of this widespread style than Esme Johnston House.

Comparison – Female designers The following places include a number of examples of buildings designed, or partly designed, by women in the interwar period. Short biographies for a number of these architects are provided for context.

Little Milton, 26 Albany Road, Toorak (VHR H1738) As noted above, Little Milton is of architectural, historical and social significance to the State of Victoria (refer image above). The house was designed by Muriel Millicent Stott in association with Stephenson and Meldrum for the prominent Moran family. The house is of architectural significance as an outstanding example of the old English/Arts and Craft Style. It is also of significance for surviving landscape elements from Edna Walling

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 20 designed landscape. It is of historical significance for the association with the Moran family and as a design executed by women (both Stott and Walling).

Bickleigh Vale, Mooroolbark (VHR H2053) By the early 1920s Edna Walling had built a flourishing practice in garden design. Walling developed a sophisticated style, which attracted an equally sophisticated clientele and she rapidly became the leading exponent of the art in Victoria. Her regular gardening columns published from 1926-46 in Australian Home Beautiful enhanced her reputation and extended her influence.

In the early 1920s Walling had acquired land at Mooroolbark where she built a house for herself, known as ‘Sonning’. Here she lived and worked, establishing her nursery and gathering around her a group of like- minded people for whom she designed picturesque 'English' cottages and gardens. She named the area Bickleigh Vale village. The village was, and remains, an extraordinary example of an experiment in urban development.

The Bickleigh Vale is of aesthetic (landscape), scientific (horticultural), historical and architectural significance of the State of Victoria. The village, complete with houses, landscaping and planting, was developed from the 1920s to the 1950s. The village began with Walling’s own residence, Sonning, which she designed in 1921. It was subsequently destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1936. The subdivision and construction of other houses, to her design or designs she approved, did not occur until after 1930. Most of the houses have been extended.

By the 1940s Walling was a household name and she capitalized on her popularity by publishing four successful books. In 1967, tiring of the advance of the suburbs towards Bickleigh Vale, she moved to Buderim, Queensland, to be in a warmer climate and near to her niece Barbara Barnes.

After her death in 1973 a further Walling monograph was published posthumously in 1984. In the 1980s and 1990s, she was to become almost a cult figure for many Australian gardeners with a number of monographs published about her work.

Sonning, part of the Bickleigh Vale estate, Moroolbark

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 21 Edith Ingpen House, 65 School Road, Crossover (HO267, Baw Baw Shire) This house in Crossover (Baw Baw Shire) was designed and built by architect Edith Ingpen in the 1930s as a country retreat. Ingpen graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1926 and was articled to the firm of E.J. and C.L. Ruck. In 1932, she joined the firm of Harold Desbrowe-Annear. After Desbrowe-Annear’s death, Ingpen undertook a number of independent commissions. However, during World War II, she became the first woman employed by the Public Works Department. Her house in Crossover was identified as being of local and potentially State significance in the Shire of Baw Baw Heritage Study. The property is subject to a Heritage Overlay (HO267) in the Baw Baw Planning Scheme. It provides a useful comparison to the Esme Johnston House being a dwelling for personal use by a notable woman to a singular vision. As opposed to Johnston, Ingpen was a trained architect enjoying a measure of personal celebrity. Nonetheless the comparison remains useful.

Edith Ingpen House, Crossover

Kalingni, 109 George Street, East Melbourne (HO2, City of Melbourne) This block of flats in George Street, East Melbourne was designed by Edith Ingpen in c. 1934. The flats were illustrated in the Australian Home Beautiful (August 1, 1937) and in The Age as part of a series on ‘Enterprising Women and Their Careers’ (24 July 1937, p. 2). The flat block is located within a heritage overlay precinct (East Melbourne and Jolimont Precinct, H02, City of Melbourne) and was identified in the 1983 East Melbourne and Jolimont Study as a ‘fine and intact example of 1930s Art Deco flats, exhibiting extreme care in the detailing’.

