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The single-storey Federation style brick villa at No. 179 Kooyong Road, Toorak. Externally it is a reasonably early example of the Federation style, the development of which, from the 1880s, was interrupted by the 1890s Depression, and appears to be a highly intact and competent example.

The interiors are most likely to be highly intact similarly to the abutting houses. Interiors of this era are less numerous and are consequently rarer than Victorian interiors, moreover highly intact ones.

On stylistic and historical grounds it is almost certainly a private commission undertaken by Public Works Department architect Samuel Edward Bindley for his later brother-in-law Walter Murray Buntine.

Elements which are not of any significance are the front fence and gates, rear addition and structures abutting the rear boundary.

No. 179 Kooyong Road, Toorak is of local historical and aesthetic/architectural significance.

Historically the subdivision and Walter Murray Buntine's houses are demonstrative of an early subdivision of part of one of the mansion estates, a phase of development which became widespread in the twentieth century and which lead to the breaking up and demolition of almost all of the great mansions which characterised the prestigious nature of the area. The private subdivision of the land from 'Ottawa' by Charles Officer, James Grice and Walter Murray Buntine, all prominent Melburnians, was one of the first expressions of the subdivision of the large estates and by the owner as compared more typically by development company. It is also a rare, almost unique, example of a villa development in the 1890s in this area where and when the mansions still dominated.

It is also an example of a standard of accommodation appropriate for the gentleman class in an area which was dominated by the mansions of the super-rich.

It is also almost the last vestige of the late nineteenth century in Kooyong Road between Malvern and Toorak Roads and the immediate environs which were dominated by mansions and which is recalled in real-time by James Paxton.

The architectural characteristics visibly displayed and which probably exist at No. 179 Kooyong Road accord with the principal characteristics of the Federation style. Similarly to No. 177 Kooyong Road, the design of this house appears to be a well resolved and carefully designed composition which compares well with relevant examples in Stonnington. It is of a calibre which is indicative of a professional hand (architect) and it is probably the work of Samuel Edward Bindley, and a rare example of his domestic work in an oeuvre domination by schools, barracks and other public buildings.

The interiors of the original portion of the house are probably original and intact. Given that many examples of Federation villas which are comparable externally have had their interiors modernised, such interiors are quite rare and there is potential to yield further information about historical decorative schemes of the Federation style, about which comparatively little is known presently.

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

House