Cluden Architectural Trail Walk (Brighton)

Walk Summary:

Start: 38 Black Street, Brighton
Distance: 2.7 kilometres
Walking Time: About 45 minutes
Undulations: Gentle to moderate undulations

Trail directions:

1. Spurling House
Address: 38 Black St, Brighton
Style: Arts & Crafts
Architect: John Horbury Hunt
Date: 1888

The Spurling House is the only known Melbourne design by Sydney based architect John Horbury Hunt, who was a figure of controversy in his time due to his innovative and daring new designs, and abrupt personality (he was equally famous for this!). The house is renowned for being ahead of its time: houses of similar style weren't seen in Melbourne until the 1910s and 1920s, and even in Horbury Hunt's native USA this level of compositional skill was uncommon in the 1880s.

The Spurling House is an American 'Shingle Style'- influenced dwelling, with a large slated symmetric gable roof dominating the side elevations. Its brick forms and timber shingled surfaces are composed to heighten the material's natural qualities. This is the first of Horbury Hunt's houses to fully explore the Shingle Style. The internal layout was also radical with the kitchen placed to the front to get the morning sun. Other name: Purlo

2. Residence
Address: 7 Bleazby Ave, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architect: John Tallis of A Projects
Date: 2005

Designed by architect John Tallis as his family home, 7 Bleazby Avenue is unlike any other house in Brighton. Tallis wanted to simplify the design to represent his family's lifestyle. He felt that an ensuite for every bedroom was ridiculously extravagant. It was also important for Tallis that the house make as little footprint as possible on the site. All roof surfaces collect rainwater, which is stored in tanks under the house. Grey water is used on site to water the mostly Australian native garden.

The philosophy behind the corrugated iron is that it wraps the inside spaces, as if protecting the family, with the timber-clad forms inside this metal skin. The previous house on the property was relocated and is now in Swan Hill.

3. Heazelwood
Address: 66 Wilson St, Brighton
Style: Queen Anne, Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1891

Built as a residence for Brighton's Health Officer, Cornelius Casey M.D., Heazelwood was one of many Victorian era houses in the Brighton area to adopt elements of the Queen Anne style, such as terracotta ridge capping over slate tiles and turned timber verandah posts. Casey's grandson, Richard Gavan Casey (1890-1976) was to become Governor-General of Australia in 1965.

With intricate lead lighting and low cream brick arches over the windows, Heazelwood has numerous delicate features and is a good example of the shift from Victorian towards Queen Anne style. The verandah wraps around the northeast and north-west sides of the building - it must have been an amazing view from the upper level one hundred years ago.

In 1918, Heazelwood was acquired by the Anglican Sisters of the Holy Name and became a residence for neglected children and babies. It was sold in 1984, becoming a private residence once again.

4. Billilla
Address: 26 Halifax St, Brighton
Style: Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, Neo Classical
Architects: Unknown (1878), Smith & Johnson (1888), Walter Butler (1907)
Date: 1878, 1888, 1907

Robert Wright, a successful miner from the Ballarat goldfields, built the first stage of this house, then became bankrupt the next year. The bank held the property for a time and eventually it was sold to William Weatherly, who had made his fortune as an original shareholder in BHP, in 1888. Weatherly named the house Billilla at that time. Architect Walter Richmond Butler extensively remodelled the house for Weatherly in 1907, adding rooms on three sides and the obligatory tower in an Art Nouveau style with classical references. It is one of the few buildings with extensive decoration in this style in Victoria. Bought in 1973 by Brighton City Council from the Weatherly family, Billilla is now a function and community/educational venue.

Many elements of the house, especially the windows, balustrades and column capitals, have the typically curving Art Nouveau decorations set against plain walls. The perforated and balustered parapets that hide the roof behind are gracefully detailed. Many of the rooms are quite grand, with timber-panelled walls and fine Art Nouveau detailing.

5. Marathon & Narbethong
Address: 166-168 Church St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1890

Narbethong (no. 166) and Marathon (no.168) were rumoured to be built for two sisters. There are only a few two-storey semi-detached residences in Brighton (see also 4-6 Normanby Street), and these are a sophisticated example of the Italianate style. In the late nineteenth century, paired houses were almost always built in the form of terraces; however, this unusual pair was built to look like one large mansion. It is easy to imagine the sisters on each side.

