Meeting the architects

One of the most pleasant outcomes of participating in Brisbane Open House was how it led to a wonderful meeting with the architects who designed our home. Apparently, the newspaper publicity about the A.F Dawson Residence earlier this month was enough to pique the interest of 82-year-old architect Peter Heathwood to pay me a visit.

And what an enormous privilege it was to meet Peter Heathwood, who also brought along the charming Michael Cardillo, a second year cadet during the time the house was built. Michael's handwriting was even on the original plans. He eventually became a partner in Heathwood's architectural firm which exists today as Heathwood, Cardillo,Wilson, although both Peter and Michael are now retired.

You know it will be a nice visit when your guests bring cake, which they did. They were simply delightful and we had a good old chat!

It was quite a special moment to have the people who conceived the design of the house come back after 51 years. They were very comfortable with the home and could talk with great ease about the design features and materials used in the home...like it was built yesterday. They were impressed at how well the home had fared for its 50 plus years.

I had a number of questions about whether or not certain things were original to the house. It was namely the use of lattice for the verandah/patio screen and balustrade, as it seemed at odds with the modernist style of the home.

I can confirm the lattice is indeed original. It was used as a buffer on the western side of the house to provide protection from the sun. The lattice pattern was also repeated for the balustrade. It is also consistent with many of Peter's other homes which used forms of screening. Michael visited the house just after it was built and remembers it quite well.

Michael said the house is very much how all of Peter's homes were built. The AF Dawson Residence is one of Peter's 'tent designs' which is quite evident when you enter the home with the central pole in the middle of the house.

Comfort and climate were the overriding imperatives in his homes. His philosophy was a home should provide shelter and his homes were designed for the best possible comfort in our sub-tropical climate. And it is a very comfortable home in which to live!

Interestingly, Peter designed all the interior and exterior Perspex light fittings himself because he said you just couldn't get decent light fittings at the time. He was chuffed they were still in the house. The yellow light shades outside were to repel mosquitoes and minimise the bugs which are attracted to white light.

The best line of the day was when Peter entered the refurbished 1980s kitchen and exclaimed, "Well, this is certainly not our work!" You'd understand why if you saw our country style kitchen which is completely out of kilter with the rest of the home.

The kitchen benches would have been much higher and would have had white Laminex bench tops which curved up the splash back and then there was a shelf  for condiments before the overhead cupboards would start. The cabinetry was originally maple plywood with black d-mould handles similar to the cabinets in our bedrooms.

Peter said to give him a call when we renovate the kitchen, as he would be able to help us out. That job has obviously jumped up in the priority list...especially given Peter's age... Stay tuned!

Hot Modernism

Queensland's modernist architecture from 1945 to 1975  is put under the spotlight at a major exhibit now showing at the State Library of Queensland.

I was very excited to gain a sneak preview of the Hot Modernism exhibition at the official launch earlier this week thanks to dansk vintage who is principal sponsor of the exhibition. (They were away overseas on a buying trip and kindly gave me some of their tickets. Yay!)

Centenary Pool Spring Hill designed by James Birrell

It is heartening to see there is a growing appreciation of mid-century design and from a preservation point of view this exhibition will add to that important conversation. You can never fully grow if you don't learn from the past. It is undeniable the period of development between 1945 to 1975 was the start of a modern Queensland. And it is wonderful to see the architects, designers and builders who dreamt big (and a little bit left of field) after the immediate post-war period acknowledged.

So, from a mid-century modernism enthusiast's point of view, this is a must-see exhibition. There are photographs, plans, models and videos a-plenty in which to immerse yourself. I'll be going back to have a good old leisurely look when the children are back at school next week.

Inside the re-creation of Jacobi House with vintage Danish furnishings from dansk vintage

One of the many highlights was the full-scale replica of the iconic Jacobi House (1957) designed by Hayes and Scott. It is a fabulous re-creation and gives a taste of how 'less is more' when it comes to building design.

Madly modern Susan posing in the Torbreck room.
Ironically, Susan looks like a 1950s housewife but has never  used a washig machine in her life according to her domesticated partner Chris.

There is also a room dedicated to the construction and history of Torbreck Home Units (which I wrote about in a previous blog post).

Speare House profile in the Hot Modernism exhibition

And of particular interest to me were the drawings and photographs of the demolished Speare House (1959) which was designed by the same architect who drew our modernist house. Although it precedes our home by four years, some of the features and ideas about climatic design can be seen in our humble abode.

Our friends, the publishers of Australian Modern (Chris and madly modern Susan), were also interviewed as part of the exhibition. A short three minute video was made about their mid-century home and how they came to buy it and then become friends with the architect, Barry Walduck.

