Queen Anne Style Architecture - Australian Queen Anne Style

Australian Queen Anne Style

In Australia, the Queen Anne style was absorbed into the Federation style, which was, broadly speaking, the Australian equivalent of the Edwardian style, derived from the influence of Richard Norman Shaw, an influential British architect of the late Victorian era. The Federation period went from 1890 to 1915 and included twelve styles, one of which was the Federation Queen Anne. This became the most popular style for homes built between 1890 and 1910. The style often utilised Tudor-style woodwork and elaborate fretwork that replaced the Victorian taste for wrought iron. Verandahs were usually a feature, as were the image of the rising sun and Australian wildlife; plus circular windows, turrets and towers with conical or pyramid-shaped roofs.

The first Queen Anne home in Australia was Caerleon in the suburb of Bellevue Hill, New South Wales. Caerleon was designed initially by a Sydney architect, Harry Kent, but was then substantially reworked in London by Maurice Adams. This led to some controversy over who deserved the credit. The house was built in 1885 and was the precursor for the Federation Queen Anne homes that were to become so popular.

Caerleon was followed soon after by West Malling, in the suburb of Penshurst, New South Wales, and Annesbury, in the suburb of Ashfield, New South Wales, both built circa 1888. These houses, although built around the same time, had distinct styles, West Maling displaying a strong Tudor influence that was not present in Annesbury. The style soon became increasingly popular, appealing predominantly to reasonably well-off people with an "Establishment" leaning.

The style as it developed in Australia was highly eclectic, blending Queen Anne elements with various Australian influences. Old English characteristics like ribbed chimneys and gabled roofs were combined with Australian elements like encircling verandahs, designed to keep the sun out. One outstanding example of this eclectic approach is Urrbrae House, in the Adelaide suburb of Urrbrae, South Australia, part of the Waite Institute. Another variation with connections to the Federation Queen Anne style was the Federation Bungalow, featuring prominent verandahs. This style generally incorporated familiar Queen Anne elements, but usually in simplified form.

Some prominent examples are:

  • West Malling, corner of Penshurst Avenue and King Georges Road, Penshurst, Sydney
  • Homes, Appian Way, Burwood, Sydney
  • Homes, Haberfield, New South Wales
  • Caerleon, 15 Ginahgulla Road, Bellevue Hill, Sydney (sold for $22 million in January 2008)
  • Annesbury, 78 Alt Street, Ashfield, Sydney
  • Weld Club, Barrack Street, Perth
  • ANZ Bank, Queens Parade, Fitzroy North, Melbourne
  • Campion College, Studley Park Road, Kew, Melbourne

Read more about this topic:  Queen Anne Style Architecture

Famous quotes containing the words australian, queen, anne and/or style:

    Beyond the horizon, or even the knowledge, of the cities along the coast, a great, creative impulse is at work—the only thing, after all, that gives this continent meaning and a guarantee of the future. Every Australian ought to climb up here, once in a way, and glimpse the various, manifold life of which he is a part.
    Vance Palmer (1885–1959)

    “Speak when you’re spoken to!” the Queen sharply interrupted her.
    “But if everybody obeyed that rule,” said Alice, who was always ready for a little argument, “and if you only spoke when you were spoken to, and the other person always waited for you to begin, you see nobody would ever say anything, so that—”
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    ... feminism is a political term and it must be recognized as such: it is political in women’s terms. What are these terms? Essentially it means making connections: between personal power and economic power, between domestic oppression and labor exploitation, between plants and chemicals, feelings and theories; it means making connections between our inside worlds and the outside world.
    Anica Vesel Mander, U.S. author and feminist, and Anne Kent Rush (b. 1945)

    A man is free to go up as high as he can reach up to; but I, with all my style and pep, can’t get a man my equal because a girl is always judged by her mother.
    Anzia Yezierska (c. 1881–1970)