Beautiful blue and violet lead lighting and intricate cast-iron lacework are features of this pair. In the early twentieth century both were used as schools, Narbethong being a girls school. From the 1920s to 1970s they became four flats and an exterior staircase was added for separate access to the second storey; this was removed in 1976.

Marathon is believed to have a ghost walking the halls.

6. Marama
Address: 161 Church St, Brighton
Style: Queen Anne, Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1885

This imposing house has many similar features to Kiora on South Rd, Brighton, and so may be by the same local architect, John Russell Brown. The various sections of the house have distinctive complex roofs, with hipped gable ends, supported at the eaves line on paired timber brackets, and the tower has a mansarded French Second Empire-style roof. These features are similar to the American Queen Anne of that time, a style typical of Victorian-era San Francisco houses (though these are timber).

Built by successful Melbourne stationer Alfred Harston as a family residence, the house features a tower with a 'widow's walk' (the topmost lookout), a term that conjures images of the wife of a sea captain who would watch hopefully for her husband's return. The construction is predominantly Hawthorn brick with polychrome detailing. Marama's large size and elaborate architectural style captures the wealth of the boom before the 1890s Depression.

In 1904, the property was known as Hartsyde.

7. Wilton
Address: 167 Church St, Brighton
Style: Queen Anne, Gothic Revival
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1886

Wilton's asymmetrical facade is emphasised by a two storey cast-iron verandah containing Gothic motifs in its lacework. There is notable attention to detail in the design, with delicate leadlight windows and a keystone in the arch above the entrance.

Positioned proudly on the Church Street hill, the house seems to have a church-like quality to the layout, with its low pointed-arch Gothic windows and prominent gables.Window openings are emphasised by dark brick bands, which also occur across the facade. The tower, with its pair of vertical windows and pointed roof, is the most prominent element.

From 1900-07, Emma A'Beckett (1838-1906) lived in this grand house. She was a member of one of Brighton's most notable families and grandmother to Martin, Penleigh and Merric Boyd. Other name: Calabria

8. Munro's Buildings
Address: 76-90 Church St, Brighton
Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1888-89

Munro's Buildings consist of seven two-storey rendered brick shops, with a central laneway. Four shops were built first in 1888 by property developer David Munro; however, they were leased quickly and the next year another three were built. The original shop fronts have all been altered, but the facades of the upper level remain intact.

The most unusual feature is the row of pediments to each shop, which are curved and then 'broken' by an almost circular cut-out, in the Mannerist manner. With the large curved pediment above the unusual central laneway, the skyline is quite lively, almost rolling. The Greek pattern geometric frieze below the prominent cornice is an unusual design for the era. The laneway is another unusual feature and is also covered by an upper storey dwelling. The pedestrian crossing has been positioned in front of the lane, emphasising the central axis and thus the symmetry of the overall scheme.

9. Former Brighton Post Office & Automatic Exchange
Address: 71-73 Church St, Brighton
Style: Edwardian/Federation, Contemporary (Extension)
Architects: T Hill (Comm Dep. of Works & Railways) 1912, & John Douglas Architects (Ext)
Date: 2006

Brighton's former post office uses bold chromatic brickwork; the distinctive stucco and brick porch is unusual, with its strong position on the corner. The single-storey Church Street section housed Brighton's Telephone Exchange, while the doublestorey building along Carpenter Street contained the post office. Both have shallow hipped slate roofs with rafters exposed at the eaves lines. The brickwork in both street elevations features flat arches over the window and door openings, with distinctive red and cream brick patterning. The former post office and exchange has now been sensitively converted into retail stores and offices, and its heritage features have been preserved. In particular, look for the contemporary extension at no. 73, which is currently occupied by the Laurent Bakery. Interior Designer Karen Stephens continued Laurent's trademark design of curved walls and ceilings throughout their tenancy. The bakery was built over a former laneway and is connected to the original basement below no. 71 Church Street to create a larger and more commercially viable retail space. It is an interesting lesson in adaptive reuse of a historic building without allowing the extension to dominate.

10. Former Congregational Church
Address: 17 Black St, Brighton
Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Charles Webb
Date: 1875

The former Congregational Church is a superb example of an Early English-inspired Gothic church expressed in bichromatic brick. Designed by Charles Webb and built by James Bonham, it has two octagonal towers rising above the parapet to form rendered turrets. The use of coloured brick is contrasted by the rendered dressings on the buttresses, turrets and eaves line.

