Residence
22 St Georges Road TOORAK, STONNINGTON CITY
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Statement of Significance
Note that the relevant HERCON criteria are shown in brackets.
What is Significant?
The building at 22 St Georges Road, Toorak is a double-storey English Domestic Revival style house with a circular conical roofed tower recalling French provincial architecture. It was built in 1937 to designs by noted architect Edward Fielder Billson. The property was created through various subdivisions of the Toorak House mansion estate.
Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):
-The original external form, materials and detailing of the building.
-The legibility of the original built form in views from the public realm.
-The generally high integrity of the street elevations.
-The absence of modern garages and carports in views from the public realm.
-The domestic garden setting (but not the fabric of the garden itself)
Modern fabric, including the non-original front windows, does not contribute to the significance of the place.
How is it significant?
The house at 22 St Georges Road, Toorak is of local architectural significance to the City of Stonnington.
Why is it significant?
The house is architecturally significant as a fine and generally intact example of the French provincial variant of the interwar English Domestic Revival style. (Criterion D). It typifies architect Edward Billson's stylised approach to house design in this mode. The house also provides a good illustration of broader trends towards the simplification of form and detail in 1930s domestic architecture in Melbourne.
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Residence - Physical Description 1
The property at 22 St Georges Road, Toorak is occupied by a double-storey interwar residence combining English Domestic revival elements with a strong French Provincial character. It has clinker brick walls and a steep gabled slate roof with narrow eaves and timber board infill to the gable ends. The asymmetrically composed facade has a circular stair tower surmounted by a conical slate roof. A recessed entry porch is delineated by an elegant, classically inspired entablature and columns.
All of the original front windows were removed c1999 and some openings enlarged.[1] The replacement window frames are nonetheless in keeping with the interwar character of the house. A rear wing was demolished and replaced by double-storey additions. There is also a freestanding pool room in the rear yard. Despite these changes, the integrity of the original design remains high.
It is not certain if the brick front fence and wrought iron driveway gates are original or early elements. They are nonetheless broadly sympathetic to the character of the house. The central pedestrian gate was created c1999.
[1] City of Stonnington Property File 2371BL1.Residence - Local Historical Themes
The house at 22 St Georges Road, Toorak illustrates the following themes, as identified in the Stonnington Thematic Environmental History (Context Pty Ltd, 2006):
8.1.3 The end of an era - mansion estate subdivisions in the twentieth century
8.4.1 Houses as a symbol of wealth, status and fashionThe house is of some historical interest as evidence of a major phase of development that took place in the 1920s and 1930s when many of Toorak's grand nineteenth century mansion estates were subdivided to create prestigious residential enclaves (TEH 8.1.3 The end of an era - mansion estate subdivisions in the twentieth century). It also illustrates the role of houses generally, and English Domestic Revival style houses in particular, as symbols of wealth, status and taste for Melbourne's upper classes of the interwar period (TEH 8.4.1 - Houses as a symbol of wealth, status and fashion).
Heritage Study and Grading
Stonnington - City of Stonnington Interwar Houses Study
Author: Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd
Year: 2014
Grading: A2
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