Jeff Provan Corbusier-inspired Toorak home remains for sale

Jeff Provan Corbusier-inspired Toorak home remains for sale
Jonathan ChancellorFebruary 6, 2021

Jeff Provan's custom-built mid-1990s home at 119 Canterbury Road, Toorak - with striking rooftop light-filled half cylindrical studio - was passed in on the vendor’s bid of $2.75 million at auction last month.

It came with a $3.095 million post-auction asking price through Marcus Chiminello of Marshall White.

119 Canterbury Road, Toorak

The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home was designed by vendor, property designer and developer Jeff Provan with a copper cylinder on the roof. The 199 square metre block cost $340,000 in 1995.

Jeff Provan, of Melbourne design and architecture company Neometro, set himself the task of creating a building that met all the elements of the state's then new Good Design Guide code for houses on small allotments.

He created what he modestly called a box with the ground floor dedicated to living areas, the second is for sleeping and the third is a study or studio. 

Provan began the process using Le Corbusier's "modular scale", developed by the Swiss 20th-century architect based on the proportions of a man.

Title Tattle recalls Provan's Japanese wife, Mariko wanted Victorian proportions in the house while he preferred the minimal Japanese aesthetic. 

In 2007 Provan estimated his house would cost about $1 million to replicate, and require a year of planning and a year for building.

Marketed as showcasing Neometro's trademark pre-eminent design, Marcus Chiminello said scrupulous attention to detail was evident throughout with a blend of stone, timber and natural renders.

"A timeless rarity," he said.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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