Ostend Architectural Trail Walk (Brighton)

Walk Summary:

Start: Middle Brighton Baths
Distance: 3.9 kilometres
Walking Time: About 65 minutes
Undulations: Gentle undulations

Trail directions:

1. St Andrew's School House
Address: 38 Church St, Brighton (cnr St Andrews St)
Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Charles Webb
Date: 1857

Built of recycled ironstone from the first St Andrew's Church, this school is a fine example of the Early English Gothic Revival style. The use of locally quarried ironstone is rare. The design, very much identifiable as the work of Charles Webb, highlights the detailed and symmetrical style of Webb's institutional buildings. The E-shape plan was taken up by the Common Schools Board of Education in the 1860s, an example being the school at Ararat built in 1865-68.

In the late 1990s the building was shrouded in controversy over applications to turn it into a restaurant and cafe. A permit was granted on condition that both the interior and the exterior be kept in their original state. The building currently operates as a cafe, with outdoor seating located in front, which, interestingly, was the most controversial change.

2. St Andrew's Church
Address: 266-270 New St, Brighton (cnr Church St)
Style: Gothic Revival, Modernist
Architects: Charles Webb (1857), Louis Williams (1961)
Date: 1857, 1961

This building has had a number of significant and prolific architects working on it. Charles Laing designed the first church in 1850 on the present vicarage site. It was demolished only six years later when Brighton boomed in the gold rush period to make way for a bigger church; the stone was used to build the school house.

In 1857, Charles Webb designed the new bluestone church with fine proportions and skilful detailing. Webb donated most of his fees, as the community could not raise the money needed for completion of the church. In 1886, Lloyd Tayler, who designed Kamesburgh (1874), added a sandstone addition, but in 1961 a fire destroyed all but the shell of the church. Determined to rise above disaster, the church community commissioned prolific church architect Louis Williams to design the new building. The orientation of the new design was an interesting solution to integrate the old church with the nave now opening onto Church Street instead of New Street. On the east wall is a flamboyant rose window. St Andrew's Church contains one of the largest organs in Australia, with 3,000 pipes, designed and built by S.J. Laurie Pty Ltd in 1961.

3. St Andrew's Churchyard Cemetery
Address: New St, Brighton (cnr Church St)
Style: Not Available
Architect: Not Available
Date: 1844-1920s

What a magnificent place to come and reflect! Weston Bate, in his book A History of Brighton, wrote, 'What chapters of this history could be written by the ghosts which walk St Andrew's Churchyard.'

The first burial at St Andrew's Cemetery was an infant by the name of Henry Head in 1844. Nestled behind St Andrew's Church, this historic cemetery was a burial ground for the first settlers of the area. Many died from illnesses such as tuberculosis, typhoid fever and complications associated with childbirth. There are 300 burials listed before 1860, but records after that were burnt in the 1961 fire. Most burials after 1860 were placed at the Brighton Cemetery; however, families who had existing tombs at St Andrew's continued to be buried there.

The St Andrew's Churchyard is one of the few cemeteries attached to a church in Victoria.

4. Dalton House Fence
Address: 39 Normanby St, Brighton (cnr New St)
Style: Not Available
Architect: None
Date: Unknown

A graceful late-Victorian mansion with a tower is hiding behind the large hedge, yet the fence is the first thing you notice. It is made from artillery shells, probably from World War II.

The story goes that the owner, Richard Linton, bought the shells to break them up for scrap metal. However, they had thick steel cases so to dispose of these he made them into a fence. Children loved to run a stick along them and listen to the loud tingling sound they would make. This didn't go down too well with the neighbours, so to keep the peace Linton filled the shells with concrete.

In 1913, Linton renamed the house Dalton after the Scottish village where he was born. However, it is known locally as the Shell House.

Other name: Shell Fence

5. Yeovil
Address: 28 Grosvenor St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1889

Yeovil is a substantial two-storey rendered brick Italianate villa. It has a cast iron verandah on two sides terminating with a bay window on the east, facing Port Phillip Bay. Originally the building had a 'widows walk' on the roof, which would have ensured even better views of both the Bay and the city, but unfortunately it was destroyed in the freak storm known as the 'Brighton Cyclone' of 1918.

During its time Yeovil has been a residence, guest house and secretarial/dressmaking school. However the building is particularly important for its association with the Catanach family. In 1889, Maria and George Catanach of Australia's oldest family jewellers, G.W. Catanach and Co, built the house and lived there for over ten years. The house was then occupied by the Pascoe family for approximately 30 years in the early twentieth century.

