Bluestone columnist and architect CLINTON KRAUSE previously worked in Daylesford before relocating his business to Warrnambool. Clinton explores the architectural styles that gives our region so much character. Visit his website here.

This month my search for great mid-century architecture takes me to Portland to the home of Jack van Roo and Megan Jarrett who not only live in a very stylish Tag Walter creation, but are also proprietors of ‘be seated’ a boutique business specialising in the sourcing, restoration and sale of retro furniture and décor.

The house was originally designed for Megan’s grandparents, Theo and Jean, in 1962 and demonstrates an elegant refinement and maturation of Tag’s signature style.

The entry to the home is a carefully orchestrated ‘theatrical’ experience – the large welcoming porch reveals a number of ‘tricks’ to delight the senses and create an atmosphere of intrigue: walls of glass frame tantalising glimpses of the interior, or draw the view out over the large elongated pond and towards the garden beyond.

Planter beds filled with ferns and exotic foliage flank the terrace and create a ‘tropical’ bridge to the front door.

Inside the front door numerous original features continue the theme. Seagrass-wallpaper feature walls, ceiling bulkheads with concealed pelmet lighting, the centrepiece fireplace with its bewildering fusion of copper, granite, marble stone and timber.

With an extensive background in interior design, textiles and furniture restoration, Jack and Megan are the ideal homeowners and the interior spaces are filled with funky armchairs, well-mannered Danish teak tables and sideboards and original era paintings and prints.

Megan recalls visiting her grandparents at early age and being spooked by the bedroom curtains with their large garish brown rose pattern – perhaps a precursor that has sparked her interest in textiles and fabrics!

One of my favourite areas of the home is the outdoor entertaining terrace. With its stone terrazzo tiles, breezeblock screen wall, innovative built-in outdoor bbq  and brightly colored ‘butterfly ’chairs, this composition pays homage to some of the great innovative concepts of the time by architectural heroes such as Richard Neutra and Quincy Jones.

During our interview Jack tells me of some very special items of furniture that they are currently working on, so we decide to pay the ‘be seated’ workshop a visit.

Entering through the tradesmens’ door, I am  completely unprepared for the sight before me – a vast cavern stacked high with row upon row of retro gems, some a little shabby, some very much worse off for wear.

We push into the melee towards the ‘holy grail ’ of the retro afficianado – and there they are!!!

A stunning pair of original Grant Featherstone armchairs complete with the original cut velvet upholstery. Rarely seen outside the auction house or museum, these chairs represent the pinnacle of design innovation by Australian designers of the modern period.

Jack takes an almost macabre delight in informing me that the owner paid just $5 each for these chairs at a recent garage sale………..

We conclude our visit with a tour of the ‘be seated’ showroom to view the latest items lovingly restored and repurposed.

It is clear that the couple make a good team – with Jack’s considerable joinery and reupholstery skills and Megan’s eye for colour , texture and pattern in the selections of  rich fabrics used to give these pieces a new life.

Once again I leave my visit with the van Roo-Jarretts reassured in the knowledge that not only is another great retro style home in good hands, but there is also a thriving business in our region that is actively preserving the furniture and décor of this innovative era.

Bluestone columnist and architect CLINTON KRAUSE previously worked in Daylesford before relocating his business to Warrnambool. Clinton explores the architectural styles that gives our region so much character. Visit his website here.

What a difference twelve months can make.

My visit to this retro beauty in Japan Street, Warrnambool, marked the first anniversary of the owners’ purchase of the property and upon entering the house, I found it hard to believe that so much could be achieved in such a short period.

Michael and Helen have jumped head-first into the challenge of breathing new life into this house –  which was previously a little tired and in need of love.

“ I had been searching for some time for just the right place,” remarks Helen, “and after our first visit we decided then and there that we could make this into a fantastic and comfortable home”.

Helen has a definite flair for renovating and has taken on numerous projects in the past, ranging from a small flat in London to a substantial bluestone homestead on a rural property outside Geelong.

