Victorians fondly remember the work of gentleman artist William Ellis Green AKA WEG (OAM). His illustrations in the Herald-Sun and the AFL form part of Melbourne’s cultural lexicon and over 54 years raised millions of dollars for The Royal Children’s Hospital. Indeed, until 2009, it would not be a total victory for your footy team until you had the WEG premiers poster stuck to the toilet / rumpus room / bedroom door.
After a successfully long innings WEG departed from us in 2008 and now MA has been alerted to the fact that his family are now offering their much loved home for sale. But what calls for us to mention it here is a sad, familiar story – WEG’s house, built in 1965, is an original and beautifully maintained, Mid-Century stunner and is in danger of being lost.
Beautifully constructed and in immaculate condition this house in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne has been in the same family for 45 years. It has classic ranch-home sensibilities whilst showing off such Modernist attributes as a handcrafted bar area, warm wood panelled interiors, corner fireplace and pendant light-fittings.
This perfect Modernist Australian home on ½ acre also boasts a palm-tree featured, courtyard pool, just perfect for cocktail parties on balmy nights.
Interestingly the real-estate blub talks of ‘respectful inspection’, but on closer investigation it becomes clear. There are already interested parties in this home, interested in the sense that they wish to buy it and gut it.
MA can only ponder the motivations behind this possible outcome. Does the buyer wish to rip down half-century-old craftsmanship and replace it with current ticky-tacky? Do they see parquetry and want to see marble? Do they note perfect wood veneer walls and wish plaster? And one wonders why, with a princely budget, a buyer would seek to overlook the myriad of houses attuned to their ‘taste’ on the market and prefer to go out of their way to destroy Mid-Century built heritage.
Maybe they just see ½ an acre of land and the thought of knocking up some cheap townhouses for profit is all their minds are programmed for.
Nevertheless, all is not lost, this property is up for auction soon and just maybe it will reach the heart of someone who can afford to take over custodianship and rescue it from the fate of too many Mid-Century Australian homes gone before. We can only hope.
Tags: WEG, William Ellis Green
Wow, what an amazing property! This family certainly understands style. To anyone that doesn’t understand true modernist beauty, please don’t inspect this and fantasise a cheap reno job consisting of mcdonaldsesque caesarstone and a visit from the render man! you needn’t bother. the only thing worth touching/removing would be the pool fence… that is courtesy of the red tape ignorant beaurocrats
I’m not surprised, most people just don’t see design, craftmanship, beauty, taste etc., if they fell over it!
I have the inclination but not the money unfortunately.
The Real Estate industry needs to be educated in the importance of such historical significance these mid-century houses possess but as in most cases they are greedy & their motivation is in chasing the almighty dollar!
Does this property have a heritage listing through the local PS or /and Heritage Vic? at the very least if planning controls are utilised in order to allow a checking process for any proposed works, then there exists an ability to intervene and educate the owner of the significance.
there are many cases where adaptive reuse (within reason) can actually enhance the heritage value and potential for retention. Take this revision to a Pettit and Sevitt home in Doncaster…which through adaption can now be loved for many generations to come http://www.bentarchitecture.com.au/flash/ (BENT ROBE HOUSE)
Good on ya Trish for putting this up. Certainly, if I had the money the house would end up in very appreciative hands, not perhaps those who may desecrate or destroy it in the name of profiteering. Can one imagine this home in 1965 and compare to the more mundane homes being built at the time?? Way ahead of its time. We can only hope it ends up with a sympathetic owner.
The saddest thing of all is when they can’t see what they’re looking at — even in perfectly preserved modernist perfection such as this!
Someone needs to step in and promote the heritage listing of such properties.
It never ceases to amaze me when a greedy developer or some style-blind ignoramus purchases these special properties and set about completely destroying all that was good — only to replace it with all that is bad.
I have seen it with one of my own treasured modernist homes — sold to the highest bidder with the worst intentions. It happens all too often (in places like Canberra), where ridiculously elevated land prices mean that the houses on them are disposable. I have seen modernist masterpieces sold under the hammer for well over the $1 million mark, and still they knock them down and rebuild AV Jennings rendered brick veneer monstrosities. Is nothing sacred? Harry Seidlers have been bulldozed in this city!
Personally, I consider it a true honour and a privilege to have owned 4 of these iconic architectural artworks, and it is my dream to one day be rich enough to have a portfolio of such homes to personally caretake and protect from greed, ignorance and pure unadulterated bad taste.
It was really lovely to meet you both on Saturday night- and at such an iconic modernist residence no less! Please keep up the good work on your blog- homes like this one could so easily be over looked, it’s so valuable to have a forum such as this in which such houses can be praised for their intrinsic beauty, and where lovers of the era can discuss (and hopefully in my case one day buy!) these gems- so thank you again!
I know where this house is situated as I adored it every time I drove past it.
I didn’t know that it was owned by ‘Weg’.
Hopefully, the new owners will take into consideration the surrounding homes, obviously built around the same era. From my walks around the Heathmont area, quite a few modernist homes have not been razed but instead have been freshened up with a lick of paint or a new front garden. Some of these cosmetic touches have been successful, some not so much. But most retain the original bones of the buildings.
Of course the main factor that is working against this property is the size of the land and the fact that it is siutated on the corner of a court and a main road. I would like to think that this position would hamper planning approval due to the increased traffic a multi house site would generate. But when have council pallners ever taken that into consideration lately? We shall have to wait and see.
I drove past this again today. It’s been quite a few months since it was sold and today I see that the front fence has gone and quite a few trees have been removed. It is surrounded by temporary fencing. One can only hope that they are renovating the front yard, but I fear that the next time I drive past the house will be razed and an ugly vacant block will replace it until new units are built. Seeing this totally ruined my day today, but it seems to be the way of things more and more at the moment.