We are working on the design and documentation of additions and alterations to Units 1 and 2 of the Robin Boyd-designed Farfor Flats at the seaside resort of Portsea, Victoria.

The Farfor Flats consist of four single storey semi-detached dwellings designed by notable architect Robin Boyd. Sited in a duplex arrangement, they were constructed in 1968, in brick and timber with flat deck roofing. The northern façades of Units 1 and 2 feature an angled verandah that projects upwards away from the buildings.

The Mornington Peninsula Heritage Study for the Farfor Flats states: "The four units are identical, but each has its own private, and in some way different, outlook from the long window-wall of its main rooms. Each of these window-walls opens to a terrace, over which the roof tilts up abruptly to give cover from the rain while allowing a deeper penetration of sun. Instead of a passage, a semi-outdoor garden space, roofed but only screened on one side, serves as a general hall."

Boyd had done a scheme for a second storey but this didn't go ahead at the time, so the decision to proceed with one now is consistent with his original intent.

Feature ... Robin Boyd: a short biography

[ photos: Milica Tumbas ]

Approval has been granted for work to proceed on conversion and new-build work at Queenscliffe's landmark Ozone Hotel. Lovell Chen has been appointed to carry out the design and documentation.

The Ozone Hotel started life as Baillieu House. It was built in 1881 to the designs of William Ellis, and is now on both the Victorian Heritage Register and the Register of the National Estate.

The main building will be converted into eight luxury apartments with car parking provided at the rear and in the backyard of the house in the complex that faces Stokes Street. Two new buildings are included in the project: a garden building above a garage and a retail/residential building facing Hesse Street.

The garden building will provide two arpartments. The Hesse Street building will provide one, above a shop/office. We will also be undertaking landscaping, services upgrading and minor refurbishment works.

Construction is due to begin at the end of the year.
[ photos: Beng Hin Lim ]

Lovell Chen graduate planner Katherine White has gained a high distinction from RMIT for her thesis on the early years of the Victorian Railway Institute and its club rooms at Flinders Street Station.

Katherine's work is entitled The Door to Success? Paternalism and the Victorian Railways Institute 1900-1939. It investigates the evolution of paternalistic labour management strategies in the Victorian Railways by examining the development of the Institute (VRI) — an educational, social and recreational club, initially developed for male employees but later including facilities for women.

The VRI had custom-designed members' facilities on the third floor of Flinders Street Station. There were numerous classrooms, a large library and associated reading rooms, a gymnasium, a lecture hall (later redecorated to create the famous ballroom), and club rooms. They opened in 1910 and were used until the mid 1980s but are now falling into disrepair.

Initially developed as an educational forum for railway employees, the VRI developed into a social and sporting club in the 1920s and 30s. This dramatic shift was reflected in alterations to the rooms, including the creation of the ballroom and the reallocation of classrooms as club rooms for social societies.

Katherine's thesis will be published in abridged form later this year.
[ photo: Jane Joyce ]

Archaeology of Pharmacy in Victoria
by Lovell Chen heritage specialist Michelle Knehans
Australasian Historical Archaeology, Volume 23, 2005

A study of the material culture of pharmacy, suggesting the potential and aiding recognition of pharmacy material in the (specifically) Victorian, but (more broadly) Australian archaeological record. Based on Michelle's honours thesis.