Austin Bramwell Smith House
8 Orford Avenue KEW, BOROONDARA CITY
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Statement of Significance
What is Significant?
The house at 8 Orford Avenue, designed by architect Austin Bramwell Smith (1898-1975) as his own home and constructed in 1937-38. The house was constructed in the American Colonial style, in the Cape Cod cottage mode. It has painted brick walls, and wide weatherboards to the gable end, brown Marseille tiles to the gabled roof which contains an attic storey, and an entrance portico near the centre of the main facade, which faces the side boundary.
The low, curved brick wall along Orford Avenue contributes to the significance of the place.
Alterations and additions of the 1970s or later are not significant.
How is it significant?
The Bramwell Smith house is of local architectural and historical significance to the City of Boroondara.
Why is it significant?
Architecturally, it is a faithful and successful rendition of a Cape Cod cottage, a variant of American Colonial Revival which was popular in America in the 1920s-40s, but is rare in the City of Boroondara. These houses are modestly scaled, informal in their level of classical ornamentation (usually restricted to the entrance portico) and more likely to stray from a strictly symmetrical facade so as to suggest organic growth over the centuries. They typically have an attic storey, and - like all types of Colonial Revival houses - have multipane windows with shutters. The Bramwell Smith house reflects these features, including its most prominent element - the broken-pediment portico resting on six slender timber piers. Picturesque details include the curve dormer windows, the tiny casement windows in the gable on either side of the chimney, and the wrought-iron screens to the entrance sidelights. The use of solid timber shutters, instead of the typical American louvered shutters, show adaptation to Melbourne's climate. (Criteria D & E)
Historically, as a representative example of the above-average proportion of dwellings that were designed by noted Melbourne architects for themselves in the City of Boroondara. While the trend emerged on a modest scale in the late nineteenth century, it became a pronounced theme during the interwar years, particularly in Kew. (Criterion A)
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Heritage Study and Grading
Boroondara - Individual Heritage Citations
Author: City of Boroondara
Year: 2016
Grading:
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AUBURN PRIMARY SCHOOL NO.2948Victorian Heritage Register H1707
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ROTHAVictorian Heritage Register H0510
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ROSS HOUSE (KEW)Victorian Heritage Register H0202
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