Document title: House at 406 Mona Vale Road, St Ives (1958/9) Author/s: Summary / abstract: Key words: Ross Thorne, The clients (my parents) had lived in a house on a steep block of land with a view but with flights of steps. After a heart attack they decided to find a flat block of land which they did, at St Ives on a busy main road. The lot was one hectare so it was decided to build in the centre leaving the front as regenerated bush (after being an Alien Internment Camp during World War II). The rear third would be sold off. With the risk of adjacent blocks of the same size being subdivided, creating the possibility of unknown neighbours becoming closely adjacent, and possibly overlooking the site, it was decided to turn the new house inward-looking. Most of the rooms would face courtyards. At the same time, since there was no view, there was a risk of the householders feeling closed-in, so strip highlight windows were used to provide a view to sky and treetops. The courtyards and separation of some accommodation produced a house that extended over 30 metres across site. With such a wide-spreading house it was decided to emphasise the entry by slightly raising both the roof and ground level at the entrance. It was only half a metre in height, but it provided a demarcation to the courtyard space through the gates, and from the entry lobby space to the two ways beyond -- one straight ahead to the bedroom wing, the other way to the right to the living/dining space. Architecture; House design; Architectural history. Illustrations: Plan and photographs taken between 1959 and 1966. Exhibitions and Publications: Copyright owner: Exhibited by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) at Blaxland Gallery, Sydney, 1961; and in 15 Sydney Homes, Museum of Modern Arts, Melbourne, 1961. Decorative Art in Modern Interiors, London: Studio Books 1961. Architecture in Australia; December 1963. Ross Thorne 1959 for the design and colour photographs.
This one-hectare of land was at the end of private land on a ridge between the headwater creek leading into the Middle Harbour of Sydney Harbour, and the headwaters of the creeks that finally lead into the Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay (north of Sydney). Each of these headwaters are at the start of public reserve land in the form of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park (to the north and north-east) and Garigal National Park (to the south, south-east). Both these parks are on sandstone rocky slopes down to the water. The environs of this site were, in the literature, referred to as the First Rocks at the end of the productive land that had supported orchards, and market gardens in the St Ives area. Accordingly, my parents and I decided to name the house First Rock. Opposite is an historic tree, an Angophora that was the Boundary Tree at the convergence of three parishes from at least 1883. The drive was designed to minimise cutting down trees, but provide a sense of mystery and anticipation for the visitor.
Top: The final curve in the drive shows the fin-wall that shields the car-port. Below left: A closer view of the fin-wall with a low flight of steps leading to the entrance portico (below right). Bottom of page: The driveway across the front of the wide house before landscaping had matured. The entrance portico has a courtyard beyond, with the main part of the house to the left. Beyond the facetted steel urn are the bedrooms (see plan on next page).
Right: Entry portico with gates between piers (see below) screening the courtyard beyond. Below right: Steel urn on low screen wall to bedrooms.
Below: Low wall, urn, and grassy area in front of bedroom wing. Right: Courtyard soon after completion of house, through one of the gates in the entry portico. Below: The courtyard at night soon after completion of the house. At left of the photo is the open verandah with insect screening, downlights being in the eave and between the slots in the wall of the covered way leading from the main house (left) to the studio at right.
Above: Mature courtyard with pool (right top). Right: Pergola at end of living room. Below: West elevation showing (foreground) the studio, and the screening against overview by neighbours.
Above: View from entry to door to bedroom wing. At right of photo is a small water courtyard. Top right: Water court in foreground with living room in distance. The white distant wall in the living room is perforated cinema screen, with stereo loudspeakers speakers behind. Below: View from sitting area of living room, through frameless sliding glass doors, across the verandah to the main courtyard.
Above: Open verandah with black concrete floor, and insect screening at left. Top right: dining with kitchen extension cupboards in distance. Turning left beyond the water court (left) is the kitchen area (middle photo). Right bottom: Across dining through open glass sliding doors to verandah and beyond to the principal courtyard. Below: View from sitting area over dining table to glass surrounded water court, with verandah under lower ceiling at left.
Above: Frameless glass doors to Living Room with water court beyond. The water court divides the circulation from entrance to bedroom wing and living/dining area, with kitchen behind the buff-coloured blinds. Below: Panorama from main courtyard over living area through water court to gallery beyond.