ESPLANADE RESIDENCE
PHOTOS: AUSTRALIAN HOUSE AND GARDEN, 1960
PHOTOS: AUSTRALIAN HOUSE AND GARDEN, 1960
The Stark Residence on the Esplanade in Darwin was featured in the March 1960 edition of Australian House and Garden magazine, in an article by Patricia Hansen titled "New Look in Tropical Houses."
The feature made the house a rare example of Darwin residential modernism to receive national publication at the time, and the article remains one of the more detailed primary source documents of mid-century domestic architecture in the Territory.
The house was designed for Mr and Mrs J.W. Stark on a block overlooking Darwin Harbour, set amid Australian gum trees, one of which was left growing through the concrete terrace.
It is built of cream-painted brick on stone foundations raised 3ft 6in above ground level, with a concrete block terrace running along two sides. The choice of cream over white was deliberate, noted in the article as more suitable for the tropical glare.
The floor plan follows a T-shape, with the lounge, dining and kitchen wing facing the harbour and the three bedrooms and bathroom forming the stem. The lounge faces the water directly, with double French windows opening onto the terrace.
The dining area is raised a foot above the lounge and separated from it by a rail and plant divider, with plants trained up zig-zagged rope.
Picture windows run from floor to ceiling throughout to catch every available breeze, with full-length venetian blinds managing glare.
An overhead fan in the lounge ensures constant air movement through the living and dining rooms, and the corridor running to the bedroom wing is lined with windows opening onto the terrace, providing cross ventilation through the full depth of the plan.
The kitchen is compact and well-considered, with built-in cupboards and china cabinets extending along two long walls in a rectangular arrangement, all fly-wired and cooled by an electric fan.
The interior is furnished with light cane furniture and rush mats on polished hardwood floors, with laminated plastic cupboard tops in rose and flecked finishes.
The architect is not credited in the House and Garden article.
The house represents the confident application of modernist open planning and passive cooling principles to a prestigious Darwin residential site, and demonstrates how thoroughly the ideas of cross ventilation, elevated construction and climate-responsive planning had been absorbed into private residential commissions by the end of the 1950s.
Heritage Status: Not Listed (demolished).
The feature made the house a rare example of Darwin residential modernism to receive national publication at the time, and the article remains one of the more detailed primary source documents of mid-century domestic architecture in the Territory.
The house was designed for Mr and Mrs J.W. Stark on a block overlooking Darwin Harbour, set amid Australian gum trees, one of which was left growing through the concrete terrace.
It is built of cream-painted brick on stone foundations raised 3ft 6in above ground level, with a concrete block terrace running along two sides. The choice of cream over white was deliberate, noted in the article as more suitable for the tropical glare.
The floor plan follows a T-shape, with the lounge, dining and kitchen wing facing the harbour and the three bedrooms and bathroom forming the stem. The lounge faces the water directly, with double French windows opening onto the terrace.
The dining area is raised a foot above the lounge and separated from it by a rail and plant divider, with plants trained up zig-zagged rope.
Picture windows run from floor to ceiling throughout to catch every available breeze, with full-length venetian blinds managing glare.
An overhead fan in the lounge ensures constant air movement through the living and dining rooms, and the corridor running to the bedroom wing is lined with windows opening onto the terrace, providing cross ventilation through the full depth of the plan.
The kitchen is compact and well-considered, with built-in cupboards and china cabinets extending along two long walls in a rectangular arrangement, all fly-wired and cooled by an electric fan.
The interior is furnished with light cane furniture and rush mats on polished hardwood floors, with laminated plastic cupboard tops in rose and flecked finishes.
The architect is not credited in the House and Garden article.
The house represents the confident application of modernist open planning and passive cooling principles to a prestigious Darwin residential site, and demonstrates how thoroughly the ideas of cross ventilation, elevated construction and climate-responsive planning had been absorbed into private residential commissions by the end of the 1950s.
Heritage Status: Not Listed (demolished).