- Bunuromg Country -
Beaumaris Modern is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to celebrate, educate and promote public awareness of the importance of preserving the mid-century architecture of Beaumaris. The Bunurong people loved this land, they cared for it and considered themselves to be part of it. On the bay foreshore and in the surrounding sandbelt scrub, they would have subsisted with
an ample food source. Oysters as big as dinner plates, adundant fish in the shallows, numerous edible and medicinal plants and a wide variety of reptiles, birds and mammals would have supplied their needs. Jump forward to the mid 1950’s & much of the land in Beaumaris was owned by the Dunlop Rubber Company. Before the Second World War, Dunlop intended to relocate its Port Melbourne factory here, planning a ‘Garden City’ type housing development for its workers as well as a planned port for the shipping of its products. After the war the company decided to sell the land instead. So, unlike many other Melbourne suburbs that were developed much earlier, Beaumaris and its surrounding landscape survived with much of it untouched until the 1950′s. After the war, when houses were is short supply, Beaumaris started to be developed when there was a growing interest in modern architecture. Many people were attracted to the area for the natural vegetation, sandy tracks and interesting architecture. Many of the early residents were artists, actors, architects, writers or simply people wanting to live somewhere with natural beauty. By 1956 Beaumaris was credited as having the “Greatest concentration of interesting houses in the metropolitan area”. (Royal Institute of Architects ‘Guide to Victorian Architecture’ written in 1956 for the occasion of the Olympic Games). Many Victorian architects now well known for their work in Australia and internationally, designed their first houses in Beaumaris. These architectural luminaries include: Peter McIntyre, Grounds Romberg & Boyd, McGlashan & Everist, Mockridge Stahle & Mitchell, Chancellor & Patrick, Yuncken Freeman, John Baird, Neil Clerehan, Douglas Alexandra, and Anatol Kagan. Houses designed by architects in the 50’s, 60’s and 70′s in Beaumaris were adventurous and experimental. Features included the ‘Stegbar Window’ wall designed by Architect Robin Boyd and manufactured by Stegbar, usually with a northerly orientation, this large wall of of windows not only allowed natural light and sun in winter but delightful garden views. Other features included flat roofs, skillion roofs, wide eaves, vertical and horizontal weatherboards, modular proportions, open planning and garages and carports placed at the side of the house to allow for the window wall. Numerous examples can still be seen throughout Beaumaris, many of these houses are ‘one offs’ and irreplaceable in history. These houses are important for future generations to understand where Australia’s modern movement began and where perhaps for the first time in our history, Australia began to develop its own distinct style of architecture suited to our climate and natural environment.
