Former Homeden Garage

What is Significant?
The Former Homeden Garage at 4 Lawrenny Court, Toorak is a double-storey brick building with a slate roof crowned by an elaborate clocktower. It is presumed to have been built c1929 as six-car garage and chauffeur's quarters for George Nicholas, the businessman who made his fortune from the 'Aspro' brand of painkillers. The garage belonged to the mansion 'Homeden', which was built in 1889-90 for Supreme Court Judge, Justice Henry Edward Hodges. Homeden was demolished in the late 1960s and its grounds were subdivided, creating Lawrenny Court. The garage was left standing at the end of Lawrenny Court, and converted into a private residence in the 1980s.

Elements that contribute to the significance of the place include (but are not limited to):

-The original external form, materials and detailing of the building.
-Views to the building from the public realm, particularly of the clocktower.
-The domestic garden setting (but not the fabric of the garden itself)

The red-brick fence on the laneway boundary appears to be early fabric but it does not make an important contribution to the significance of the place. The 1980s alterations and additions are not considered to be significant.

How is it significant?
The Former Homeden Garage at 4 Lawrenny Court, Toorak is of local historical and architectural significance to the City of Stonnington.

Why is it significant?
The Former Homeden Garage is historically significant historically for its ability to demonstrate the emergence of motor vehicles as the major form of road transport in the years leading up to the Second World War (TEH 4.3.2 Changing modes of transport - from horses to motor vehicles). Built at a time when there was limited car ownership, a large and well-designed garage such as this would have been a strong expression of the owner's social status. The building provides evidence of the lifestyle of the wealthy of Toorak in the early twentieth century and interwar period (TEH 8.3.1 Grand houses - servants and extended families, Criterion A).

The Former Homeden Garage also illustrates the changing social and economic circumstances in the twentieth century which led to the subdivision and redevelopment of many of Toorak's nineteenth century mansion estates (TEH 8.1.3 The end of an era - mansion estate subdivisions in the twentieth century, Criterion A). The association with George Nicholas is of additional historical interest (TEH 6.3 Constructing capital city economies, Criterion H).

The Former Homeden Garage is architecturally significant as an extremely rare example of a private building with a clocktower. Early garages of this scale and architecturally quality are also rare in the municipality (Criterion B & E).

Group

Transport - Road

Category

Garage