Occasionally people ask me whether I conduct guided tours. I don’t, but I’ve often thought a series of themed, self-guided walking and driving tours could be a useful addition to the content on this website and provide interested Canberrans and tourists with a way of learning about some of Canberra’s important mid-twentieth century modernist houses.

Development of these self-guided tours is now underway. As each one is completed, it will be made available here as a pdf. The tours will be self-contained, one-page guides covering residential architecture, buildings and public art, free for you to download and enjoy. The first is a walking tour:

• #1: Modernist houses of Canberra’s inner south (pdf, 459k)

This walking tour of approximately 90 minutes duration winds its way through the suburbs of Deakin, Forrest and Red Hill. Starting from the Royal Australian Institute of Architect’s Headquarters on Mugga Way, it passes by nine of Canberra’s most important modernist houses, including examples of functionalist architecture from the 1930s and post-war Melbourne regional and post-war international houses from the 1950s.