SOLD: 4 Thornhill Drive Forest Hill, Melbourne

NOW SOLD – with quite a lot of interest via this site.

Pretty special house and garden from the 50s or 60s, being sold by an architect.

Owner’s text:

The house was designed in 1962 by Peter Robinson+Associates. Don’t know much about them, but we met the project architect, Peter Matters, on the day of the auction in late 2002. He was 80-something not out, still practising somewhere out near Bacchus Marsh, and had shown up out of curiosity to see who bought the place. I think he is still out there fighting the good fight.
He designed the house for a local real-estate agent (!) and his wife, who raised their 3 children here. It’s a perfect family house and was obviously well-loved by its original owners. The mother had recently died, and I think the children were happy to see the house go to another family who would appreciate its unique qualities.

I think of the place like one of those Californian Case-Study houses with its casual-modernism-with-the-hard-edges- knocked-off-gone-all-lazy-and-comfortable-attitude. We’ve polished the concrete slab (the original linoleum was delaminating pretty badly), replaced all the carpets, done a bit of painting here and there, replaced some of the original chipboard kitchen joinery and 1960’s appliances, added hydronic heating, and done a fair bit of landscaping. Other than that, the place is pretty much as imagined by the architect back in the 1960’s.
I’ve always (half-jokingly) referred to it as Melbourne’s second-best house (McGlashan+Everist’s Heide is my #1), but if we ever get the chance to design our own home, I reckon it will end up looking a lot like this place.

Agent’s text:

Incorporates many ingenious features widely embraced today including bright open plan living areas, a flexible floorplan & landscaped, drought resistant gardens. Comprises spacious living & dining room with adjoining library/study area, stunning modern kitchen with European appliances, main bedroom with semi-ensuite bathroom access, 3 ‘dormitory style’ bedrooms and elevated north facing family room providing expansive garden views plus undercover car accommodation. Features new carpets, polished concrete flooring, hydronic heating, air conditioning, rainwater tank and more. Walk to Forest Hill Chase shops/cinemas/restaurants, Nunawading Aquatic & Sports Centre together with transport and parkland.

main link:

tags: peter robinson

category: real-estate 

real-estate in: Australia Victoria Melbourne Forest Hill

link updated: [08.08]