August 2026

A great little Moderne house at 9 Lefevre Sandringham sadly demolished maybe 30 years ago.

It was built in 1939 as the family home of J Esmond Dorney, who had been doing loads of flats around Sth Melb – Elwood – Brighton, most in a sort of Prairie style, others in his personal interpretation of Modernist / Art Deco (and later did a bunch of great houses in Tasmania).

Modest in scale, it nevertheless was a pretty dynamic composition, with that thrusting mostly glass round bay leading back to the side entry, which then went vertical with a tall chimney and a single rooftop room, all in cream brick.

It was on a former golf links estate, and it was published in the Australian Home Beautiful in April 1941 along with some of the other more ordinary houses.

The drawing, based on that photo, is by son Paddy Dorney in his recent book on his dad’s work. The one other photo I could find is by Simon Reeves taken in 1993.

It must have missed out on any heritage protection, perhaps half forgotten, but also the City of Bayside famously refused to list anything for 20 years after doing the usual Victorian and Edwardian places in the 90s. Last pic is what replaced it.

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