Milston House

6 Reeves Court was designed by Ernest Edward Milston as his own house in 1955. The dwelling and garage are significant to the City of Boroondara.

How is it significant?

Milston House is of historical, architectural, and associative significance to the City of Boroondara.

Why is it significant?

6 Reeves Court is of historical significance as it demonstrates the period of development of Kew, when architects were drawn to the Studley Park area to construct their own homes.

The dwelling is aesthetically important as the work of an influential architect who worked in both the International Style and the Melbourne Regional style. The house and its response to the landscape and climate demonstrate the ways the International style was adapted to by Melbourne architects to become a distinct style. (Criterion A)

6 Reeves Court is an intact example of a Kew Émigré House designed by Ernest Milston. It is illustrative of the patterns of migration and the influence of European ideas in the period following the Second World War. Émigré architects like Milston brought European Modernism with them to Australia from the late 1930s. The houses they produced challenged prevailing sensibilities; they had low-pitch or skillion roofs, large expanses of modular glazing. Melbourne's émigré houses heavily influenced the development of the Melbourne Regional style. (Criterion D)

The Milston House is a rare, intact survivor of the works of Ernest Milston, an influential architect in both Melbourne and the Czech Republic. Milston's work was widely recognised. His Australian projects included the 1939-45 Forecourt at the Shrine of Remembrance. He worked with Don Hendry Fulton to design the Queensland mining town of Mary Kathleen before focusing on residential work, often for his émigré friends, like Dr. Meyer and artist Louis Kahan; he designed homes for both in Boroondara. (Criterion H)

Group

Residential buildings (private)

Category

Residence