6. Drumdavan
Address: 26 Grosvenor St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1889

A fine example of the era, this rendered brick villa consists of a slate hipped roof, with cast-iron verandah and beautiful big windows. The timber shutters slide on rollers, which is unusual as mostly they were hinged. The front entry door is tucked away on the western side, not facing the street. It would have originally had views over the Bay when the property included the two lots to the west. They were sold off in the 1930s and the croquet lawn was lost.

Drumdavan is typical of the single-storey villas of the era and area; it is also unusual in only ever having three owners, which has enabled the house to stay true to its original form. The interior has been lovingly restored and is beautifully furnished throughout.

7. Normanby & Esperance
Address: 4-6 Normanby St, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Date: 1890

These houses are very unusual in Brighton as there were very few terraces built in the Bayside area. They have an interesting history. In 1894, Esperance (no. 6) was used as a girls school, which was named Esperance after the house. In the early twentieth century, Normanby (no. 4) was the residence of Mrs. Aeneas Gunn, author of We of the Never Never (1908) (regarded as a classic Australian novel) and The Little Black Princess (1905). Gunn spent time in the Australian outback with her husband before he died in 1903, when she returned to Melbourne and began writing.

The two houses that make up this richly ornamented, rendered brick pair are separated by an extended party wall, which creates a semi-enclosed verandah with side windows. The intricate cast-iron lacework adds additional decoration to the building.

8. Middle Brighton Baths
Address: 251 The Esplanade, Brighton
Style: Moderne, Neo Modern
Architects: Oakley & Parkes (1936), McGauran Giannini Soon (2002)
Date: 1936, 2002

The baths were originally established on this site in 1882 and enlarged in 1909 to include enclosed swimming areas for both men and women. Prior to the extension, a red flag would indicate that men could swim and a white flag would indicate women, as 'mixed bathing' was considered scandalous. In 1934 a storm destroyed the baths; by 1936, Oakley & Parkes had designed a new building, and the timber swimming enclosure was rebuilt. Characteristic of the Moderne style, the building is symmetrical and has a pronounced horizontal emphasis, with flat roofs concealed behind parapets and clean expanses of face brickwork. Oakley & Parkes included more Modernist elements in their work than other architects of the period, evidence of which can be seen in the dominating cubic element of the top floor. In 2002, architects McGauran Giannini Soon were commissioned to renovate and design additions, receiving mixed opinions from the locals. The adjacent pier, built in the 1920s, was witness to Port Phillip Bay's only shark attack death. In 1930 a young girl dropped her doll into the water; a man jumped off the pier to retrieve it and was killed by a shark in front of horrified onlookers.

9. Residence
Address: 5 Sandown St, Brighton
Style: Environmental Design
Architects: John Baird, Cuthbert & Partners
Date: 1967

This house is a striking example of classic 1960s architecture and is still in great condition, despite its proximity to the beach and the prevailing elements. Unlike more recent buildings in the area, this understated house was free from the need to be big and bold to achieve a view of the Bay, and was built with particular attention to detail. The white painted brickwork, timber joinery and skillion roofs are all characteristics of the 'Sydney School' style of modernist architecture.

The compact wings sitting on either side of a two-storey atrium allow light into the centre of the house. Beneath all windows are manually operated vents, allowing controlled ventilation throughout the house. Architect John Baird was commissioned to build three similar houses adjacent to this property, which were all designed in a very similar style. Sadly, they have all been demolished.

There are similarities with the French House (22 Alfred Street, Beaumaris), also by the same architects, built six years later - they have similar skillion roofs, though here they are part of the Environmental style, rather than Brutalist.

10. Ostend
Address: 29 Seacombe Gr, Brighton
Style: Moderne
Architects: IG Anderson
Date: 1934

Ostend Flats epitomised the modern lifestyle and aspirations of post-Depression 1930s, with an emphasis on sunlight and fresh air. It was one of the earliest examples of this style of apartments in Victoria, exploiting the curved corner to full effect. Each of the nine two-bedroom flats has a view of the water and includes boatsheds underneath that open onto the foreshore. Many locals regarded Ostend as too high when it was first built, as most of the surrounding buildings would have been a maximum of two storeys.

The tower is symbolic of a waterfall and is both curvilinear and sculptural, strengthening the connections between architecture and art. The cement-rendered finish was originally a warm yellow colour and all balconies were open to the sea. With its finely articulated facade and distinctive tower, Ostend has become an icon along the Brighton foreshore.

11. Residence
Address: 27 Seacombe Gr, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architect: Nicholas Boschler
Date: 1992

The use of large rectangular elements and the extensive use of glass in this outstanding house represent an early example of the move from Post Modern concerns with context and historic references back to the slick machine aesthetic of Modernism. The house does, however, retain a complexity of form. It is composed of a collection of rectangular volumes set around a courtyard, with entry via a gravity-defying black slab held up by six posts. The white tiles throughout and details such as the handle-less doors demonstrate the minimalist aesthetic pioneered by this architect in the early 1990s.