Kalingni, East Melbourne

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 22 Capitol House, 109-117 Swanston Street, Melbourne (VHR H0471) Capitol House is of architectural, historical, aesthetic and scientific (technical) significance to the State of Victoria. It was designed by American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin. It is of architectural significance as one of the Griffins’ best works and for its unusual combination (for the time) of offices, shops and an entertainment venue in one building. It is of historical significance as the first of the three great picture palaces constructed in Melbourne in the 1920s and also as the focus of an early heritage conservation campaign. It is of technical significance for its highly innovative structural design and the use of steel and concrete. Capitol House is also of aesthetic significance for the design and decoration of its foyers and auditorium, in particular the design of the ceiling in the auditorium.

Capitol House, Melbourne

Alexa Goyder’s House, 300-302 Yarra Street Warrandyte (HO200, City of Manningham) This house was built by Alexa Goyder c. 1925, was destroyed by the Black Friday bushfires of 1939 and rebuilt shortly after using local stone (from Whipstick Gully) and recycled materials obtained from Whelan the Wrecker. Goyder was a journalist and was responsible for the design of this building. She was reportedly also responsible for much of the building work herself. The house was included in the Manningham Heritage Study (Context, 2006) and is included as HO200 in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Manningham Planning Scheme.

Alexa Goyder’s House, Warrandyte

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 23 318 Yarra Street, Warrandyte (HO23, City of Manningham) The house at 318 Yarra Street, Warrandyte is constructed of Mt Gambier limestone as a long low pavilion. The low hipped roof incorporates a verandah to the front and right hand sides. A skillion extension is provided at the rear. The exact date of the house is not known; however, it was reputedly built c. 1940 by Myrtle Houston, for the owner of the property, with help from Alexa Goyder. Myrtle Houston was a builder who worked in the Warrandyte area during the interwar and postwar period. The house was included in the Manningham Heritage Study (Context, 2006) and is included as HO23 in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Manningham Planning Scheme

318 Yarra Street, Warrandyte

Ellison Harvie (1902-1984) Ellison Harvie studied architecture at the University of Melbourne Architectural Atelier, graduating in 1928. After completing her articles, Harvie was employed by Stephenson and Meldrum and by 1928 was ‘the architect in charge of designing the Jessie McPherson wing of the Queen Victoria Hospital [now demolished]’. Harvie specialised in the management and facilitation of large hospital projects and was involved in many of the large hospital projects that Stephenson and Meldrum (later Stephenson and Turner) undertook in the 1920s-1940s. Harvie was involved in both the Freemasons Hospital (VHR H1972) and the Mercy Hospital (VHR H1954) projects. Harvie continued to practice architecture and was associated with the firm of Stephenson and Turner throughout this period and until her retirement in 1967. She is remembered in particular as the architect of the Lyceum Club in Melbourne (1959). The Lyceum Club is currently individually identified as HO1285 in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Melbourne Planning Scheme, noting that this is on an interim basis.

Mercy Hospital, East Melbourne and Lyceum Club, Melbourne

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 24 Cynthia Teague (1906-2007) Cynthia Teague began her architectural training at Swinburne Technical College in 1924, moving to study at the University of Melbourne Architectural Atelier in 1928. She received a number of awards and worked for a number of firms in the period after her graduation. In 1934 she was employed by Oakley and Parkes as a senior draftsperson and from 1938 was chief designer. Teague was involved in the documentation of ANZAC House (VHR H0415) and Kodak House. During World War II, Teague joined the Department of Works and she continued in the Commonwealth public service after the war ended. She retired in 1970 and was awarded an MBE for her services to the Commonwealth.

Mary Turner Shaw (1906-1990) Originally articled to Stephenson and Meldrum in the late 1920s, Shaw sent much of the 1930s pursuing her formal architectural training while continuing to work at the firm. In the late 1930s Shaw formed a partnership with Frederik Romberg until late 1941 or 1942. During this time Romberg designed the acclaimed flats Newburn (VHR H0578) and Stanhill (VHR H1875) not completed until after World War II). Although these designs are attributed to Romberg, the pair were in partnership during the design of both buildings. Shaw continued to be involved in the architectural profession until the late 1960s, including serving as the technical librarian at Bates, Smart and McCutcheon.

