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Salter House

Location 16 Glyndebourne Avenue, TOORAK VIC 3142 - Property No B1386 File Number B1386 Level State

[1/2] B1386 Salter House, Toorak [2/2] B1386 Salter House 16

Statement of Significance

The Salter House, designed by renowned architect Walter Burley Griffin and completed in 1924 is of architectural and historical importance at the State level.

The house is a rare surviving example of a work by Walter Burley Griffin, one of Australia's most original and fascinating architects. It is one of the more intact, and largest surviving of his 'knitlock' houses, constructed using his unique concrete block construction system. The most innovative feature is the incorporation of a central enclosed courtyard as the focus of the living spaces and circulation, not seen in Australian architecture up to that time.

The building's position at the rear of the block articulates Griffin's regard for the relationship between the building and the landscape, though unfortunately the extensive front garden area, once planted with native trees and featuring a curved drive lined with rocks, has been replaced by a second house on the site.