John Knox Architectural Trail Walk (Brighton)

Walk Summary:

Located at Brighton North Road, the John Knox Trail is 3.9 kilometres long with a walking time of about 60 minutes. The trail path has gentle undulations.

Trail directions:

1. Kamesburgh
Address: 74-104 North Rd, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Lloyd Tayler
Date: 1874

Kamesburgh is not Brighton's oldest building, but it is architecturally one of its most significant. This stunningly majestic building was designed by Lloyd Tayler and is considered his major work. It was built in 1874 by renowned builder David Mitchell, father of Dame Nellie Melba, for businessman William K. Thompson; it was set on four hectares of land.

Kamesburgh was a private estate until 1919 when it was purchased by the Repatriation Department and renamed Anzac Lodge. It became a residence for war veterans until 1996, when Bayside City Council acquired it. It is now leased to the Star of the Sea College. This wonderful Italianate mansion has an impressive columned veranda on three sides, and features Doric columns on the ground floor loggia and Ionic columns on the upper level. The main entrance, guarded by two cast-iron figures, forms the base of the three-level tower, marking a grand point of entrance. The tower once offered views to the sea.

The original expansive formal gardens are worth a visit. Other names: Anzac Hostel, Anzac Lodge.

2 St James' Church
Address: 73 North Rd, Brighton
Style: Gothic Revival
Architects: E J Henderson (1891), Schreiber & Jorgensen (1924)
Date: 1891, 1924

Built of Barrabool sandstone from Geelong, St James' Church was constructed in two stages. The first stage in 1891, by architect E J Henderson, consisted of the nave; this was followed in 1924 by the transepts and chancel designed by Schreiber & Jorgensen. The building is finely proportioned, with refined architectural details to the windows, the buttresses and the gable ends.

The interior is unusually elaborate, featuring an opus sectile mosaic scheme (added in 1934) in which differently coloured pieces of marble, stone and glass cut into regular pieces are laid in geometric patterns. St James' has a FullerAnderson Organ, built in the late nineteenth century by Alfred Fuller. The church was restored in the mid 1980s, with a restoration of the organ in 2001.

The presbytery is almost as notable as the church. Built as a typical double-storey symmetrical Italianate house with verandah, it was transformed in 1908 by the addition of a striking Edwardian Gothic red brick entry tower, complete with arched entry and lancet windows, and topped by a pyramidal square roof and cross.

3. Former Elsternwick Hall
Address: 3 Murphy St, Brighton
Style: Eclectic
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1888

Elsternwick Hall is richly ornamented with detailing around and above the entrance that incorporates Gothic pointed arches with Elizabethan curved elements topped by a scrolled pediment and attached pilasters. The walls are tuck-pointed red brick with bluestone plinth, rendered quoining and mouldings. A roof lantern runs two-thirds of the length of the building, flooding the interior with light, and is neatly tucked behind the facade of the elaborate entrance.

To the north is a lower wing with a rendered parapet concealing a skillion corrugated iron roof. Elsternwick Hall is unique in its eclectic and highly decorative Gothic style.

4. John Knox Uniting Church & Manse
Address: 61-71 North Rd, Brighton (cnr New St)
Style: Gothic Revival
Architects: Charles Webb (Church), Lloyd Tayler (Manse)
Date: 1876, 1880-81

John Knox Uniting Church is a fine example of a polychrome brick church of the 1870s. The National Trust has indicated that the cream brick broachspire, meaning an octagonal spire rising directly from a square tower without parapets, is one of only three known in Victoria. W K Thompson and his wife, who lived across the road at Kamesburgh, donated the exquisite main east and west windows.

The Fincham Organ inside the church was originally commissioned by the Hon. Henry 'Money' Miller (1809-88), financier and politician, for his own Kew residence but was never accepted. It was then installed in the John Knox Uniting Church in 1878.

The church is complemented by a matching polychrome manse that was designed by Lloyd Tayler and built in 1881.

5. Julius Wachs House
Address: 5 Chatsworth Ave, Brighton
Style: Modernist
Architect: Peter Hooks
Date: 1962

Philip Goad coined the term 'Mature Modern' to describe a style in Melbourne developed in the 1960s featuring elegance, formality and minimalism. The Julius Wachs House is a textbook example of this style, with open planning, stark planar surfaces and simple materials. It is a classic house of its time. A pop-up lantern above the windowless kitchen punctures the flat roof, with its wide eaves.

The architect, Peter Hooks, was born in Brighton and lived there until his retirement, and designed many fine homes in the southern suburbs. He designed this house for the Wachs family, focusing on entertaining. Large areas of glazing create a dialogue between interior and exterior. This openness strengthens the connections between the interior living spaces and the garden areas. The house was threatened with demolition recently, but was retained and sympathetically renovated instead.

6. Toongabbie
Address: 13 Chatsworth Ave, Brighton
Style: Moderne
Architect: Unknown
Date: c.1936 (original)

Chatsworth Avenue was, in the mid 1930s, referred to as Honeymoon Grove, since the street was full of young newlyweds. Toongabbie itself is in the style of a typical Moderne house. It is built of rendered brick, and painted white; its curved corners and elements contrasting with the strong horizontal elements are characteristic of the style.