Their modernist home will play host to the Man about the House Tim Ross Comedy show which is part of the Hot Modernism special events. The show cost is $58 and can be booked here.

Mid-Century Queensland with Chris Osborne and Susan Bennett from State Library of Queensland on Vimeo.

Hot Modernism is a free exhibit at the State Library and is open until 12 October.

Torbreck Home Units

I ticked another thing off from my bucket list...visiting the landmark Torbreck building in Highgate Hill. Torbreck is one of the first highrise mixed-use (though the proposed restaurant and shop never eventuated) residential towers in Brisbane, which was built between 1957 - 1960 and designed by architects Job & Froud (read my post about a Froud house).

It is one of those Brisbane buildings which fascinates locals. Due to its very high location up on Dornoch Terrace, it is the most visible and distinctive looking building on Brisbane's southside. It always had the reputation of being the residence of the well-heeled...and to some extent, it still has that reputation today with the units occupied by mostly professionals.

I've always wanted to see the units and when Chris from Australian Modern organised a tour of the building for his annual MAD Weekend, I jumped at the opportunity... as did many other mid-century architecture enthusiasts.

Torbreck Home Units

The Torbreck entry from Dornoch Terrace

The Torbreck home units comprise of the Tower Block and the Garden Block which are linked by an external walkway.The Garden Block was erected first, with the Tower Block following quickly afterwards. If you want to read a more detailed account of the Torbreck building you can visit their website HERE which has links to further information.

Interestingly (for me, at any rate) , the architect who designed our house also worked on the drawings for the Garden Block when he was a student architect at Job & Froud. As a consequence, I was very keen to seen these compact one-bedroom units in this block.

First floor of the Torbreck Garden Block

Mid-century brick relief between the Tower and Garden Block. You can also just see that a different coloured check tile was used on each level of the Garden Block

We saw four different units in the Garden Block which the owners very graciously opened up for us during our visit. Each unit would have been almost identical when they were built, but over the years they were renovated or updated to suit their individual owners.

Original kitchen in a Garden Block unit

Some of the units had original kitchens while others units were completely reconfigured. One unit had its bedroom moved to where the kitchen would have been originally, while its bedroom was enclosed behind glass partition walls. It was interesting to see how each resident used and interpreted their living space.

Original planter boxes on the balcony of a Garden Block unit which overlooks the communal swimming pool.

The highrise Tower Block units are the more spacious units of the two blocks. We visited three very different two-bedroom units in the Tower. The Tower block also takes in the most spectacular views with each unit having at least one balcony.

Looking up to the Tower Block from the linking bridge 

Again, the Tower units were different in style, some with many of the original features, while others were updated to a more contemporary style, often undoing past renovation of previous owners.

Original entry/ kitchen in one of the two-bedroom Tower Block units

Lovely contemporary plywood kitchen.
Apparently, the original kitchen was replaced in the 1980s with a pink and curvy kitchen which had dated quite badly. The new owner has brought back some restraint to the space and has referenced the exterior Torbreck tiles in the splash back. 

Climatic design elements can be seen at play in the building. For example, full height sun blades are used to control the sun on the eastern and western sides of the building. It allows owners to adjust the amount of light and breeze to enter the unit.

Blue metal sun blades to control the light

In the units, the internal plumbing is stored in the ceilings. Originally they would have been hidden behind a perspex ceiling which gives an almost ethereal light adding the illusion of space in the small bathroom/laundry. 

In some units the perspex has been replaced with solid panels and in one particular unit the quirky owner decided to rip out the ceiling entirely and paint the pipes gold! GOLD!

Quirky exposed plumbing 

The jewel in the crown for Torbreck is definitely its observation lounge on the top floor. It has the best uninterrupted view of Brisbane and was definitely a huge highlight of the entire visit. How lucky to have this in the building where you live! It was simply breathtaking and was a fabulous place to sit and contemplate the world.

The Torbreck observation lounge with 360 degree views of Brisbane. 

Drawings of the observation lounge and proposed roof top garden which was never built.

Torbreck is on the Queensland Heritage register. The iconic Brisbane building will also be featured in the Hot Modernism exhibition at the Queensland State Library starting on 9 July.

Its image is the 'face' of the promotional campaign.

Image from here

O'Reilly's Bonded Stores: is it worth saving if it's old?

There is a derelict early 20th century building which is set to be demolished on Margaret Street in the Brisbane CBD. It is O'Reilly's Bonded Stores (old warehouse space) which was built around 100 years ago.

The building is not heritage listed and when viewed with an objective eye, isn't terribly attractive either, particularly in its present state. However an off-leash dog park will be its temporary replacement until the developers obtain the green light for what will likely become modern commercial/residential high rise.

