Thornfield

It is a two-storey polychrome brick house with an asymmetrical facade and cast-iron detail to the double-storey verandah. Walls are primarily of brown Hawthorn brick with red, cream and black brick accents.

The restoration front palisade fence is not significant.

How is it significant?
'Thornfield' is of local architectural and aesthetic significance to the City of Stonnington.

Why is it significant?
Architecturally, it is a highly intact example of a polychrome brick villa that demonstrates the transition from Victorian Italianate to Queen Anne Revival. The low M-profile hipped roof, clad in slate, is typical of the Italianate, as is the asymmetrical composition of the facade with a projecting bay beside a two-storey verandah. The verandah detail, with cast-iron posts and a framed cast-iron frieze with brackets, is also typical of the Italianate. A medieval influence and transition toward the Federation Queen Anne, common after 1900, is seen in the use of a gable to the projecting bay, as well as the use of a lobed bargeboard with a decorative truss and pendant-finial. (Criterion D)

Aesthetically, it is notable for the lively polychromy of the brickwork, particularly the relieving arch over the first-floor windows filled with an unusual chequerboard pattern of red, cream and black headers, as well as the incorporation of cast-stone blocks into door and window lintels. (Criterion E)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Villa