Eight homes later and the couple have dropped anchor in Warrnambool, and, without a moment’s pause, launched themselves into another major building project.

Helen is not perturbed by overseeing the months of disorder and chaos that comes with demolition and renovation.

Many hours were spent consulting directly with tradesmen and the finer details of joinery design for the kitchen were resolved on site.

“I found both the builder (John Downie) and Matthew Parkes (Omega Kitchens) an absolute delight to work with,” says Helen and it is evident that their practical advice combined with Helen’s intuitive design flair have produced outstanding results.

On our tour around the house I am intrigued by Helen’s bold and fearless use of colour and pattern.

Even the humble toilet has been enlivened with a feature wall of candy stripe wallpaper and old window louvres replaced with a rainbow of pastel coloured glass.

Indeed Helen’s extensive use of wallpaper requires further exploration.

New wallpaper in the entry is a perfect match with the 50’s era of the house, a bold, striped band in the kitchen adds an unexpected burst of colour and movement, and the witty, shoe-themed paper in the dressing room tells me a lot about the Helen’s interest in footwear.

“My mother loved using wallpaper,” Helen muses. “ I remember as a child that she systematically embarked on covering nearly every wall in the house. I even had a rose-themed paper on my bedroom ceiling which I would gaze up at and daydream over ”.

Obviously unafraid of a “bit of bling’, the tiles Helen selected for the bathroom are also worthy of special mention.

Helen was keen to keep the deep, pink enamelled bath and as much of the original detailing in the bathroom as possible. But it is the new splashback to the bath that raised a few tradesmen’s eyes during  the project.

A close inspection of the small mosaic pieces reveals a homage to Andy Warhol – even the famous Marilyn Monroe lithograph is there giving me a sultry stare.

While the structural bones and intelligent original layout of the house remain, it is this new and confident styling brought to the house by Helen and Michael that have reinvigorated the property and consolidated the home as a modern, welcoming and comfortable residence.

Bluestone columnist and architect CLINTON KRAUSE previously worked in Daylesford before relocating his business to Warrnambool. Clinton explores the architectural styles that gives our region so much character. Visit his website here.

You may remember last month we started a tour of some of Warrnambool’s retro design beauties and this month we pick up where we left off with a visit to Walter Crescent in central Warrnambool.

This estate, as the name suggests, was established by the Walter family in the early 1930’s and showcases a number of architect Tag Walter’s earlier designs.

The prevailing residential style of this time was the English worker’s cottage and houses generally incorporated the romantic stylistic design features of this era.

Steep pitched terracotta rooves, bay windows, decorative gable ends, red clinker brickwork and timber windows with beaded glass sash panels were all adopted with abandon, giving the streetscape a nostalgic prim and proper ‘British’ feel.

These houses were designed by Tag during his transitional period – and one house in particular provides an interesting  hint of what lies ahead.

No. 24 Walter Crescent is the oddball in a street of well-mannered conservative dwellings. A hybrid mix of conventional stylistic details, juxtaposed with a hint of some new, cutting-edge ideas this house is an intriguing  and important exception.

The owner fondly describes her home as the “Hobbitt House’’ – a reference to the oversized porthole window in the front façade which would definitely appeal to Bilbo Baggins.

Built in 1949, this house begins to reveal some of the mid-century devices of the impending international style: large expanses of glazing span from floor to ceiling, the extension of base brickwork to form a planter box as a decorative feature for the entry, a glazed screen to the porch is obliquely angled in contrast with the more regular lines of the building elsewhere.

My travelling companion, local car enthusiast Harry Droste, selected a 1957 Zephyr for our tour and it looks right at home against the kerb outside #24.

We continue on our tour to 60 Jukes street, built just 10 years later than the Hobbit house, but light years from the prevailing architecture of the street we have just left.

Designed by Don Hunt a young draftsman employee of Tag Walter and Bruce Auty, the excitement and eagerness to embrace the emerging zeitgeist is immediately evident.

