House
1/11 Hughes Street MONTMORENCY, BANYULE CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The house at 1/11 Hughes Street, designed in 1948 by then architecture student W. J. Woodburn and built by him for his family, is of significance.
How is it significant?
1/11 Hughes Street is of historic, aesthetic and architectural significance to the City of Banyule.
Why is it significant?
This mud brick building was designed and built by Melbourne University architecture student William Woodburn and his wife Betty using mud excavated from the site. The house was one of the first to use concrete raft slabs (a now common construction system). Its use of unusual materials was praised by prominent architect, Robin Boyd who cited it as a fine attempt to deal with the post war housing crisis. (Criterion F)
The house is of a simple design, and reflects the shortage of materials in the period following World War II, as well as the limited means of many of those who moved to Montmorency during the late 1940s. (Criteria A & H)
It forms an interesting comparison with the adjacent, and more elaborate, 9 Hughes Street, designed by Woodburn's fellow student, Sydney Smith. (Criterion E)
The house is also of significance for its long connection to the Woodburn family and W.J. Woodburn. The house was designed by Woodburn for his family in 1948-49 and Woodburn retained ownership of it until 1983. (Criteria H)
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House - Physical Description 1
1/11 Hughes Street is an example of the International style of architecture, but is built with mud brick (adobe) side walls. The use of adobe is not normally associated with this style of architecture that tends to favour machine made or industrialized materials.The house consists of a long rectangular plan with a low pitched roof and a window wall that extends completely along one elvation. It is set in a bushland garden and the house is designed to provide a seamless transition between the inside and the outside. The mud brick walls subsequently have been rendered and painted, presumably to preserve their surface finsh.
1/11 Hughes Street is one of two houses on adjacent sites that were largely experimental, and display an innovative construction system and design for the 1940s.
Heritage Study and Grading
Banyule - Banyule Heritage Review
Author: Context P/L
Year: 2009
Grading: LocalBanyule - Banyule Heritage Study
Author: Allum Lovell & Associates
Year: 1999
Grading:
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