''Model Brick Home'' is the name, for heritage-listing purposes, of a brick-and-tile house in Floreat,

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 ...

. Designed by H. Howard Bonner in 1932, the plans won a competition for the design of an ideal cheap modern brick home; and the house was subsequently built on donated land, from donated materials and labour in 1934.

Style and condition

It is a single-storey rendered brick-and-tile home built in a simplified Inter-War Old English

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style, with

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

influences. The most distinctive architectural feature is the curved roof. The house and gardens have both been modified extensively since the house was built, so its authenticity today is only moderate.

History

In the 1930s,

Royal Australian Institute of Architects (United we advance architecture) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , extinction = , status = Professional body; members association , headquarters = L1/41 Exhibition St, Melbourne , leader_title = CEO , leader_ ...

established a Building Revival Campaign, aimed at stimulating the home building industry, which, like all industries, was suffering the effects of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The campaign decided to run a competition for the best design for an ideal cheap modern timber house, and similarly for a brick house. The winner of the brick house section was the simplified Old English style design of H. Howard Bonner, from which ''Model Brick Home'' would be built. Following the competition, the campaign sought donations of land, materials and labour, so that houses might be constructed from winning designs. A number of offers of land were made, and RIA ended up accepting an offer of two blocks in the first subdivision of the new suburb of Floreat Park (now Floreat). ''Model Brick Home'' was built on one of these blocks in 1934.

Heritage significance

The building is significant as one of a small number of architect-designed buildings of the time; and as one of the first houses built in Floreat. Also, since Floreat was one of the first Perth suburbs built according to the principles of the

garden city movement The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and ...

, the entire streetscape has significance as one of the first in Perth to be subject to planning regulations controlling urban design criteria such as setback.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Model Brick Home State Register of Heritage Places in the Town of Cambridge Houses completed in 1934 Houses in Western Australia Tudor Revival architecture Mediterranean Revival architecture 1934 establishments in Australia

Style and condition

History

Heritage significance

References

See also

External links