Are you a Mid-Century domestic goddess? Have you spent an inappropriate amount of time pouring over ebay and Atomic Ranch collecting cabinets and crockery? Are you in Sydney? Well this week we have a seeker. MA has been contacted by a scout in dire need of a pre-1970 Mid-Century kitchen fit-out for use on a film set. Fees to be negotiated, but celebrity assured. If you think you have the right stuff, please email us and we’ll hook you both up.

Lot’s a buzz with MA real estate this week. Many listings have come and gone and the updating of our Sold sections has begun in earnest. Gone too is the old Fortnightly Favourite in preference for a new monthly listings round up here. Thanks to you, the trickle of listings is now a stream and it’s fast become too difficult to pick a favourite home anymore, they’re all our children!

So right now, what do we have? Well, starting with those wanting to leave the rat-race we have the best country Modernist home MA have posted yet, in the southern climes of Port Campbell. On the endangered list we find Tramway Parade, Beaumaris, and for something a little different to our usual we have a magnificent art Deco home at Martin St. Brighton. In NSW, two homes in Mowbray Road, Lane Cove and Ivey St, Lindfield truly take the prize for maintaining the Modernist spirit, and Pender St, The Gap in QLD and Greenwood Grove, S.A. are also worth a mention.

We’d just like to say thanks to everyone who signed up on our mailing list this week and others who’ve sent emails or made comments. It’s always a case of the more the merrier here at MA. Don’t forget to regularly check our latest Real Estate listings that are updated once a week. Speaking of listings, see the below feature for the amazing home in Perth, alerted to us by the architect’s family who are very keen for a new appreciative owner. This week we also have out first Readers Poll on the best Modernist suburbs in Australia, be sure to check our Profiles section and add your 2 cents.

We received the word this week that a Perth architect’s own Modernist home of the last 20 years has been put on the market. The family of Barrie Rae would dearly love someone who can appreciate the finer points of his wonderfully designed, light-filled house to take it as their own.

As they state:

“..the floor plan clearly shows the clean, functional layout, and considered siting of the house (the garden runs the full length of the house on the northern side)….. With its garden outlook from every angle, it is a home with a wonderful, peaceful ambience that really feels like a private sanctuary.”

Having recently dealt with the pain of our own magnificent Mid-Century childhood home falling into the wrong hands, MA is keen to put out the word on this home to any interested parties, in the hope it will continue to provide easy and comfortable living for the next generation of Modernist Australians.

Check our Real Estate Page for listing details.

After much work (and still much more to go) we present our new and improved site. We are especially excited about our new section – Building & Renovation and finally having an opportunity to share discussion on whatever takes your fancy with comments capabilities. If you’re not already, please join our mailing list too (we promise the occasional yoo-hoo, but nothing annoying or spam tasting).
Come on in and poke around. We’re just getting comfortable ourselves and haven’t fully unpacked (the sold archives are on their way). Lets us know what you think and, as always, spread the word!
MA

Those of us who live with an AFL obsession will be familiar with Carlton Captain Chris Judd and his missus Rebecca Twigley. It seems that apart from being a glamour couple about town they have revealed a predilection for Mid-Century Architecture with the purchase of their new family home.

Listed with MA a month ago, and now in our sold archives, this beautiful Brighton house on a modest sized block still retains it original wooden cabinetry, kidney-shaped, in-ground pool and other classic Mod features.

Here’s hoping that their upcoming renovations maintain the integrity of this home’s design and introduce local Modernist Australian homes to an even wider audience (remember, we welcome all types here, even Carlton supporters).

For all our heartfelt concern over the increasing loss of our beach shacks, the poor emotional trade off of informal beloved homes for monetary status castles, for prestige summer hotspots over sleepy seaside townships, there are some days we spot a real estate listing which lifts our spirits. It reminds us that we are indeed a country girt by sea and for every overheated Lorne, Byron and Noosa there are still places we can go where less complicated living still exists.
Thus we present to you; Point Vernon, Queensland and specifically, 92 Corfield Street.

Only 300 metres-ish from the beach, it sits on a wide coastal street with even wider front lawns. This lovely little home may not be an architectural masterpiece on the inside, but makes up for it with a complete Australian coastal sensibility from it’s peak of creation in the Mid- Twentieth Century.

With is low slung roofline, car port, palm and tea tree and wooden feature panelling it might even be considered an indigenous echo of the classic West Coast American ranch-house.

In any case, at a possible going price of low $300k, this home not only evokes a time of salty hair, icy poles and cutting lazy 8s on Malvern Stars in the fading daylight, it comes at an achievable cost whilst still being a spit from the beach and that my friends, makes it true nostalgia.