Comparison – Architects’ own homes in the interwar period The Esme Johnston House belongs to a separate and distinct set of buildings, namely, residences constructed by architects and designers for their own use. In addition to Walling and Goyder, noted above, a number of interwar architects contributed to architectural practice in Victoria through the design and construction of their own homes. Often this appears to have been driven, in part, by a desire to demonstrate their skill and talent to potential clients. These buildings often served as advocacy, advancing Old English, Tudor, Arts and Crafts or other styles as the appropriate expression for a modern residence. While this is a practice of long standing with examples from the nineteenth century to the recent past, the following discussion is focussed on the work of Esme Johnston’s contemporaries.

Avalon, 14 Power Avenue, Toorak (HO332 City of Stonnington) Constructed to a design by Walter Butler in c. 1914, Avalon is a distinguished example of the English Arts and Crafts style, particularly as espoused by C.F.A Voysey. Major attributes include the simple yet powerful roof form, whose wide hip is extended out over exaggerated eaves, supported on eaves brackets. The sheer walls punctuated by fenestration and the use of shingling are especially distinctive features. Avalon remained for a long period in the ownership of the Butler family.

Avalon, Toorak

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 25 Winster, 17 Tintern Avenue, Toorak (HO518, City of Stonnington) The building at 17 Tintern Avenue was designed by Rodney Alsop in 1927 as his personal residence. Winster is architecturally significant, at a local level, as a fine and largely intact interwar Mediterranean style house. It demonstrates architect Rodney Alsop's concern for developing a national, climatically appropriate style of architecture through a fusion of the Spanish vernacular idiom and British Georgian revival formality. It also served to signal his departure from the English architectural stylings on which he had base his reputation in favour of Mediterranean idioms.

Winster, Toorak

Broome, 6 Glyndebourne Avenue, Toorak (HO264, City of Stonnington,) Designed by Marcus Martin in 1926, Broome is one of the earliest examples of the Spanish Mission style as applied to residential architecture in Victoria. Martin constructed the building as his personal residence, demonstrating his interest in modern styles. It is not included in the VHR.

Broome, Toorak Comparison – The houses of well-known individuals Another class of place which has some relevance to the Esme Johnston House is that of houses of well-known individuals, recognising that a place may be of significance for its associations with notable owners / occupants. This is particularly in those instances where a place (building) is able to inform an understanding of the life of its celebrated occupant/s.

The following examples provide a context for a consideration of the potential significance of the Esme Johnston House as a house associated with a person of some public prominence.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 26

Bruce Manor, 34 Pinehill Drive, Frankston (VHR H1998) Bruce Manor was designed for Stanley Melbourne (later Viscount) Bruce by the Sydney firm of architects Prevost Synnot and Rewald, in association with R.B. Hamilton, in 1926. The building is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria, as an example of Mediterranean style house and for the association with Bruce who served as Prime Minister from 1923-1929. The house was constructed during Bruce’s time in office.

Bruce Manor, Frankston

Napier Waller House, 9-9A Crown Road, Ivanhoe (VHR H0617) The Napier Waller house was completed to Waller’s own design in 1922, and was later extended with the addition of two studios. Waller was a prolific artist who worked in many media, including oil, watercolour, mosaic and stained glass. He was a significant public artist and his large-scale murals, mosaics and stained glass adorn buildings throughout Melbourne. The house directly reflects his tastes, design interests and his profession as an artist.

