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Quamby

Location

3 Glover Court,, TOORAK VIC 3142 - Property No B5285

File Number

B5285

Level

State

Statement of Significance

A house and flats designed in 1940-1 by Roy (later Sir Roy) Grounds, completed in 1942 and frequently published as a representative Australian building, here and overseas. Quamby had a direct influence on Australian architects' use of regional forms during the 1940s and 1950s. Though affected by overseas design, particularly that of California, Grounds blended this outstandingly with Australian references to early Colonial architecture and terrace housing. These are carried through in door and window proportions, balustrading and projecting walls and they give Quamby an "urban" character not widely matched for many years.
Quamby was an individual and accomplished solution to extraordinary site problems, using radii and arcs, which became dominant themes in Ground's later designs.
At least one interior is still intact and the flats have some of Australia's first linked kitchen and living spaces. Their plain wooden fitting and quiet colour was an early and isolated move away from contemporary interest in conspicuously industrialised detail.
Classified: 07/02/1985

Group