3 Spencer Street, Turner was designed by husband and wife architects Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland in 1946. The house is a late example of the inter-war functionalist style with its asymmetrical massing, simple geometric shape and roof concealed by parapet.

This modern brick architecture was a continuation of the Moir and Sutherland’s work from the period 1935-1939. In some ways it represents a more conservative approach to the functionalist style, with the windows timber framed rather than metal and a lack of corner windows in the design. However, this may be due to a shortage of building materials in the period immediately after WWII, when there were restrictions placed on the use of steel.

Significance

3 Spencer Street, Turner is listed on the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture. The house is regarded by the RAIA as a good, late example of the inter-war functionalist style. Despite the various alterations to the house, it still incorporates most of the principal design features of the inter-war functionalist style. It was probably the last house in Canberra built in this style.

Description

The cavity brick house is constructed of brown face bricks with flush vertical joints and raked horizontal joints. The roof is a low pitched metal roof hidden by a low brick parapet. This has the effect of emphasising the horizontal plane. The windows are mostly green painted timber, double hung. A number of the original internal elements including joinery, ceilings and features such as Art Deco door handles remain and are in good condition.

The elongated plan of the house extends along a north/south axis with a central entry. A large front terrace extends across the two north east bedrooms while the lounge/dining room projects out to the front, at the southern end of the terrace, providing a protected approach to the entrance. South of the lounge/dining is a dinette, east of the kitchen, which faces west. The northern part of the house contains the two bedrooms and the wet areas. The main bedroom extends across the north side with extensive glazing to the north and west with a smaller window to the east.

The original residence had a roofed court to the west of the entry which was a major central feature. The wall here was fully glazed to the west, so that upon entry, one was afforded a view through the house to the courtyard and beyond to the rear garden with the hall lit with natural light. However, an unsympathetic living room extension was placed into the courtyard area and into the rear garden. The main bedroom was also enlarged by glazing the original north west sleep out and removing the wall. The original glazing on the front eastern facade had the same low level sills; both the eastern bedrooms have had their sills raised.

Image credit

The images of 3 Spencer Street, Turner (above) are reproduced with the permission of the photographer, Merrilyn Sernack.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects RSTCA Citation No. R130
• Short biography of Malcolm Moir
• The inter-war functionalist style

The Evans Crescent Housing precinct in Griffith was designed by husband and wife architects Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland in 1939 and 1940. The houses are an example of the inter-war functionalist style with their asymmetrical cubic massing, roofs concealed by parapets, metal framed corner and ribbon windows and cantilevered balconies and hoods.

The houses in the precinct are among the first truly modern designs in Canberra and represent a major architectural urban form designed by the same architects in the same style over a two year period.

Significance

The Evans Crescent Housing precinct, Griffith, is listed on the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture. The precinct is regarded by the RAIA as an excellent example of the inter-war functionalist style and the only example in Canberra of a coherent group of residences in this style. Malcolm Moir is recognised as one of Canberra’s leading architects of the middle period of the twentieth century.

Three of the houses are particularly important, since they retain their original character: numbers 7, 11 and 15. These display clearly the different types of massing and the growth in the confidence of the architects as the consecutive designs unfolded: the first (number 15) has a conservative tiled roof over the living area while later designs (numbers 11 and 7) have flat roofs concealed by parapets.

Description of the precinct

The precinct consists of numbers 7, 9, 11, 15 and 17 Evans Crescent. Number 13 Evans Crescent is not included. Designed by Kenneth Oliphant in 1939 in the same functionalist style as his house at 24 Arthur Circle, the house was extensively altered in 1978 with a cape cod style extension. Its placement in the centre of the precinct detracts from but does not destroy the urban form of the group. The siting of the houses on a curved, sloping street is a significant aspect of the precinct. It allowed the architects to exploit both the three dimensional expression of the inter-war functionalist style and the relationship between the levels, utilised by split level planning.

