An Arts and Crafts Style Villa - Ballarat
Standing well back from the street on a very large block behind an ornate wrought iron fence, this impressive Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style villa would have been built in the decade after Australian Federation in 1901.
The wonderful stepped central gable is very Arts and Crafts inspired, as is the shingling under the gable and the choice of a plain rough cast stuccoed rendering on the walls with minimal detailing. Unlike its more stylised Queen Anne neighbours, this villa has no stained glass in any of its windows, only leadlight panels set in large diamonds in the upper panes. This villa features a large, rounded vestibule canopy which is overgrown with ornamental creepers, giving the impression that the balcony on the upper floor is floating above the treetops.
Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. This villa appears to be no exception to the rule, with the main entrance to the house to the right hand side of the building.
This style of house would have appealed to the moneyed upper-classes of Ballarat whose money came from either the Nineteenth Century gold rush, or from the wool or farming industries that developed post the boom. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectable and not inconsiderable wealth.
An Arts and Crafts Style Villa - Ballarat
Standing well back from the street on a very large block behind an ornate wrought iron fence, this impressive Reformist (Arts and Crafts) style villa would have been built in the decade after Australian Federation in 1901.
The wonderful stepped central gable is very Arts and Crafts inspired, as is the shingling under the gable and the choice of a plain rough cast stuccoed rendering on the walls with minimal detailing. Unlike its more stylised Queen Anne neighbours, this villa has no stained glass in any of its windows, only leadlight panels set in large diamonds in the upper panes. This villa features a large, rounded vestibule canopy which is overgrown with ornamental creepers, giving the impression that the balcony on the upper floor is floating above the treetops.
Arts and Crafts houses challenged the formality of the mid and high Victorian styles that preceded it, and were often designed with uniquely angular floor plans. This villa appears to be no exception to the rule, with the main entrance to the house to the right hand side of the building.
This style of house would have appealed to the moneyed upper-classes of Ballarat whose money came from either the Nineteenth Century gold rush, or from the wool or farming industries that developed post the boom. Comfortable and very English, it would have shown respectable and not inconsiderable wealth.