506 Doncaster Road Doncaster VIC – Display Home Demolished
1 Carmel Court Balwyn VIC – Example
Designed by Bernard Joyce for Inge Bros Pty Ltd circa 1966.
English born Bernard Joyce formed his association with Zig Inge around 1966 at the age of 37, a time when housing developers were beginning to see the value of utilizing the talents of Architects (In addition to the marketing value). Bernard was also a teacher at RMIT.
In 1967 Bernard Joyce was commissioned to design two project homes for Latvian born brothers Zig and Alex Inge (Inge Bros). The two designs where aesthetically identical but completely divergent in layout. The ‘Centre Court’ was a square courtyard house, and this a linked pavilion split level home.
The new estate was oddly the second estate in Doncaster West marketed as 'New Horizons', the first in being nearby Edith Court.
The ‘BJ split level’ was widely published in the Herald/The Age/Australian Home Beautiful but only resulted in a single sale. Apparently both it and the ‘Centre Court’ (the only repetition of which I live in) were two progressively modern for the general buying public, and as such only 1 repetition was built.
This home design was the larger of the two, featuring 4 bedrooms, two large living areas and clustered wet areas. The house is essentially two linked pavilions, one containing the carport and living area, while the larger volume contained the bedrooms, wet areas and kitchen/family area.
Bernard Joyce was preoccupied with courtyards, and here rather than leave the ‘back yard’ as left over space, he has positioned the two masses when combined with the boundary fences so as to create one yard sized courtyard.
The façade to the street is almost blank, with no visible windows, privacy is further achieved by placing the lounge room behind the carport.
The aesthetic is somewhat ‘spanish’ or ‘sydney school’, with bagged and painted brick veneer, and contrasting dark stained timbers.
It’s worth noting the skill with which Joyce has arranged the plans to facilitate all windows and openings as glazed French doors, he’s also ensured that opportunities for light and glimpses of the garden beyond are maximised.. Coupled with full height doors, robes and joinery, the effect creates a collection of surface planes. (Really quite something)
Professor Phillip Goad within his ‘The Modern Home in Melbourne’ PHD referred to these two project homes as ‘extremely sophisticated’.
The house in its current state as photographed by me was a sad state of affairs. Rotted timber windows had been replaced by silver aluminium, others painted over in a ‘cream’ paint, blue grey tiles laid in the kitchen and corridor, a section of the lounge room built in with a ‘bar’, the carport completely built in, and the rest left to ruin.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153578130251803 Nov2018
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