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Finlay House

Location

105 Kangaroo Ground Road,, WARRANDYTE VIC 3113 - Property No B7291

File Number

B7291

Level

Regional

Statement of Significance

What is Significant? The Finlay House was designed by Robin Boyd in 1952 and completed in 1953 for Keith Finlay.
The house is a small structure with a formal, symmetrical expression in both plan and elevation. It has an expressed timber frame comprising four bays and two sets of cross beams supporting a 'W' profile metal clad roof. The house is sited on a slope with its back to the road, facing down the slope towards the north. Two water collection tanks are buried behind the house in an embankment in the street setback.
Though reported to have been burnt down in the 1962 bushfires in some journals, the building still stands and appears to be in fair condition.
The house has undergone a series of internal and exterior alterations, including a substantial addition to the south-east side of the house.
How is it significant? The Finlay House is significant for architectural and historic reasons at a Regional level.
Why is it significant? Finlay House is historically significant for its association with Robin Boyd, Australia's most prominent architectural critic and writer of the 1950's and 1960's, and one of its foremost architects.
The house is architecturally significant as one of a number of important structually experimental works from the early post WW2 period. The house demonstrates Boyd's interest in low cost housing, structural innovation (despite the constraints of post-war materials shortages) visible expression of structure, openness to nature and water conservation.
Classified: 26/07/2008

Group