Napier Waller House, Ivanhoe

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 27 Coombe Estate, 673-675 Maroondah Highway (HO67, Yarra Ranges Shire) The property known as the Coombe Estate (also referred to as Coombe Cottage) was purchased by Nellie Melba (later Dame Nellie Melba) in 1909, at the peak of her fame as an opera singer. Although a building had already been constructed on the property, it is understood that the cottage was substantially remodelled in the early years of Melba’s residence. The garden was designed by Edna Walling (at least in part) and is also classified by the National Trust (B66971). Melba owned and lived at the property until her death in 1931. The property remains in the family’s ownership and has been partially opened up to public access in recent years. The estate has previously been nominated to the VHR, however an assessment of the State level significance of the place is still outstanding.

Graham Kennedy’s house The house at 26 Camden Street, Balaclava was the birthplace and early childhood home of Graham Kennedy. Kennedy was to become the most popular presenter in the history of Australian television. He was born at the Camden Street house in 1934, and lived there until approximately 1940 when he moved with his mother to a brick duplex at 32 Nelson Place, Balaclava. Neither house was built for Kennedy or the Kennedy family and they are not included in the VHR or in the Schedule to the Heritage Overlay of the Port Philip Planning Scheme. A plaque has recently been installed at 32 Nelson Place acknowledging the property as Kennedy’s childhood home.

SUMMARY OF COMPARISONS

Tudor Revival/English cottage style/American influence Johnston notes in the Australian Home Beautiful article that she had devised a ‘Elizabethan Cottage’. However, it appears to be a, somewhat idiosyncratic, amalgamation of the Tudor Revival antecedents noted above. Johnston was born in Victoria, as were both of her parents, and she had not travelled overseas. Unlike most architects working in this mode, Johnston had never seen an Elizabethan cottage herself. Johnson acknowledges the influence of images in contemporary magazines and descriptive passages by novelists such as Saki (H.H. Munro). However, the proliferation of buildings in Melbourne constructed through the 1920s which owed a debt to English vernacular architecture would inevitably have played a substantial role in her design.

Given her interests in architecture, Johnston would have been familiar with the work of Rodney Alsop, Robert Hamilton, Edna Walling and other exponents of the mode. Consequently, it is more useful to consider the Esme Johnston House as a late and somewhat irregular interpretation of this popular domestic expression than as a recreation of the cottages of Elizabethan England. The building adopts the gable ended form of the Tudor Revival and English Cottage modes in Melbourne. Apart from the timber shingles to roof pitches, the dwelling is constructed and clad with the well established palette of materials appropriate to the style. Its steeply pitched roofs were unusual but appear to have arisen as a consequence of the generous provision of space at first floor level than a desire to produce an innovative interpretation of Tudor Revival expression. Her building did not influence subsequent English vernacular design in Victoria nor did it provide impetus to the dwindling interest in this form of residential expression.

The Esme Johnston House is the result of a vision arising from designer’s enthusiasm, inexperience and the wide range of her influences. Its design is not consistent with the large numbers of skilfully designed and well- resolved Tudor Revival dwellings around Melbourne. The best examples of these buildings are included in the VHR and many others are included in the heritage overlay in planning schemes. By comparison, the Esme Johnston House is not a useful or important evocation of Tudor Revival design.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 28 Female designers Particularly in the pre-World War II period, there are only a small number of places in the VHR where the design can be attributed (either wholly or partly) to women. Those examples which have been included in the VHR present as particularly fine, intact or well-resolved buildings of considerable design merit.

For a place to be of State significance for its association with a female designer (ie on the basis of gender alone), it is considered that there would need to be a clear association with a pivotal event in terms of the female designer’s entry into and achievements within, a design profession.

The most relevant comparisons to the Esme Johnston house include the two houses in Warrandyte associated with Alexa Goyder. These were also designed by women who were interested in architecture but not themselves architects. These places have been substantially the same historical associations as the Esme Johnston house and have been identified as being of local significance.

