Filigree Architecture

Filigree architecture is a modern term given to a phase in the history of Australian architecture. The phase was an embellishment of the "Australian verandah tradition", where the verandah evolved from its functional usages in the Old Colonial period to become highly ornamental.

The filigree style was a vernacular tradition of buildings possessing prominent verandahs that screened the facade, cloaking the exterior in an ornamental veil that obscured the rest of building. On filigree-style buildings, the verandah was the main visual element. The name "filigree" refers to the intricate texture of this screen-like verandah, which was often perforated to let air and light pass through, creating dazzling displays of shadows.

In the Victorian era, the style exploded into popularity. Double and triple-storey verandahs lined the main streets, with some rare examples reaching up to four storeys. Victorian Filigree-style verandahs were made almost exclusively from cast iron, and their delicate appearance gave rise to the term: ''"cast iron lacework"''. In the Federation era, the style evolved into the Federation Filigree style, when timber eclipsed cast iron as the material of choice, and the shape and form of the verandah became more novel.Apperly, Irving, & Reynolds (1994), pg 108-111

The style was mainly popularised by speculative builders, but it also did not have a class consciousness, being used both on humble workers cottage developments, as well as by prominent commercial architects such as Richard Gailey and Andrea Stombuco. Neither was it reserved for a single setting, being used in domestic, commercial, and governmental settings,Apperly, Irving, & Reynolds (1994), pg 63 becoming particularly well associated with the Australian terrace house, and the Australian verandah'd pub.Turner (1885), pg 115-136

These strong associations have led to the filigree style being "regarded as distinctly Australian." And while both ornamental cast iron and verandahs can be found elsewhere in the world, Australia possesses a unique interpretation of the design and form of this style, as well as a prevalence unseen elsewhere.

Terminology History

"Filigree" was first proposed as a style descriptor by architectural historian Richard Apperly, and was popularised in A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Styles and Terms from 1788 to the Present''' (1989) by Richard Apperly, Robert Irving & Peter Reynolds. With the book, they attempted to establish a series of guidelines governing Australian architectural styles. Australian architectural history was split into six distinct, chronological eras: Old Colonial; Victorian; Federation; Inter-War; Post-War; and Late-Twentieth Century.

A particular focus of Apperly, Irving, & Reynolds was recognising unique, Australian trends that had so far been unrecognised in academia. They coined the term "Filigree" to describe the prevalence of buildings possessing prominent verandah and balcony structures that dominate the facade, hiding the building's external walls behind an intricately-textured verandah screen that subsumed the building.Apperly, Irving, & Reynolds (1994), pg 60 The name "filigree" refers to the intricate texture of the balustrades, columns, brackets and freizes that made up that verandah screen, which was often perforated to let air and light pass through. This lacy, filigree screen was designed to stand proud of the mass of the main building, creating an in-between space that was both public and private.

Apperly, Irving, & Reynolds divided Filigree architecture into two main phases. Victorian Filigree described architecture with a visually dominant verandah or balcony constructed during the Victorian era between – . The primary verandah construction material in this era was cast iron, often referred to as ''"cast iron lacework"'' .E. G. Robertson (1962), pg 5 Federation Filigree describes the continuation of this verandah tradition into the Federation era ( – ). In this period cast iron (though still in usage) was eclipsed by the demand for novel, naturalised materials such as timber and hand-worked wrought iron.

Verandah structures and decorative cast iron were common components of Victorian and Federation architecture, and the prevalence of these components on Italianate, Gothic, and Second Empire styled buildings indicates their popularity at the time. However their presence did not necessarily characterise a building as being of the filigree style, this term being reserved for buildings whereby the lacework verandah is the main external design feature.

Origins

The first verandah structures built by European colonisers were ''bungalow-type'' buildings perhaps inspired by examples found in other parts of the British Empire through the connection of military officers who had served in India and North America.Miles Lewis, ‘10.02.1 The Verandah in Australia’, in The Culture of Australian Building ynamic web publication as at April 2023 The Lieutenant Governor, Major Francis Grose had served in North America during the War of Independence and likely would have encountered the verandah during his time there. In 1893, Grose added a verandah to the frontage of the house in which he was residing. Later, during Grose's tenure as governor a single storey verandah was added along the front of Government House, and in 1802 it was extended along the side of the new eastern additions. Captain John Macarthur and his wife Elizabeth built their farmhouse at Parramatta in 1894 with a verandah running along the northern aspect overlooking the river. The verandah in this early period often acted as an external passageway, serving as the access point to rooms which did not connect to each other internally. Most crucially, the verandah also served to protect against both harsh sun and torrential rain.
Early double-storey verandahs were often constructed out timber and stone, such as the ''" Rum Hospital"'' (c.1810-1816), which ran in a long ribbon along a prominent ridgeline on the eastern fringe of Sydney. Another prominent early example of the style was the quadruple-storeyed ''Royal Hotel'' on George Street, Sydney (c.1840), whose heavy, towering appearance was much remarked upon by visitors. In 1841, Samuel Lyons, a successful auctioneer and former convict, built the masionistic ''Lyons Terrace'' overlooking Hyde Park. It was one of the first terraces which had raised party walls that projected above the roofline, as required by the Building Act 1837, which had been passed by the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales three years earlier. Lyons Terrace was three storeys, with a long double-storey verandah draped in cast ironwork running along the breadth of it. It was a humongous and marvelous building, and it obviously had an effect on the young city. It was repeatedly painted and photographed by locals and visitors alike, and curiously, time and time again it is marked in maps of the city, as if considered a landmark. The double-storey verandah of Como, South Yarra (1847) is of unusual design, consisting of spiked fence railings. On '' Strickland House'', Vaucluse

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