Number 15

Number 15 Evans Crescent was the first residence designed and is a generous split-level two bedroom plan with extensive glazing. The living areas have a pitched, tiled roof. Entry is at the middle level, which contains the living, dining, kitchen, study and sun rooms laid out in a rectangular plan. With the exception of the kitchen, all these rooms have full height glazing. The upper level is located over the garage and consists of two bedrooms and a bathroom while the garage, laundry and storage area are located on the lower level. Corner windows are used extensively.

Number 11

Number 11 Evans Crescent was the second house designed in the precinct. It is a tri-level house with a large porch at each level. The roofs are all low pitched with parapet walls and the entry is centrally located on the ground level and opens into a wide hall with a low ceiling. The living room is separated from the entry by a fireplace, with the living room and kitchen set three steps down to the north of the house.

A bedroom is located to the south at the mid upper level off the main stair landing, while the top level has a large bedroom, a lounge room with a study opening off it and a bathroom. The lounge has a large corner window (the only one in the house) and a glazed double door opens out from the study onto the large terrace above the garage and entry, which is surrounded by horizontal pipe railing.

The house was built by the well known local builder J C Tobler (1903-1989), and it has remained in the family. The Swiss born Tobler arrived in Canberra in 1927, establishing a furniture, joinery and building business. He was involved in many early Canberra construction projects and was building supervisor for the construction of the US Embassy in 1943. Tobler was also an enthusiastic amateur photographer. An exhibition of his work was held at the Canberra Museum and Art Gallery from 5 February-26 March 2000.

Number 7

Number 7 Evans Crescent is a split level four bedroom house with a plan that turns about the entry axis to address the curve in Evans Crescent. The entry porch is covered by a thin concrete roof slab, partially supported by a steel column. Entry is on the lower level through a hall with an angled and curved wall directing the visitors to the upper living level. The living room faces north and has a central fireplace, with the dining room to south, forming an L shaped plan. The kitchen is off the dining room.

The lower level to the east has four bedrooms, a sun room and a bathroom. The lower level has three corner windows. The street facade of the house is mostly original. The rear has been altered with the addition of a bedroom and bathroom in the mid 1950s.

Number 9

Number 9 Evans Crescent was originally a five bedroom residence, with two bedrooms located at the rear of the ground level and three to the rear upper level. The house was set out in a T form, with the top of the T across the rear. The entry was centrally located on the south side with the living room facing the street. Interesting features included an internal curved stair expressed as a two storey curved wall at the south rear corner of the house, tall brick chimneys and a long porch off the living and dining rooms to the north.

The house was extended to the south in the early 1980s, with the addition extending past the original front. A number of unsympathetic features have also been added to the street facade.

Number 17

Number 17 Evans Crescent has been extensively altered with extensions in 1965, 1971 and 1973. The front elevation has been altered with the addition of an upper level and a number of unsympathetic features have been added which further compromise the front facade. Although the modifications have substantially affected the character of the house it can still be seen that it was once an inter-war functionalist design, like the other houses in the group.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects RSTCA Citation No. R114
• Short biography of Malcolm Moir
• Inter-war functionalist architecture
• Short biography of Kenneth Oliphant

3 Wilmot Crescent, Forrest was designed by Malcolm Moir in 1936. The two storey house is an early example of the inter-war functionalist style and followed Moir’s own residence at 43 Melbourne Avenue (1935). It exhibits features typical of the functionalist style: asymmetrical cubic massing, simple geometric shape, roof concealed by parapet, metal framed corner and ribbon windows and cantilevered balcony and hood.

The house is one of the first that Moir worked on with Heather Sutherland, who joined his practice in 1936. Other features of interest are the rounded chimneys, Art Deco style details, diagonal brick course around the upper parapets, cantilevered balcony and chevron-like sloping glazing bars in the balcony door.

Significance

3 Wilmot Crescent, Forrest is listed on the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture. It is regarded by the RAIA as a good early example of the inter-war functionalist style designed by Malcolm Moir, one of Canberra’s leading architects of the middle period of the twentieth century.

