Modernist Australia

An Unrivalled Bushland Bonanza For Sale In Mount Eliza

Mint-condition, a covetable location, SERIOUS architectural pedigree… Patricia Callan from Modernist Australia has uncovered a next-level gem!

The ‘Studio House’ by Merchant Builders and architect Graeme Gunn is an unrivalled home set among an abundance of native trees and wildflowers, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

Written
by
Patricia Callan

The ‘Studio House’ by Merchant Builders and architect Graeme Gunn. Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Photo – courtesy of TJ Sparks.

Writer
Patricia Callan
25th of April 2019

We’ve got an unrivalled bushland bonanza of NO ordinary origins here!

A circa 1975/76, mint-condition Merchant Builders/Graeme Gunn collab, within their planned mini-estate of Keraboit Gully.

‘The Concept. We don’t think of Keraboite Gully simply as “a development”. We think of it as a planned community of individual houses, where every detail will contribute an overall sense of harmony,’ reads the original sales brochure. ‘Our principle aim is to make the most of the natural environment, and to offer an attractive and workable alternative to the monotony of conventional development.’

How utterly familiar in intention this is to anyone who is taken by contemporary architect-led developments with higher ideals^ (over simple return for financial investment) in this day and age. How trailblazing and yet sadly so cast by the wayside these concepts have been for the last 40 years!

Owner, Richard, has done a considered job of keeping this marvellous example of late Modern project housing intact. Only a modest kitchen update merely reinforces how such an aged residence remains timeless and seamless with its elemental materials and deference to the environment.

We’d like to assume the new owners take on and embrace the similar spirit and immerse themselves fully in this home’s shining success in tranquil, comfortable, and elemental bushland living.

^And if great architectural/development groups reading this want to branch out into regional Victoria to continue this particular bushland, lower-density housing legacy – we’re on board – just sayin’.

View the property listing on Domain, and original MA article here.

Run by Patricia Callan and Pete Bakacs, Modernist Australia is the passion-project/website dedicated to raising the profile of mid-century design and modernist principles in Australia. For more swell eye-candy, visit Modernistaustralia.com.

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