February 2026

There’s this great little collection of modern houses in Wangaratta designed by Grounds Romberg & Boyd (possibly mainly Robin Boyd) that’s been in the news because one of the houses is under threat. They’re in a cul-de-sac called Bruck Court which was created in 1953-6 by and on the grounds of Bruck Mills, then the biggest employer in town (and still going as Australian Textile Mills). It has a big guest /entertaining house with a little attached caretakers house (on the left, pic 7), and three staff houses all at an interesting angle.

The Mills would like to demolish the caretakers house and build seven workers houses instead (though how do they fit them in?). The whole lot is part of a heritage precinct with the Mill itself, but Council issued a permit anyway. So the Robin Boyd Foundation nominated the lot up Heritage Victoria, and you’d have to say there’s a good case, I mean there’s nothing else quite like it, and it’s possibly Boyd.

The houses look pretty intact, and pretty simple, but the guest house has been altered a lot – it now has a more solid front verandah, and all the modernist charm inside has been covered up. However I do think it’s worthy, and the guest house is certainly restorable. Pics from Facebook, real estate sites and the Age.

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