The first home designed by Robin Boyd for his family, and one of the earliest known modernist houses constructed in Victoria, is facing a challenge to its heritage status, with a hearing to be held in early 2021 to decide its fate.
The Former Boyd House at 666 Riversdale Road, Camberwell was built just after World War II (1946–47) and is recognized as an early and influential example of the famous architect’s work. It was classified by the National Trust as a place of state significance in 1987 and added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 1991.
An application to have it struck off the register was submitted to the Heritage Council of Victoria in 2019. The applicant argues that while the property’s statement of significance describes it as “the earliest known extant residence designed by the renowned Australian architect Robin Boyd,” Boyd had in fact designed an earlier house, built in September 1943, for a Corporal Jones.
The statement of significance also maintains that the Former Robin Boyd House “is unique in being a house that Boyd designed for his personal use and occupied and extended over a period of twelve years.” The applicant disputes that this makes it unique, since the Walsh Street house designed in 1957 was also built for Boyd’s own family and is a more well-known work.
Heritage Victoria executive director Steven Avery rejected those claims, however, in a July 2020 recommendation not to remove the house from the register.
Avery notes that the “Corporal Jones” for whom Boyd designed a house in 1943 was in fact a hypothetical and typical soldier – “our tent-mate Corporal J H Jones,” as described in SALT, the educational journal of the Australian Army and Air Force. Boyd documented a design in that journal for a house that would be suitable for construction on a budget by returned servicemen under the War Services Homes Scheme. It’s not known if any house was built to that plan but, regardless, “If another earlier house designed by Boyd was found, it would not diminish the cultural heritage significance of the Former Robin Boyd House.”
Similarly, Avery rejects that the existence of the Walsh Street house detracts from the significance of the Former Boyd House in any way.
“Both buildings are significant for their association with Robin Boyd and their use as homes he designed for his family,” his recommendation notes. “They are also significant as exemplary examples of modernist residential architecture in Victoria.”
The Heritage Council called for public submissions on the heritage listing between July and 14 September, prompting calls to action from the National Trust and local community groups.
A spokesperson for Heritage Victoria told ArchitectureAU that a hearing had been requested by the applicant, and that “a Committee of the Heritage Council must now conduct a hearing into the matter to determine whether the place should or should not be removed from the Heritage Register.”
The hearing will take place in early 2021, on a date to be determined.
