Charles Duncan modernist home to go under the hammer

A 1960s era modernist home in melbourne’s eastern hills will go to auction this weekend.

The single storey home at 90 Richardson Street in Croydon North bears all the hallmarks of 60s era design, with sprawling open plan entertaining areas and a full-length sun terrace. Set on a leafy 1,480 square metre block, the house has views to Mount Macedon and over the Yarra Valley.

Owners Rob Hauser and Ruth Barr are selling the home through PhilipWebb. General manager of sales Anthony Webb describes the home as a contemporary classic.

“Although the home was designed in the 1960s, the qualities of modernist architecture that it features have never been more relevant,” says Webb.

“Modernist homes such as this are all about function and form. This home offers a seamless integration between the indoor and outdoor spaces, and with floor to ceiling sliding doors and windows throughout, it harnesses natural elements such as the sun and the breeze,” he says.

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The house was designed by Australian architect Charles Duncan, a proponent of organic Wrightian architecture, inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. The home’s floor to ceiling windows and sliding doors are a classic characteristic of Wrightian architecture, unifying the landscape with the interior. There is also timber flooring, ceilings and timber panelled walls with exposed brick columns throughout.

Duncan was one of a number of young melbourne architects who designed Wrightian style homes in the 1960s, including David Godsell, David Chancellor and Rex Patrick, Geoffrey Woodfall and Kevin Knight. Their Sydney counterparts included Adrian Snodgrass, who built the 1960s Point Piper home that was later sold to former Goldman Sachs Australia boss Jon Aisbitt.

In 1965, Duncan was awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s Single House award for the Williams House in Heidelberg.

The Croydon North home was built by melbourne builders Fasham Johnson. It was not the last collaboration between Duncan and Fasham Johnson - Duncan designed two low energy display homes in Mills Parks and Taylors Lake in the 1980s that were constructed by Fasham Johnson.

The Duncan designed home is set to be auctioned on Saturday 14 June.