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Pattenbringan

Location

7 Gawith Court TOORAK, STONNINGTON CITY

Level

Included in Heritage Overlay

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
'Pattenbringan' at 7 Gawith Court, Toorak, is significant. It is a large, single-storey villa built in 1889-90 for Scottish banker Hugh Wilson and designed by notable Melbourne architectural firm, Reed, Henderson & Smart. The house originally fronted Heyington Place.

It is a long building with cement-rendered walls beneath a high slate-clad gable-hipped roof, with a projecting semi-hexagonal hipped roof bay to one side of the front facade and a gabled bay to the side facade, with a return verandah between them.

There is a fine set of wrought and cast-iron gates at the current vehicular entrance on Gawith Court. They may have been relocated from the original Heyington Place entrance, so would be significant.

The contemporary rear extension and the timber paling fence to Gawith Court are not significant.

How is it significant?
'Pattenbringan' is of local architectural, aesthetic and historical (associational) significance to the City of Stonnington.

Why is it significant?

Architecturally, 'Pattenbringan' demonstrates the transition from the Italianate to the Queen Anne Revival in the form of a sprawling suburban villa. The canted bay window, cement-rendered walls and verandah set below the eaves were all common for Italianate houses of the 1880s. Its gable-hipped roof, timber verandah detail and medieval gable treatment all belong to the innovative design that Reed, Henderson & Smart were known for in the 1880s, when they carried out many prestigious commissions in the cities of Stonnington and Boroondara. (Criterion D)

Aesthetically, 'Pattenbringan' is particularly distinguished by the decorative treatment of the side gable, with a decorative truss with a pierced timber sunburst pattern above it and a turned pendant-finial, as well as a floating triangular pediment. The H-shaped margin glazing to the sash windows is also a very unusual feature. The cast and wrought-iron entrance gates are also of aesthetic significance for the high quality of their fabrication and the Aesthetic Movement influence of their design. (Criterion E)

It is also significant for its association with the Melbourne architectural firm of Reed, Henderson & Smart. It is an extremely long-lived and influential practice, beginning with the practice of Reed & Barnes in 1853 and still in existence today as Bates Smart. The practice was an important innovator in the introduction to and creation of the Queen Anne Revival style in Victoria from the early 1880s. 'Pattenbringan' illustrates another side of their work during the 1880s with unusual features including the rendered walls (as opposed to the more common red brick) and the sprawling bungalow form with its uncommon gable-hipped roof. (Criterion H)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Villa