Walls of glass wrap around all three sides of rooms that orientate towards the ocean views. For its day this would have been unprecedented and only seen in commercial shopfronts.

Flat rooves with deep eaves and wide fascias appear to ‘ground’ the building – as if to prevent the glass shell from floating away and there are hints of crazy paving and innovative cabinetry to the interior.

This house is currently proposed for inclusion in Warrnambool City Council’s Heritage Register and is a worthy and unique example of mid-century architecture and culture.

For the final leg of our tour, we make a quick visit past some other homes that will be subject to further investigation in the future – it is clear that there are still many great retro houses out there waiting to be rediscovered!

Postscript: We have since had contact with the family members of a house featured in last month’s column – 48 Botanic Road, Warrnambool. We plan to return and explore more of the story behind  this wonderful mid-century home in the near future.

Next Month: Breathing new life into some mid century marvels.

Bluestone columnist and architect CLINTON KRAUSE previously worked in Daylesford before relocating his business to Warrnambool. Clinton explores the architectural styles that gives our region so much character.

I had the great pleasure this month of taking my research out on the road accompanied by local motoring enthusiast Harry Droste. Harry has a large collection of classic and vintage vehicles and our tour around town was all the more enjoyable travelling in some of his appropriate-era cars.

As we set off, it also became clear that Harry is a valuable repository of information about mid-century architecture: he and his father set up a joinery workshop in the early 50’s and worked in conjunction with architect Tag Walter on many of the gems we set out to find.

Harry recalls Tag as a generous and helpful man, who offered Harry his first workshop to provide the bespoke cabinets that Tag designed for all his developments.

Our first stop was a Tag design, set within a street of iconic houses in East Warrnambool.

Verdon Street is unique in that nearly all the houses are superb examples of the mid-century ‘ Dream Home ’ – a style that saw aspirational Australian home owners looking towards American trends for new and exciting ideas. Houses became more expansive with walls of glazing, deep generous eave lines and patios and terraces to extend the living spaces outside.

75 Verdon Street is one such house owned by David and Cheryl Ryan and built by David’s parents in the late 1950’s.

The house has remained in the Ryan family and as such is remarkably original and intact. Harry was delighted to see the original kitchen still in use and was able to demonstrate a quirky design detail – a bank of drawers runs around the whole kitchen, sloping outward to add visual interest. One of the drawers even slides in two directions, providing access to cutlery from both sides of the island bench.

David and Cheryl enjoy the passive solar heating afforded by the expanses of north facing glass – the open fire is the only source of heating and is reserved for use only on the coldest of winter days.

Apart from a minor bathroom renovation, the home retains the original features and continues to provide a comfortable home for the Ryan’s and visiting family members.

The front garden complements the home wonderfully with its ‘ English Gardenesque ’ plantings of colourful perennial beds and groupings of deciduous specimen trees. The overall effect is one of a suburban idyll and indeed the pride and dedication to these period homes is prevalent in the entire Verdon streetscape of great early-modern houses.

As we farewelled the Ryan’s with a wave from our salubrious Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, I asked Harry if he knew of an intriguing house I had discovered some time back near the Botanic Gardens.

The house in Botanic Road is modest in size but has been designed with great care and boasts a stunning street façade redolent with details of the best of mid-century design.

The form of the home makes good use of the wide street frontage and the illusion of an expansive structure is reinforced by a graceful sloping gable roof that extends across the whole house from boundary to boundary.

The windows are placed in the façade with attention to balance and symmetry. The framing pattern of openable sashes is repeated across the façade and emulated in the panelling to the two garage doors.

The entry porch is embellished with a whole grab bag of tricks: a raised brick planter box clad in crazy stone paving; an open roof section with exposed framing to form a pergola and ensure natural light accesses an adjacent wall of glazing;  a wide swath of crazy paving to both the terrace and the chimney breast (to be admired by guests approaching the front door ), and, to top it all off – a slender steel pipe column supports the verandah porch and is set at an oblique angle for visual interest.

