Back to search results »

Back to search page »

RAMSAY HOUSE

Other Name Betty Ramsay House Location 29 RENDLESHAM AVENUE MT ELIZA, MORNINGTON PENINSULA SHIRE File Number 608148 Level Registered

[1/8] 5345 Ramsay House Mt Eliza [2/8] 5345 Ramsay House Mt Eliza [3/8] 5345 Ramsay House Victorian [4/8] 5345 Ramsay House Mt Eliza [5/8] 5345 Ramsay House Grounds on [6/8] 5345 Ramsay House Mt Eliza [7/8] 5345 Ramsay House Interior [8/8] Ramsay House Mt Eliza June

Statement of Significance

What is Significant?
The Ramsay House was designed by Roy Grounds for Mrs Bettine Ramsay, wife of Mr (later Sir) Thomas Ramsay, chairman of the Kiwi Boot Polish Company. It was built in 1937 in the Ranelagh estate in Mt Eliza overlooking Port Phillip on a steep cliff side site and was one of a number of modernist houses built on the Mornington Peninsula during the middle part of the twentieth century which Robin Boyd cites as the testing ground innovation in domestic building in Victoria.

The Ramsay House is a small timber framed, weatherboard building with low pitched malthoid tiled gable roofs. The house follows a simple linear plan, one room wide, over three levels.

The Ramsay House is the last in a series of buildings influenced by Californian architect William Wurster designed by Grounds during the time he shared a practice with Geoffrey Mewton. Other Grounds buildings from this period, that share similar qualities, are Lyncroft (H1909), in Shoreham,1935; the house at Chateau Tahbilk (H0296), 1936 and the recently demolished Pirani House in Mt Eliza, 1936. These buildings introduced a form of modernism that articulated vernacular styling with a minimalist approach to detailing and ornament and the use and expression of natural materials. They were longitudinal in form and conformed to the topography of their sites which was expressed in split level planning and complex interlocking forms of various heights.

Grounds married Bettine Ramsay, in 1941 and eventually came to live in the house himself. The house was sold to Frederick Romberg in the 1950s and it was Romberg who extended the house to enclose the small ground level balcony that once opened off the upstairs bedroom.

How is it Significant?
The Ramsay House is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria

Why is it Significant?
The Ramsay House is of historical significance as one of a number of architecturally designed holiday houses built during the interwar period, reflecting Mt Eliza's popularity as a holiday destination for wealthy Melburnians who had access to a car. Many of these architectural designed houses are considered to be influential in the development of modern architecture in Victoria.

The Ramsay House is of historical significance for its associations with both Roy Grounds and Frederick Romberg.

The Ramsay House is of architectural significance for what is considered to be an influential example of the work of Roy Grounds.