The O'Reilly family was quite prominent in Brisbane during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century. The O'Reillys had a bonds store and forwarding agency business begun by Captain Henry O'Reilly in the 1860s  - the stores originally operated from Mary Street until the new stores, the ones proposed for demolition, were built in 1912/1913.

Captain O'Reilly also owned the spectacular mansion called Toonarbin in Dornoch Terrace in Highgate Hill and you can read about the restoration of that home here. The suburb of Bowen Hills was originally called O'Reilly's Hill after the family. Clearly, the O'Reilly family were the movers and shakers of Brisbane during its infancy as a city.

You can read more about the proposed demolition and development of the stores here.

image from here

I was having a conversation with Jason about whether this building should be saved...Is it really worth saving if it's old? Would we be having the same discussion if Westfield Indooroopilly shopping centre was proposed for demolition in 2070 (100 years after it first opened)? (I'll be dead, no doubt!)

The Bonded Stores survived 100 years, does that give it the right to exist for a further 100 or so years? Would Brisbane be better served with a modern building in its stead or should we try to retain as much of our past as we can given the paucity of historical buildings remaining in this city? Is there a creative way for the developer to do both?

To keep or not to keep? is the question. And sadly, 'not to keep' is often the resounding answer.

Over the past couple of months, Brisbane has lost two well-known heritage listed buildings due to fire - the old Belevedere in West End and the Albion Flour Mill. Both properties were either up for development or holding up development, so these 'accidental' fires are not terribly surprising. The historical properties are now bull-dozed and are just a hazy memory to be remembered through photographs and newspaper clippings.

image from here

Anyway, it seems a lot of people are sick of old buildings being neglected and then demolished without some thought or say in the matter. There is a community campaign underway to help save the O'Reilly's Bonded Stores building. If you are keen, you can get on board here. There is a petition and information about how to put in a submission against the demolition application. 

Perhaps if enough people were to raise an objection, then the developers may rethink their plans and incorporate the new with the old ...one can only hope in 2014.

Walter Taylor Bridge tour

We've certainly become tourists in Brisbane over this past year. There are so many great spots and fun things to do in our home town. The Brisbane City Council has recently started free walking tours to view inside the pylons of the Walter Taylor Bridge at Indooroopilly. We were able to get a rare glimpse of an interesting part of Brisbane's history.

The bridge was renamed the Walter Taylor Bridge in 1956 after the bridge designer and constructor Walter Taylor

Yesterday we met up with our tour leader Alan from Brisbane Greeters at the Indooroopilly end of the bridge. He led us on a short walk across the Jack Pesch Bridge and through to the Walter Taylor Bridge Reserve. Alan was full of interesting tidbits...and corrected a lot of the misinformation I was taught at school...like who really discovered the Brisbane River?

Alan with some of my brood.
Word of warning, if your child has nil attention span , don't do the tour with kids!
Son #3 needed a leash.

Walking under the bridge on the Chelmer side

Built in 1936, the Walter Taylor Bridge is a suspension bridge which allows motor vehicles and pedestrians to cross the Brisbane River between Indooroopilly and Chelmer - it is also the only habitable bridge in the Southern Hemisphere (according to Wikipedia).

And this is what fascinates me most about the bridge: people used to live in the pylons! The washing flapping in the breeze was the only visible sign that the pylons were occupied.  It used to be the home of the bridge engineer and the toll keeper and was occupied by their descendants up until 2010.

Another interesting fact about the bridge was that the cable used for the suspension were leftovers from the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If you're interested, you can read more about the history here.

Out on the balcony of the Walter Taylor Bridge looking out to the Chelmer side.

We were able to visit the residence at the Indooroopilly side of the bridge which was home to the Green family who operated the old toll booth. They had six children in their time living in the bridge; when you view the residence you wonder where on earth did they put them all? There were only three bedrooms in the narrow three storey building - it was certainly compact living for the family of eight.

My photographs of inside the pylons are terrible. It was very hard to take good shots, as the unfurnished rooms were quite small. In the early 2000s, the residence was renovated so the original kitchen and cabinetry is long gone...the new kitchen was not terribly inspiring, I'm afraid! It would be terrific if the rooms were restored to how they used to be in the 1930s, to give the rooms more context...

The doorway into the third bedroom on the top floor of the residence

 There is also a YouTube clip of life inside the toll booth which is very quaint. 

old kitchen in the pylon residence

The tours will continue again in January and there is talk that the Chelmer side will open in the near future (apparently the uni students who used to rent it out were hard taskmasters for the old building - it will take more time and money to make it safe to open to the public).

To book a tour of the bridge, go to the Brisbane Greeters website here.