Architects’ own houses The research into the significance associated with architects’ own homes has not been exhaustive. Nonetheless, it is noted that the homes of Edna Walling, Robin Boyd and Roy Grounds and other architects are included in the VHR. Many other architects’ dwellings are included in Schedules to Heritage Overlays. The homes of significant architects can provide insights into the lives and tastes of their occupants and often signal future directions in architecture. They often serve to illustrate an architects position. On this basis, it is evident that the theme of architects own homes is an important one.

This activity, at a superficial level, compares to Esme Johnston's. However, Johnston was not an architect and is not valued for a catalogue of built work. Further to this, Johnston did not build as a way to bring substance to a philosophical position. After the house at Grosvenor Street, she designed no more buildings and does not appear to have been inclined towards a career as a building or interior designer. Apart from a broad affinity with the emerging English cottage style established by Alsop, Hamilton and her friend Edna Walling, Johnston did not develop an individual architectural platform. The only note of encouragement in the Australian Home Beautiful article is that building your own home is ‘a lot of fun'.

Associational significance For a place to be elevated to being of cultural heritage significance at the State level for the association with an individual, the threshold requires that not only is the person an influential figure but that there is a direct association between that figure and the fabric. This is evident at the Napier Waller house which directly reflects the interests, process and lifestyle of a significant public figure. The Graham Kennedy house has not been nominated or assessed for inclusion in the VHR. The Coombe Estate is an example of a place associated with a very famous female figure from the first half of the twentieth century. However, this property is yet to be assessed for inclusion in the VHR.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 29 KEY REFERENCES USED TO PREPARE ASSESSMENT Cuffley, Peter, Australian Houses of the Twenties and Thirties, Five Mile Press, 1993

Edquist, Harriet Pioneers of Modernism : The Arts and Crafts Movement in Australia, Meigunyah Press, 2008

Hanna, Bronwyn, ‘Australia’s Early Women Architects: Milestones and Achievements’ in Fabrications: The Journal of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand

Hardy, Sara, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, Allen and Unwin, 2005

Johnston, Esme, “The Home Made House”, Australian Home Beautiful, February 1931

Willis, Julie, Women in Architecture in Victoria 1905-1955, unpublished doctoral thesis, 1997

Raworth, Bryce, A Question of Style, unpublished Masters thesis, University of Melbourne,1996

Brighton Historical Society Newsletter, November 1972

Brighton Historical Society Journal, No 152, Winter 2010

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 30 ADDITIONAL IMAGES

2019, The location of the Esme Johnston House, indicated by arrow.

2019, Front elevation

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 31

2019, Detail of roof tiles and skylight 2019, Main entry door added at a later date. (on eastern side of house).

2019, Rear elevation. 2019, Paving at rear.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 32

2019, Front garden from driveway. 2019, Spruce tree on northern boundary.

2019, Shed at rear of property. 2019, Side (east) garden with shed at rear.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 33

Later window to living room (left) and stair hall (right)

2019, Refurbished bathrooms. Ground floor at left and first floor at right.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 34

2019, Refurbished kitchen. 2019, Bay window in dining area (non-original).

2019, Downstairs room (non-original joinery). 2019, First floor bedroom, facing street with modified window.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 35

1929, Property service plan of 38 Grosvenor Street. Source: City West Water

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 36

2011, Floor plan of 38 Grosvenor Street.

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 37

1931, Front cover of Australian Home Beautiful showing the Esme Johnston House. Source: Australian Home Beautiful, 1931

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 38

1945, Aerial photograph of 38 Grosvenor Street, indicated by red arrow. Source: Land Victoria

c. 1950s, oblique aerial photograph, cropped to show Esme Johnston House, indicate by arrow. Source: Airspy Collection, State Library of Victoria, H2008.3227

Name: Esme Johnston House, 38 Grosvenor Street, Brighton Hermes Number: 202765 Page | 39

c.1950s-60s, Photograph of Esme Johnston from one of Edna Walling albums. Source: National Gallery of Victoria (PH10, 1983)

c.1950s-60s, Photograph of Esme Johnston from one of Edna Walling albums. Source: National Gallery of Victoria (PH10, 1983)

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