17 August 2025
An interesting but definitely not spectacular house in Kooyong Road Toorak that looks maybe 60s ranch style, but it’s actually 1936, and designed by Roy Grounds !
He was in partnership with Geoffrey Mewton at the time but they designed separately, and Grounds did other rustic style houses at the time.
It’s low slung painted brick with traditional touches like the slate roof, inset verandah, a little bay window, all very informal but not historicist. He was clearly influenced by William Wurster, a Bay Area architect in California, who was doing similar houses at the time, like the last pic. Grounds might even have seen some when he worked in LA in 1931-2.
No heritage overlay, and hasn’t sold since 1998.
Crazy letterbox and planter, no idea if original.
Storey of Melbourne 