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CLUB SECRETARY'S HOUSE (FORMER) & GARDEN

Other Name

Moonee Valley Racecourse, Moonee Valley Racing Club

Location

cnr. MCPHERSON STREET and THOMAS STREET, MOONEE PONDS, MOONEE VALLEY CITY

Level

Incl in HO area indiv sig

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MVRC Club Secretary's House
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Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The former Club Secretary's House, situated at the northwest corner of the Moonee Valley Racecourse, adjacent to the corner of Thomas and McPherson Streets, designed by the architect, E.F. Billson, and built in 1937 is significant. The two-storey brick house is designed in a hybrid style of Moderne (Art Deco) and Modern detailing. The mature garden setting, generally laid out in accordance with a plan by eminent garden designer Edna Walling, and the perimeter brick wall, arealso significant.

How is it significant?
The former Club Secretary's House and its garden and perimeter brick wallare of aesthetic, architectural and historic significance to City of Moonee Valley.

Why is it significant?
The former Club Secretary's House is historically and architecturally significant as a residence purpose-built for racecourse officials, built as one of a number of works to modernise the racecourse during the Inter-war period. The Club Secretary's House is notable as the most intact of these works. It is of historical significance for its association with the Cox family, and for its use as the Club Secretary's House. Although it is situated away from the main complex of buildings, its connection with the racecourse is demonstrated by the orientation of its primary (east) facade towards the course, with its racing-themed details and its balconies. (Criteria A, D & H)

The former Club Secretary's House and garden is aesthetically significant as a fine example of an inter-war house and garden. The house is an example of the transitory character of design by the mid 1930s, where buildings were influenced by the arrival of Modernism in Australia only a few years before. However, this Modern-style is diluted with styles, forms and detailing that are more traditional in the Australian context. In this instance, due to the deep eaves of the house and its recessive low-pitched hip roof, from many vantage points it appears to have a flat roof. This characteristic, combined with its cubic massing and strips of steel frame windows on the ground floor, make the Modernist influence more dominant in the design. The garden designed by Edna Walling is notable for the distinctive built and landscape elements that are typical of the work of Walling. The semi-formal layout with defined 'rooms' and features such as the stone pathways, steps and low gardens walls, plantings including some 'blossom trees' (Crab Apples, Malus sp.) along the south boundary, 'evergreens' (Lilly Pilly, Acmena smithii or Syzygium leuhmanniii) along the west boundary, and two large Liquidambars (Liquidambar styraciflua) on the east lawn all enclosed by a high brick wall is characteristic of Walling's work. An inter-war house and garden of this quality is uncommon in this part of Melbourne, and more akin to the house and gardens designed for the wealthy in Toorak and South Yarra. (Criterion E)

The former Club Secretary's House is historically significant as an example of the work of the architect E.F. Billson. Billson had a prolific career, and in addition to Club Secretary's House and other structures built at Moonee Valley, he is recognized as one of the foremost exponents of Moderne architecture in Melbourne. The associated garden is historically significant as an example of the work of the important garden designer Edna Walling (1896-1973). Walling had a prolific career throughout Victoria, and this is the only known example of her work in the City of Moonee Valley. (Criterion H)

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