The renowned Victorian architect, author, critic, and public educator, Robin Boyd was at the forefront of the Australian modernist architecture movement of the 50s and 60s. Often outspoken and critical, his 1960 book The Australian Ugliness, spoke derisively of featurism, that is, ornament for the sake of ornament.
Doing away with all extraneous details, his buildings conveyed a robust simplicity of line, strengthening architectural elements were allowed, but for the most part are absolutely minimal in design. That said, the inclusion of sculpturally formed furnishings such as Boyd’s own designs, (now beautifully reissued as the Boyd Collection (K5 Furniture) and showcased in the Australian Embassy, Washington DC by Bates Smart), as well as work by Mary and Grant Featherston, BFK butter fly chairs, Thonet and Bertoia set within his homes as statement pieces.
Art too was very much in the allowed camp with work by Asher Bilu, Arthur Boyd, Dorothy Braund, Kevin Connor, Don Laycock, and Tony Woods clearly celebrated. As such, Australian Galleries was a considered and appropriate choice for Clair Geddes’ impeccable art and furniture curation of Wildwood. “I wanted a contemporary take with a mix of emerging and established artists and designers that weren’t era specific, but added to the original ideals of how a Boyd house works.”
Stuart Purvis, director of Australian Galleries, is no stranger to Robin Boyd with his parents commissioning a home twice, after the first burned down, and Stuart commissioning a renovation of one of his first homes, “I find it delightful that there is youthful interest in classic architecture and that someone like Veeral and Onisha, can’t believe their luck in finding a Robin Boyd house that has given them such joy and is part of Australia’s history.”
Having seen the house on a facebook chat about mid-century houses, Veeral Patel, who was recovering from a virus at the time, nonetheless set out with Dr Onisha Patel to have a look, but they couldn’t see the house from the street. A week later when it was open for inspection he was is New Zealand, but Onisha was able to go and immediately told him to come back so they could make an offer.
Warm and generous with their purchase, Veeral and Onisha immediately set about contacting Open House Melbourne and this year welcomed sixty people in to their home, “It was raining torrentially and the weather report said 90% chance of more rain, I was gutted, but on the day, they all came,” says Veeral who is clearly delighted that the showing attracted interstate and international interest. “Everyone was excited – they were all interested and some only knew me from Instagram. A lady came in and she and her dad have developed Vermont Weebly over the years, gathered information about Vermont famous homes. They helped me build my own story for the tour groups so I was blown away to meet them.”
Since then, another hundred people have made contact requesting access to the home, which had never previously been publicly shown. New dates are currently being negotiated with Open House Melbourne. Veeral has also had been contacted by Jock Noble, the eldest son of the original owners, who was happy to share insights into life around the home and the location of the original horse stables.
When asked what spoke to him most, Veeral back tracks to a talk given by Rosa Coy about the Berkley Dobson House by Coy Yontis, “What she said about view-lines resonated, it always stuck with me, and I could see how they worked with Wildwood where all the views are into trees or gardens.”
The house is now heritage listed, which Veeral praises as foundational to the architecture remaining authentic to intent, “I am happy with it, if you didn’t have the restriction it could have been ruined”, has however, had some alterations. Chief amongst these was the removal of a central courtyard that was causing issues of rising damp. Following extensive remedial excavations, a swimming pool and two underground water tanks were added. In 2001 a subdivision altered the approach to the house and the public entrance, which had never been used was converted to a laundry. More recently crazy paving was added, but feels right with the home.
The most recent previous owners, Stephen Nee and Marja Wondergem, are warmly praised for their upkeep, including accessing original Boyd documents and matching his original material and paint specifications. As such no additional work is needed to conserve the house. The home will however, undertake a program of improvements; double glazing and solar will be added while gas is removed. “The local council is over-the-moon that we are taking these steps to modernise the house” says Veeral.
Light and view filled the house spans out as two wings from a central hub with windows placed to maximise northern light throughout the home, “It’s such a nice house to come home to look at, and mind-blowing how the light filters through the entire house, ‘the boys wing’, which is the southern wing has light on a winter’s day that is just gorgeous” says Veeral.
Veeral recalls having a conversation with Albert Mo, some time back, where Albert was excited to share the joy he experienced with his own Pater McIntyre mid-century home. True to Veeral’s warm nature, he candidly states, “I remember wishing I had a mid-century house I could speak so happily about.” As such, it is a house that embodies dreams and wishes where, as Stuart Purvis puts it, “A house like this captures the best of the earth”, Boyd’s exemplar understanding of how a house can work with nature is at its best. And it is this element that Veeral finds most rewarding as a lived experience of the home, “I love the sunlight, seeing how the dogs (Cipo and Hachi) use the house gives me such joy, they follow the sun and track it all through the house from the mid-section connecting the pavilions, to the kitchen, then to the lounge. Or seeing them go into the southern pavilion to run amok, I just love seeing them in the house.”
Next up: Sitting prettily sequestered in the mountains of New Zealand