Description

The house is sited facing Wilmot Crescent to the west on the large 3107.5 square metre block. The ground floor entrance is through an ante-room (added in 1946) which leads to an entrance stair hall. This opens to the north living room which in turn opens into a dining room, which was originally occupied by the kitchen. On the western side of the ground floor is the kitchen, converted from the original maids room; a shower room converted from the original laundry and water closet; and a family room converted from the original double garage.

The most significant rooms in the house are the living room and the main bedroom. Features of interest in the living room include the corner window and large fireplace of narrow, textured cream bricks. Both rooms have unusual v-jointed canite ceilings which are recessed above the plaster borders. Although the house has undergone a number of modifications, it still exhibits the important features of the inter-war functionalist style.

Additional residence at 3 Wilmot Crescent, Forrest, added in 2005, by Colin Stewart Architects.

Additions

Additions designed by Colin Stewart Architects were made to the residence in 2005. A new house was built on the same block (pictured above), along with an addition to the existing house at the far side of the street frontage. The separate residence is a contemporary interpretation of the Moir house in the form of a white rendered sculptural box. The project highlights and compliments the honey brick and parapet roofs of the existing house.

The intention was to make a modern interpretation of the Moir forms while leaving the original house intact. The result is an unusually sensitive and thoughtful example of urban infill that meets modern needs yet respects the original architecture. The additions were nominated for a 2005 RAIA ACT Architecture Award.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects RSTCA Citation No. R123
• Forrest Residences, 2005 RAIA ACT Architecture Awards.
• Short biography of Malcolm Moir
• Inter-war functionalist architecture

Malcolm Moir (1903-1971) was one of Canberra’s leading architects of the middle period of the twentieth century and was responsible for introducing modern residential designs into Canberra in the 1930s. Along with Kenneth Oliphant, Moir was one of Canberra’s earliest privately practising architects. Moir’s work from the early 1930s to the 1950s was modernist and he designed a number of houses in the inter-war functionalist style during this period.

Early career

Moir was one of the first students to graduate from the new Architecture School at Sydney University under Professor Leslie Wilkinson in 1924. After graduating, Moir worked in the New South Wales Public Service, in the Architect’s Branch of the Public Works Department. In 1927 he moved to Canberra, where he worked in the Architect’s Department of the Federal Capital Commission. While there, Moir played an important role in the design and supervision of the Institute of Anatomy (1929), under its architect W Hayward Morris.

The Great Depression brought building projects in Canberra to a halt. The Federal Capital Commission was abolished and Moir became manager of the Capitol Theatre in Manuka. However, from 1932 he gained commissions for some building projects and in 1935 designed the Civic Theatre, six shops at Manuka Shopping Centre at The Lawns, two hotels and his own house at 43 Melbourne Avenue, Forrest. This house (pictured above) was probably Canberra’s first truly modern design and was radically different from the general architectural styles of the day. It is one of the most significant houses in Canberra. Remarkably, Moir obtained his knowledge of modernism from books: at that point he had not travelled overseas and experienced modernist architecture first hand.

Heather Sutherland

In November 1935 Moir’s first wife died and he began working with the architect Heather Sutherland, who had also studied under Professor Wilkinson at Sydney University and graduated in 1926. Moir and Sutherland were married in November 1936 and practised in partnership until her death in 1953. With the post-war expansion of Canberra the practice flourished, becoming Moir, Ward and Slater (and by the 1960s Moir and Slater).

Moir was a member of the ACT Advisory Council for several years, the President of the Canberra Chamber of Commerce and helped begin the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA). He survived three wives, two of whom were also architects. Moir died on 22 September 1971.

