Marsala House is a residential home in Dianella, in suburban

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, designed by architect

Iwan Iwanoff Iwan Iwanoff ( bg, Иван Иванов; 2 July 1919 – 7 October 1986) also known as Iwan Nickolow ( bg, Иван Николов) and Iwan Nickoloff Iwanoff ( bg, Иван Николов Иванов), born in Kyustendil, Bulgaria and died ...

. It is the youngest heritage-listed residence in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

concrete block A concrete masonry unit (CMU) is a standard-size rectangular block used in building construction. CMUs are some of the most versatile building products available because of the wide variety of appearances that can be achieved using them. Tho ...

home is considered "one of Perth's most iconic residences", and colloquially referred to as the "Dianella Disco House" due to its

checkerboard A checkerboard (American English) or chequerboard (British English; see spelling differences) is a board of checkered pattern on which checkers (also known as English draughts) is played. Most commonly, it consists of 64 squares (8×8) of altern ...

-patterned

illuminated dance floor An illuminated dance floor, LED dance floor or disco dance floor is a floor with panels or tiles that light up with different colours. They are used for dance. They were popularised for disco by the 1977 film '' Saturday Night Fever,'' which had ...

in a specialised

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

room.

Architecture

Marsala House is a rare example of expressionist architecture in Western Australia, designed in an interpretive

style by architect

. Marsala House demonstrates the new mass-produced materials commonly used during the 1960s and 1970s, such as concrete blocks, melamine laminates, and

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

. The house went through several iterations in the design phase. The exterior uses predominantly rectilinear, block-based geometries, while the interior references curvilinear forms. The house features a dedicated "

room" with a light-up floor and

Murano glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...

chandelier, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two bars, two sunken living rooms, and a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

Recognition

The

Heritage Council of Western Australia The Heritage Council of Western Australia is the Government of Western Australia agency created to identify, conserve and promote places of cultural heritage significance in the state. Prior to its creation, considerable variance in policy and ...

added Marsala House to the permanent Register of Heritage Places (#9917) in December 2009. The listing stated that the building is significant because it is "an intact and aesthetically exceptional example of a creatively designed residence constructed of concrete blockwork", "one of the finest residences designed by highly-regarded Western Australian architect, Iwan Iwanoff", and "highly valued...as evidenced through references to the house in numerous published works". The home was featured on '' Better Homes and Gardens''. Restoration work on Marsala House, conducted by Donaldson and Warn Architects, received the 2011 WA Heritage award for "outstanding conservation of a heritage project".

Ownership

Marsala House is named after Tina and Sergio Marsala, who commissioned Iwan Iwanoff to design their home in the 1970s. Different designs were proposed by Iwanoff between 1973 and 1975, with the design finalised in 1976. The Marsalas travelled extensively, and requested the addition of a disco room after visiting

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in the late 1970s. Christopher David Beer and Mark Etherton bought the home in 2005, and undertook conservation work. In 2012, the home was purchased by Perth street artist

Stormie Mills Stormie Mills (born 1969) is a street/ visual artist operating out of Perth, Western Australia. Mills' portfolio has been published in two books, ''Proximamente'' (2008) and ''Dwi Yma'' (2013). Life and career Mills was born in 1969 in Colwy ...

and his wife Melissa Lekias for AU$2.2 million. Marsala House was listed for sale in May 2021 with a pricing guide of AU$3+ million. Its online real estate listing was viewed over 10,000 times in the first four days. The house was relisted in November 2021, with a "high 2 millions" asking price and soon after sold for AU$2.8 million.

Architecture

Recognition

Ownership

References

Further reading