| Back to search results » | Back to search page » |
|
The Pottery (formerly Hybla)
Location18 Wallace Avenue TOORAK, STONNINGTON CITY LevelIncluded in Heritage Overlay |
|
Statement of Significance
What is significant? It is significant to the extent of its nineteenth century external form and fabric. The modern alterations and additions are not significant. How is it significant? Why is it significant? Aesthetically, it is distinguished by its wealth of high-quality Greek and Egyptian-derived ornament, most of which was adapted from the interior details of 'Holmwood House'. Details of note in the tympanum of the front gable, all executed in cement render, is high reliefs of anthemia (palmettes), arabesques, an Aeolic capital (two large volutes with a palmette between), and a star or sunburst within a notched circle, with a band of incised tridents and anthemia below. The capitals have a dog-tooth moulding to the abacus (top block) and palmettes in high relief below. The square tower with a corbel table may have been based on Thomson's 'Craig Ailey Villa'. The design was adapted to the Australian climate by the addition of a return verandah, which features more unusual decorative detail whose origins are unknown. This includes the double toothed fringe on the verandah beam and the battered piers supporting the verandah posts, as well as the muscular name pediment above the verandah, based on abstracted Greek pediment and cenotaph forms. The painted and stained glass to window highlights and around the front door is also significant. (Criterion E)
'The Pottery' (formerly 'Hybla'), at 18 Wallace Avenue, Toorak, built in 1889, and comprising a large single-storey residence with various gabled projecting bays and a large central tower is significant. It was built for the Scottish Mary Hastie, a recipient of the Hastie Bequest, from her brother, John Hastie of 'Leslie Manor', Camperdown, an unmarried grazier who had died in 1866, leaving a large fortune to his next of kin, to various Protestant churches, and sections of the University. It was later occupied by Mary Hastie's niece and her daughter Mary Pott. Mary Pott played a significant role in the YWCA, serving as national president of the World Fellowship Committee. When the residence was taken over by the Geelong Grammar School in 1947, the school nicknamed the building "The Pottery" after her.
'The Pottery' (formerly 'Hybla'), at 18 Wallace Avenue, Toorak is of local architectural and aesthetic significance and rarity value to the City of Stonnington.
Architecturally, 'Hybla' is the only known Neo Greek (or Greek Revival) dwelling in the City of Stonnington (and possibly in the State of Victoria). It was closely modelled on architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson's 'Holmwood House' of 1857-58 in Glasgow, as published in Blackie & Son's Villa and Cottage Architecture of 1868. This exemplar provided the unusual low-pitched gables with wide eaves and bargeboards with scrolled ends and metal bosses along their length, as well as much of the external ornament executed in cement render. The house illustrates the importance of British architectural pattern books in introducing new and exotic styles to Australia during the nineteenth century. (Criteria B & D)
Group
Residential buildings (private)
Category
Villa