Australian homes have either stood the test of time or become eyesores in a matter of years due to their ability to either blend or jar with their surrounding environment, an urban planning expert says.
Modernist houses built in the 1950s and 1960s blended in with the block of land without visually taking it over, unlike many oversized contemporary homes of today, known unkindly as ‘the McMansion’.
From the Californian bungalow to the brick house with big timber windows, post-war homes with a backyard are still sought after, especially ones with an American influence from the era of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe.
They are more common in the middle-ring suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, where bushland was cleared to build houses for married war veterans and their young children – now regarded as retirement-age baby boomers.
Dr Tony Matthews, an urban planning lecturer at Griffith University in Brisbane, said these houses built after the war, when more people could afford a car, have aged well.
‘They’re more low profile in many ways, they’re less imposing,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Australia’s post-war architectural style of house has stood the test of time because it wasn’t imposing, an urban planning expert says. Modernist houses built in the 1950s and 1960s blended in with the block of land without visually taking over the block of land (pictured is a house at The Gap in Brisbane’s inner west)
‘They’re designed to not draw overt attention to themselves, they’re designed largely to sit within their context and not be overbearing.
‘They’re usually fairly sympathetic to their site. There was a restraint around a lot of them, if you like.’
These are the houses that were built in Sydney and Melbourne’s new suburbs after the war, when Australia was home to less than 10million people compared with almost 26million now.
Urban sprawl in more recent decades, as a result of high immigration and population growth, means these areas less than 20km from the city would be regarded as middle-distance suburbs.
Brisbane also had some of these newer houses as builders, moving for work, put up houses better suited to colder temperatures than the sub-tropics, where the timber Queenslander house had been more common.
‘The modernist look in Australian suburban architecture seems to be one of the ones that maintains its popularity and its resonance with certain people, and it’s readily identifiable and quite widely celebrated,’ Dr Matthews said.
The Australian style of house from that era also took its cues from California, where the modernist style was in vogue.
‘California went in for modernism in a big way about the same time parts of Los Angeles, Palm Springs, which all came from that fifties and sixties era,’ Dr Matthews said.
‘We borrowed that from them.’
Dr Tony Matthews, an urban planning lecturer at Griffith University in Brisbane, said these houses built after the war, when more people could afford a car, had aged well (pictured is a house at Hornsby on Sydney’s upper north shore)
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Dr Matthews was less kind about the modern big house on a small block almost touching the side fence, colloquially known as the ‘McMansion’, which continue to be popular in Australian suburbs.
These larger styles – often encompassing five or six bedrooms and huge double garages – are more prevalent in the newer, outer suburbs, but are also creeping into more established suburbs as older homes are knocked down.
He said they dated quickly because of their failure to blend in with the surrounding environment.
‘There are certain ways to make sure a building ages quickly and badly and one of them is for it to be very much out of context with its setting, dominating its site, being much larger than the things around it,’ he said.
‘All of these features can limit the use-by date of a building aesthetically.
‘A lot of the McMansions that get built these days are just so unappealing to look at and so out of context for their setting that they will date very quickly, at least from an aesthetic point of view.’
These are the houses that were built in Sydney and Melbourne’s new suburbs after the war, when Australia was home to less than 10million people compared with 25million now (pictured is a kitchen in a house at Glen Waverley in Melbourne’s south-east)
Austrian-born architect Harry Seidler’s modernist look during the 1950s showcased the beauty of simple, flowing lines and a flat roof that complemented the landscape without dominating it.
Rose Seidler House typified the minimalist style when it was built in 1950, at Wahroonga on Sydney’s upper north shore.
The home, named after the late architect’s mother, had been built for his parents Rose and Max, with its bold yet understated design.
But sadly, Dr Matthews said heritage values were under threat as more home owners knocked down old houses and put up a bigger new one, which is much cheaper than renovating a post-war house.
Austrian-born architect Harry Seidler’s modernist look during the 1950s showcased the beauty of simple, flowing lines and a flatter roof that complemented the landscape without dominating it. Rose Seidler House (pictured) typified the minimalist style when it was built in 1950, at Wahroonga on Sydney’s upper north shore, and named after the late architect’s mother
‘The threat comes from the market itself, making it less attractive to hold on to heritage buildings,’ he said.
‘The number one thing that has increased over the decades, in terms of Australian families’ priorities around home ownership or home size, is they want bigger.’
Australia’s average new house built in 2019-20 during the early stages of the pandemic was 235.8 square metres, CommSec data commissioned from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed, making them marginally larger than the typical American home at 233.1 square metres.
Those willing to renovate a post-war modernist house were more likely to be enthusiasts.
‘What tends to happen with a lot of modernist architecture in Australia, a lot of it gets taken on by people who are passionate about the style and they protect it themselves,’ Dr Matthews said.