12. Padua
Address: 14 Seacombe Gr, Brighton
Style: Early 20th C Modern, Arts & Crafts, Stripped Classical
Architect: 'Wife of Edward L Rohan'
Date: 1926

The historical records reveal that this house was built by Edward L Rohan, and designed by his wife. The injustice of not including her name can only be explained by the fact that female architects were virtually unknown in 1926.

Padua is not unusual among large houses of the 1920s, but is a unique house in Seacombe Grove. Nestled among Italianate and other grand mansions, it is built of brick with sections of unpainted stucco render, and a deep double-level verandah supported on heavy piers. The original windows contain a quaint geometric pattern and the house looks as if it has not been touched since it was built in 1926. Padua intrigues, with its dark colours and deep shaded verandah, and the ivy climbing its walls.

The name comes from the Italian city of Padua, which claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy (founded in 1183 BC).

13. Narellan
Address: 3 Moule Ave, Brighton
Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown (likely to be J A B Koch)
Date: 1889

Narellan is thought to have been designed by the noted German-born and trained architect J A B Koch, who also designed the magnifi cent National Trust property Labassa in Caulfi eld (1889-91), and numerous other grand houses such as Ulimaroa (now the Royal College of Anaesthetists), St Kilda Road, Melbourne, which was built in the same year as Narellan. The most distinctive feature of this large, double-storey Italianate mansion is the cast-iron lacework, with its triangular brackets and curved patterns.

In 1939 the building was divided into two flats. By 1964 it had become the Wilglen Private Hospital. Interestingly, it was sold in 1989, exactly 100 years after it was built, and returned to being a single residence. Narellan had substantial restoration work done during the 1990s when the pastiche reproduction tower top floor was added.

In French, moule (the street name) means mussel, which further highlights Narellan's proximity to the seashore.

14. Apartment Complex
Address: 28-30 Bay St, Brighton
Style: Contemporary
Architects: Catt Architects
Date: 1997

This building has been included to highlight the recent transition from Georgian to Frank Lloyd Wright-influenced styles in the Bayside area. A number of such designs can be seen around Brighton, each one ever so slightly different from the others.

This building was directly influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses, especially the famous Robie House (1908), which has wide eaves, horizontal bands of brickwork with interlocking piers, windows grouped in series forming wide expanses between the piers or wall sections, and the distinctive shallow squared planter bowls. All of these are characteristics of 28-30 Bay Street. Although it is a large block, the use of the Prairie Style with its strong horizontals makes it feel grounded.

Consisting of eight apartments and one two-storey townhouse, 28-30 Bay Street manages to hide the huge amount of activity that takes place inside. It's hard to believe that there are 22 car spaces on the property.

15. Residence
Address: 2A Seacombe Gr, Brighton
Style: Neo Modern
Architects: b.e. architecture
Date: 2010

Inspired by some of Melbourne's iconic buildings and streetscapes, is this visionary bluestone residence. Enveloped by trees to soften the edges of the property, it works beautifully within the tree lined street.

Citation - "Uncompromising in its modernist, hard edged simplicity, this purist 'black' box (or is it an elevated vault?) imposes itself above its corner site with strong urban attitude possibly deriving from its proximity to relentless traffic and/or contrastingly 'friendlier' neighbours. Design integrity cannot be questioned."

Bayside Built Evironment Award Winner 2010,
Best New Dwelling - Joint Winner.

16. Wesleyan Uniting Church
Address: 278 New St, Brighton (cnr Allee St)
Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Charles Webb
Date: 1854

This simple but elegant Church is built of rendered masonry in the Early English Gothic style, and is a remnant of the early settlement in Brighton. The windows are tall with typical Gothic pointed arches, while the unusual trefoil windows are symbolic of the trinity.

Built by the local Webb brothers, this church has expanded during its 150 years with the growth of Brighton. The small gabled entrance porch was added in 1858, and the church was extended in 1892. The church also contains a significant Fincham organ; George Fincham was considered to be the father of the Australian organbuilding industry, with many examples of his work across Melbourne.

Charles Webb, an architect, and James Webb, a builder, were very active in Brighton during the mid to late nineteenth century. Their other buildings include St Andrews Church and School House, Church Street, Brighton (1857) and the former Congregational Church, Black Street, Brighton (1875). The church, now owned by Brighton Grammar School, has been respectfully restored.
Other name: Girraween Chapel