Roy Grounds House

Roy Grounds House
View of building from Hill Street
General information
Type House
Architectural style Mid-Twentieth Century
Address 24 Hill Street, Toorak
Town or city Melbourne, Victoria
Country Australia
Coordinates 37°50′08″S 145°00′47″E / 37.835435°S 145.013180°E / -37.835435; 145.013180Coordinates: 37°50′08″S 145°00′47″E / 37.835435°S 145.013180°E / -37.835435; 145.013180
Completed 1950's
Design and construction
Architect Sir Roy Grounds

The Roy Grounds House is located at 24 Hill Street, Toorak in Melbourne, Australia. It was designed by Sir Roy Grounds as his own home for his wife Betty and himself. This building was constructed in the early 1950s during the period of architectural experimentation on materiality and structure in houses.[1] The Roy Grounds House was designed as a prototype for Roy’s latter project 10 years later on the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) located on St.Kilda Road, Melbourne.[2]

Description

The house is an exercise in pure platonic geometries in plan, a perfectly circular glass walled courtyard within a square of solid brick walls, broken only by the front door (and a back door to the kitchen). A broad flat roof with wide eaves floats above the external wall on continuous highlight windows. Internally the rooms are divided by radial walls, which stop short of the courtyard, the focus of the house.

The four flats behind the house reach down the block, the first being a smaller single level studio unit, while the other three are matching larger double storey two bedroom units. These three step towards the driveway, allowing easy access to carports, and increasingly larger courtyard gardens which the units address with a double storey window wall.[3]

Influences

The complete focus on the internal courtyard, creates an inward looking, almost eastern character. This oriental influence continues to the external design, with strong solid walls, topped by projecting eaves floating above the highlight windows, and a single central large door with oversized knocker. The original planting of the courtyard with persimmon and bamboo also displays an eastern influence.[4]

Significance

The Roy Grounds House is one of the most well known Mid Century Modernist houses in Melbourne. It received the only award granted in 1954, the Victorian Architecture Medal, which in turn was the only award granted between the awards ceasing in 1942 and restarting in 1964. In 2001 it was added to the Victorian Heritage Register.[3]

Award

  • Victorian Architectural medal (1954)

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://www.onmydoorstep.com.au/heritage-listing/12238/grounds-house
  2. ↑ http://thedesignfiles.net/2012/02/melbourne-home-georgia-danos/
  3. 1 2 Victorian Heritage Database place details, 2012, Heritage Victoria, 27 March 2012
  4. ↑ "GROUNDS HOUSE". Victorian Heritage Database. Retrieved 31 July 2018.

References

  • Collection of architectural drawings for the architects own courtyard house at 24 Hill Street Toorak and four adjoining flats by Roy Grounds. [picture]/ Roy Grounds,Roy Burman Grounds Sir 1905-1981
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