Internally, a Fincham organ exists in its original condition, and elaborate stencilling, restored in the early 1970s, adorns the walls. The Morton Bay fig tree facing Black Street is the last existing tree donated by Baron von Mueller in 1869. Von Mueller was director of the Royal Botanical Gardens Melbourne at the time and donated a number of trees to the church.

11. Itasca
Address: 58 Carpenter St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: pre 1859

The first Brighton rate books are dated 1859, when Itasca was known as Craigmillar, and was already firmly established as a house and brewery. It is one of the few houses remaining that pre-date the rate books.

Ownership changed repeatedly over the years, and in the late 1870s the notorious Thomas Bent later Premier of Victoria and Sir) owned the property. In the mid-1910s, Council approved its registration as a private hospital for midwifery. It is the birthplace of philanthropist Dame Phyllis Frost (1917-2004), known for her tireless welfare work. It is now a private residence.

Itasca is a two-storey early Victorian rendered brick house exemplifying colonial elegance. The timber verandah and unusual shingled balustrade to the upper level probably dates from its period as a hospital, possibly the inter-war period. The shingles have been replaced; however, the outbuildings at the rear of the property are probably original. Other name: Craigmillar

12. Wyuna
Address: 37 Black St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown (possibly Charles Webb)
Date: c.1875

Wyuna, one of Brighton's stunning villas, features a wealth of decorative detail, a return verandah, and projecting bay windows on two sides. This typical Italianate rendered brick mansion with a hipped slate roof is asymmetric, heightened by a tower that is set unusually far down one side of the house. This fuels the speculation that the tower was an afterthought, as most mansions of this era included the tower within the building form.

In the early 1980s there was a proposal to demolish Wyuna to make way for a number of townhouses. However, a compromise was made and in 1984 seven townhouses were built on the surrounding property. The mansion itself was purchased by a local builder and brilliantly and sensitively restored.

A. Chilton
Address: 1 Wellington St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Charles Webb
Date: 1853

Chilton was home to Charles Webb and his family from 1853 to 1867, when he moved to Farleigh, in Farleigh Grove, Brighton, also his own design. Chilton is a single-story Italianate villa with a three-storey tower and cast-iron verandah, all characteristic of Webb's designs, but among the earliest of this towered form in Melbourne. Interestingly, Farleigh, (1856) is in the symmetrical almost Georgian style common in the 1850s.

Chilton is one of Webb's earliest houses and is a rare survivor of early post-gold rush settlement in Brighton. The verandah has been extended, and the gardens have been recreated based on original plans. Next door, at 3 Wellington Street, Webb also designed Stanton (1853) for his sister, with whom he emigrated from England in 1849.

B. Casa Viejo
Address: 161 New St, Brighton
Style: Vernacular, Spanish Mission
Architect: Unknown
Date: c.1844

Casa Viejo is one of the earliest buildings in Brighton but its history is rather vague. It was probably the original gatehouse for Henry Dendy's Manor House, hence it is traditionally known as the 'Gate House'. Mr MacFarlane may have used it as a workshop when he ran MacFarlane Academy, 1855-73 in the original 'Manor House'.

Made from handmade bricks, Casa Viejo has a Victorian-era form and some Victorian features, such as the quoins and window proportions. It is unusually sited, with no street setback. Alterations and additions were made, possibly in the inter-war period, adding a textured render finish, window shutters and tiled roof all in the Spanish Mission / Mediterranean style. It is a distinctive feature on New Street. Other name: The Gate House

C. Cluden
Address: 4 Archer Crt, Brighton East
Style: Italianate
Architect: Frederick Williams
Date: 1871, 1889

It is hard to imagine that Cluden emerged in 1871 as a humble two-roomed house. In 1872 it was extended to seven rooms and by 1891 became the majestic building we see now. Its three-storey tower with balustrade parapet is claimed to be the tallest in Brighton, with 360-degree views. The topography of its location reinforces this asset.

This rendered brick house is a larger and more impressive example of the average Italianate mansion. It features fluted Corinthian-order cast-iron columns supporting the arcaded double-storey verandah, and unusual garland ornamentation adorning the double-storey bay section. Cluden is similar in era and in style to Chevy Chase, 203 Were Street, Brighton, and to the numerous larger towered villas found in suburbs closer to the city, such as Hawthorn, Toorak and Malvern.