As with many houses of this era, the wow factor is all reserved for the street and glimpses of the sides and rear of the building reveal a more pedestrian approach to roof forms, glazing and detailing.

The house serves as a perfect setting for Harry’s 1957 Zephyr and our photo shoot encapsulates the ideals of emerging working class affluence along with the newfound freedom to travel.

Harry is unfamiliar with the origins of this home and its designer, so I have further research to undertake for a later feature.

We set off toward our next destination – a house in Walter Crescent: a street dedicated to the great man himself. More on that in my next column…

Special thanks to Harry Droste for providing and driving the classic vehicles for the grand tour.

Next week: The Tour continues with a visit to the Hobbit house.

Bluestone columnist and architect CLINTON KRAUSE previously worked in Daylesford before relocating his business to Warrnambool. Clinton explores the architectural styles that gives our region so much character.

Somehow my visit to the home of Peter and Karen Herbert near the Warrnambool Botanic Gardens reminds me of approaching the imposing façade of the National Gallery of Victoria.

The house gives very little away from the street. High brick walls are punctuated here and there with window openings strategically placed for privacy.  Massive roof overhangs all round give the building an air of grandeur.

Once through the front door, however, this impression of an almost-fortress like structure is replaced with the sensation of entering a cathedral –  expansive high rooms are flooded with natural light from vast panels of north-facing windows and the raking ceilings soar majestically throughout, echoing the lines of the elegant butterfly roof that is the crowning glory of this home.

The house was designed by ‘Tag’ Walter in 1958 and built for local business couple Septimus and Alison Morse, with Peter and Karen taking ownership in 2007 and immediately embarking on an extensive program of renovations.

However other than the substantial task of upgrading all the services for power, water and heating throughout the building – and some cosmetic improvements – the original floor plan remains largely unaltered. It stands as a testament to Tag’s masterful consideration of orientation, open planning and forward thinking.

The house form is a long east-west rectangle with a gently sloping ‘v’-shaped roof line rising from the centre of the house, culminating in delicate roof overhangs that cantilever 1200mm beyond the walls.

The long side of the house faces north and this facade is almost totally glazed with a continuous bank of geometrically arranged windows that rise to the meet the ceilings and further reinforce the visual illusion of the floating roofline.

Photos of the original kitchen show a brave mix of colours along with blonde wood timber features to cupboards and bulkheads.

Karen points out one of the many quirky details: cupboards and drawers hang suspended above the floor from the benchtop – a novel approach which has regained popularity in recent times with the advent of  wall hung bathroom vanities and entertainment cabinets.

The configuration of the original kitchen is also very innovative for 1958. It features a long, wide galley that provides huge expanses of benchspace with designated areas for preparation, serving and eating.

The substantial island bench links the kitchen with the living room where large windows provide good natural lighting.

In fact the original design was so practical that the Herbert’s have maintained the basic layout in their renovations. The new, sleek, white marble and timber joinery pays homage to Tag’s inspired and innovative design and sits well with the architectural character of the home.

Peter and Karen have confidently brought their own sense of style to other areas of the home too.

The interior of the house has been painted throughout in a soft white palette, providing a neutral backdrop to coordinated arrangements of contemporary and themed furnishings. The effect is one of timeless style – enhanced by the strong clean lines of the original architecture.

Sympathetic additions to enlarge the garage, and the enclosure of a walled courtyard to create a new ‘outdoor room’, reference existing materials, roof forms and building details and merge seamlessly with the original structure.

Peter and Karen’s informed approach has revitalised this home, ensuring that the essential architectural elements of Tag’s vision have been maintained and integrated into a modern, luxurious environment for large scale entertaining.

The good design ‘bones’ and creative innovation of this 1950’s masterpiece have ensured that the home has easily made the transition to the 21st Century and continues to be a comfortable, much-loved and inspiring example of great mid-century Australian architecture.

Next Month : A grand tour of some Warrnambool’s finest.