Houses profiled on this site

• 43 Melbourne Avenue, Forrest, 1935
• 3 Wilmot Crescent, Forrest, 1936
• Evans Crescent Precinct, Griffith, 1939-40
• 3 Spencer Street, Turner, 1946

Other works

• The Civic Theatre, Mort Street, Braddon, 1935 (demolished 1970)
• The Tregear House, 61 Arthur Circle, Forrest, Moir and Sutherland, 1937
• 11 Bass Gardens, Griffith, 1939
• US Embassy, Yarralumla, Moir and Sutherland, 1943 (with US State Dept)
• Townhouses, 57 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, Moir and Slater, 1953 (demolished)
• Netherlands Embassy, Yarralumla, Moir, Ward and Slater, 1955
• South African Embassy, Perth Avenue, Yarralumla, Moir and Slater, 1956
• French Embassy, Darwin Avenue, Yarralumla, Moir, Ward and Slater, 1959

Source

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects RSTCA Citation No. R118

43 Melbourne Avenue, Forrest was designed by Malcolm Moir as his own residence in 1935 and construction was completed in 1937. The house is an early example of the inter-war functionalist style with its asymmetrical cubic massing, simple geometric shape, roof concealed by parapet, metal framed corner and ribbon windows and cantilevered balcony and hood. The house was one of Canberra’s first truly modern design and represented a new achievement in the mid 1930s, at a time when there was very little private housing of any kind being built in the capital.

The house was probably built before Moir married the architect Heather Sutherland; future upper level additions were made to accommodate their architectural office. The first of these additions was completed in 1941, with an external stair providing access to the upper level. Further additions were undertaken in 1948, 1956 and 1961; all were sympathetic to the architecture of the house. The Moir family occupied the house until the death of Malcolm Moir in 1971.

Significance

43 Melbourne Avenue, Forrest is listed on the ACT Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects Register of Significant Twentieth Century Architecture. It is regarded by the RAIA as probably Canberra’s best single example of the inter-war functionalist style. Malcolm Moir is recognised as one of Canberra’s leading architects of the middle period of the twentieth century. The design of this house as his own residence and later use as his office and residence further enhances its significance.

In 1997 the ACT Chapter of the RAIA awarded the house a 25 Year Award for architectural excellence.

Description

The four bedroom house is elevated from the street and located centrally on the large 2248 square metre block. The house has a stepped, multi-level plan with the entry slightly off centre. The front of the house is dominated by the extensive upper level glazing, which extends up to the underside of the roof without any eaves overhang. The front entry terrace is partially covered by a concrete roof hood and balcony above, which extends across the front of the lounge room and up to the dining room. The front door opens into a small entry lobby on the main level with the lounge room on the right and a hall extending past to the bedrooms and bathroom.

43 Melbourne Avenue, taken from Ord Street. Nice view of the metal framed corner windows, roof concealed by a parapet and the simple pipe handrail for the external stairs.

As at 2000, the house had a number of internal fittings and pieces of furniture designed by Moir that were still intact, which added to its interest and significance. The three rooms facing Melbourne Avenue—the lounge, dining and main bedroom—were maintained in mostly original condition and still had the door hardware, electrical fittings, light switches and joinery designed by Moir.

In addition to these rooms are three other bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, two informal living areas and a garage with internal access, with its original zig-zag patterned wooden door. Located at the rear of the main level are two bedrooms, a bathroom and a gallery kitchen, which extends through to an informal living and eating area. The lower level to the south originally contained maid’s quarters and the garage.

A stair approaches the upper levels to the south located off the passage between the kitchen and dining room. The large living room, located on the south side, has glazing to the south and west including corner windows. This room also has external access via an open tread concrete stair that turns around a brick blade wall arriving at a narrow balcony, which extends across the front of the southern brick vertical mass of the house. The top-level bedroom is entered from the upper level entry passage up several steps on the west front side of the house. This room has extensive glazing to three walls.

Sources and further reading

• Royal Australian Institute of Architects RSTCA Citation No. R118
• Andrew Metcalf, Canberra Architecture, Watermark Press, 2003
• Short biography of Malcolm Moir
• Inter-war functionalist architecture