However, substantial additions and alterations have been made: the prominent tower at the front, the eastern and western extensions, the new windows and the front fence have been added at various stages in the early 1990s. These alterations have been done sympathetically, so at first glance it is difficult to distinguish the original from the extensions.

It illustrates the popularity of the style and the ability for residents in this area to make alterations that reinforce their architectural preferences.

7. Residence
Address: 12a Glyndon Ave, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: BG Architecture
Date: 2005

Built as a family home, this sophisticated design relates effectively to the streetscape with its staggered facade.

With formal living in the front section of the house and family living at the rear, windows have been carefully positioned for light and privacy. Environmentally sustainable materials are used where possible and a water feature helps with cooling and ventilation through the building. Landscaping has been closely linked with the design and the use of hedges helps soften the scale of the building, although it is interesting to note how it relates with the heritage listed property next door at no 14.

A range of materials have been used to fragment the facade. Meteon, a composite laminate material, is used on the lower section while Australian granite is used above.

8. Alfred Abrahams House
Address: 3 Elwood St, Brighton
Style: Moderne
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1935

Built for Melbourne solicitor Alfred Abrahams in 1935, this is a grand Moderne residence. Set on a double block, the building is cement rendered over brickwork and concrete, and painted cream. The front path sweeps around the garden to the entrance at the base of a cylindrical form, which includes beautiful narrow vertical windows with frosted glass in a romantic pattern. The verticality of this cylindrical form is accentuated by these tall, narrow windows that run uninterrupted through both levels.

The cylinder is contrasted by many horizontal elements that are characteristic of this style and repeated on several components of the design; the horizontal windows of the bedrooms to the east and the living area to the west are contrasted by the vertical entry cylinder topped by horizontal banding. Look for beautiful details such as the scalloping around the entrance and the curved corner at the eastern end, and the little 'dip' in the horizontal window bars. The progression from private to public space is evident when the building is read from east to west. What begins as a private enclosed building progresses towards the extensively glazed public areas.

9. Residence
Address: 4 Orchard St, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: Interlandi Design Group
Date: 2005

The idea behind 4 Orchard St was to design a contemporary residence that respected the buildings around it, such as the Federation-style house next door. Whether they both in fact work together is a personal opinion. The exterior form has been kept blank with a simple yet bold representation of forms.

Vincent Interlandi, the architect, emphasised the building's private inner space, which works differently to the solid facade. The exterior forms are fractured and compartmentalised, partly relieving the heaviness of the facade. The walls are built of rendered masonry and lightweight construction, all painted in stark white.

10. Residence
Address: 29 Oak Gr, Brighton (cnr Cochrane St)
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: BG Architecture
Date: 2003

Reminiscent of the courtyard Modernist architecture of the 1960s, this house is an elegant example of contemporary design in Brighton. Donna Brzezinski, one of the directors of BG Architecture, described how they created zones instead of rooms in an open design aimed at flexibility of use.

The building's exterior reflects the zoned design of the interior spaces. Its block-like sections allow for a series of private courtyards creating cross-ventilation and light. The courtyards give the residents an oasis in their own environment. Different colours and textures provide variation and depth to the single-storey design.

A. Residence
Address: 50 Martin St, Brighton (cnr Foote St)
Style: Contemporary, Post Modern
Architects: Centrum Architects
Date: 2004

The clients who commissioned this house were looking for something different when they briefed their architect. They liked the free form of buildings such as Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao, Spain (1997).

Built of rendered brick, 50 Martin Street is a massing of solid forms, with three main components, each painted a slightly different colour. The central drum is a large entrance space that forms the hub of the house, connecting the two wings. The curves and other interlocking shapes create a movement around the building. Large panels of glass allow the morning and midday sun to be utilised.

It is interesting to make comparisons between the various styles of architecture on the four corners of Foote Street and Martin Street.

B. Thule
Address: 6 Thule Crt, Brighton
Style: Italianate, Queen Anne
Architect: Unknown
Date: c.1885

Thule was built around 1885 by Thomas Telford, who named the house after his station property in New South Wales. The house has an unusual layout, with the front room projecting at a 45-degree angle to the rest of the house, and innovative details. There are delicate leadlight windows on the northern side of the bold entrance, which is elaborated by pilasters and an entablature. Note the interesting cast-iron lacework featuring a Greek key pattern, also seen on Narellan, Moule St, Brighton (1889).

The novelist Ethel Richardson (1870-1946), better known as Henry Handel Richardson, stayed at Thule in her youth, as she was a friend of Thomas Telford's daughter, Janette. Richardson wrote the novels Australia Felix (1917); The Way Home (1925); and Ultima Thule (1929), which referred to both the house and the original meaning of the phrase: a medieval term for a mythic island across the sea.

C. Lee House
Address: 103 Head St, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: Hede Architects
Date: 2005-06

It is hard to believe that this new house contains five bedrooms, since it is noticeably more compact than the typical large new houses of the area, which dominate the streetscape and are built from boundary to boundary.

The upper storey is finished with steel cladding, which tends to change colour with the sky. The windows are designed to face north-south for the privacy of both the owners and the neighbours. To achieve this, the walls of the top level have the peel-away effect of a tin can when it is opened. The house is designed around two sections facing each other, with a light shaft separating them.