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KURING-GAI
Other NamesKUR-ING-GAI , MAJELLAN HOUSE , CARR HOUSE Location257 ST KILDA STREET BRIGHTON, BAYSIDE CITY LevelRegistered |
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Statement of Significance
What is significant?
The mansion, known as Kuring-gai and later Majellan House, as designed by the architect Cedric H Ballantyne for William and Florence Carr and constructed in 1923-24 along the
foreshore in Brighton. The significance lies in the residence itself (exterior and interior) and its landscaped setting. Significant elements include (but are not restricted to):
foreshore in Brighton. The significance lies in the residence itself (exterior and interior) and its landscaped setting. Significant elements include (but are not restricted to):
- The relationship of the residence within its formal landscaped surrounds and bayside location
- Overall form and footprint of the building and general internal layout
- Distinctive and intact 1920s internal elements, such as the floorboards, granolithic/terrazzo and tiled surfaces, coffered and decorative plaster ceilings, cornices, joinery, the main and secondary staircase, fireplaces (including the inglenook), timber panelling and joinery, built in timber furniture, doors, bathroom fittings and fixtures, and the staff indicator board (kitchen)
- Landscape elements and layout associated with the place's formative phase, including the stone entrance piers, circular carriageway, northern driveway, paving, basalt retaining walls, the southern and rear sunken garden, and some mature exotic trees.
How is it significant?
Kuring-gai is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the VHR:
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects
Criterion A
Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.
Criterion D
Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects
Why is it significant?
Kuring-gai is historically significant for its clear association with mansion development in 1920s Victoria. It is notable as a residential design by the highly regarded architect Cedric H Ballantyne. The lifestyle and tastes of its affluent original occupants are demonstrated through Kuring-gai's impressive scale, landscaped and bayside surrounds, and largely intact 1920s interior. The built and garden character of the place was celebrated in The Australian Home Beautiful – an important architectural periodical – around the time of its construction and in subsequent editions (the mid-1960s and mid-1990s). This coverage reflected continued broader awareness of the place and provides ample evidence of its high level of integrity. Such evidence, alongside tangible elements, allows the historical associations of Kuring-gai to be understood and appreciated with greater clarity than in other equivalent places. [Criterion A]
Kuring-gai is architecturally significant as a substantial, fine and remarkably intact example of an interwar mansion. The design illustrates – at a grand level – Ballantyne's careful eclectic approach, which during the 1920s drew from multiple then popular stylistic sources. The outcome is a striking residence with a prevailing North American bungalow character, unusual for a two-storey building in Victoria, which is combined with a general Arts & Crafts Movement character as well as Georgian Revival and Spanish Mission/Mediterranean influences. The interior is also closely considered and lavishly finished, accentuating the place's prestigiousness and further distinguishing it from other examples of its class. Kuring-gai is complemented by its siting within formally landscaped grounds that retain several original or early features. [Criterion D]
Kuring-gai is architecturally significant as a substantial, fine and remarkably intact example of an interwar mansion. The design illustrates – at a grand level – Ballantyne's careful eclectic approach, which during the 1920s drew from multiple then popular stylistic sources. The outcome is a striking residence with a prevailing North American bungalow character, unusual for a two-storey building in Victoria, which is combined with a general Arts & Crafts Movement character as well as Georgian Revival and Spanish Mission/Mediterranean influences. The interior is also closely considered and lavishly finished, accentuating the place's prestigiousness and further distinguishing it from other examples of its class. Kuring-gai is complemented by its siting within formally landscaped grounds that retain several original or early features. [Criterion D]
Group
Religion
Category
Religious housing