Redcourt, 506 Orrong Road, Armadale Vic
Table of Contents
- See also Federation Queen Anne style
- See also Melbourne's Federation Heritage
Melbourne's ultimate renovation
September 21, 2013
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| Stephen Nicholls |
Stephen Nicholls
National Domain Editor
View more articles from Stephen Nicholls
The owner, entrepreneur Adam Garrisson, bought the Queen Anne-style mansion in 2009 in a derelict condition from the state government for considerably less than the original 2008 $8 million asking price, but industry sources said he'd spent more than double what he paid on restorations.
- The heritage-listed 3497-square-metre property had been a residence for art and music students in the 1950s, but was abandoned in 1996. Vandals damaged several rooms.
- ''For many years I would drive past it once or twice a week and I was absolutely enamoured by the building,'' Mr Garrisson tells Domain. ''It was very mysterious to me. I was always intrigued by it and I thought I'd love to get inside, wondering if there was ever any potential to do anything with it.''
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| Redcourt before the renovation. |
Redcourt was built in 1888 by the glass and timber merchant Edward Yencken and is one of Melbourne's most prestigious houses
PROPERTY INVESTOR Adam Garrison is believed to be the mystery buyer of a 14-bedroom “renovation rescue” in Armadale.
The co-founder of charitable restaurant Fifteen Melbourne – and until recently the part owner in Spring Street’s iconic Windsor Hotel – plans to fully restore the heritage listed Redcourt mansion on Orrong Road into a family home, a move which some speculate could cost more than $2 million.
Mr Garrison, who could not be contacted, is understood to have paid about $3.9 million for the Redcourt estate in April, far less than the approximate $8 million vendor the Victorian Government had anticipated when it listed the Queen Anne style mansion for sale last year.
Sitting on a 3,497 square metre block with a tennis court, servants quarters, coach house and pavilion, all of which are rundown, the 121-year old heritage protected Redcourt home includes a grand hall, dining room, billiard room, library, drawing room and attic, all of manor style proportions.
Bennison Mackinnon marketing agent Andrew Macmillan was unavailable for comment.
Amongst Mr Garrison’s biggest property venture is the $95 million retail redevelopment of Bourke Street’s General Post Office. [1] The following is from Walking Melbourne:
REDCOURT - A Mansion
- This distinctive mansion is located in Orrong Road, Armadale and has only come to my attention because it is currently up for sale. Oddly enough I have been unable to locate any photographs of the property beyond those provided with regard to the forthcoming auction; it seems difficult to believe that no one took any photographs of this beautiful house - if anyone is able to locate some I'd love to see them.
- Recourt dates to 1887-1888, architects being Reed, Henderson & Smart. It was originally erected for a E.L.Yencken, then subsequently changed hands a number of times until agent T.Burke acquired the property in around 1930 and subdivided the grounds to create Redcourt Avenue. Later still it was run as Redcourt guesthouse and at some stage a hostel.
- Here is Redcourt - from Walking Melbourne:
The shots of the beautiful and apprently intact interiors are evidence of a grand mansion which has fortunately survived. Hopefully it will be purchased and restored to its full glory.
Look at the great fireplace, ceiling and wall panelling in this room:
This is similiarily attractive:
You can see by some of the fluorescent light fittings that this elegant mansion has been used to other purpose, but thankfully the interiors themselves seem - on this viewing anyway - to be relatively preserved:
The first room shown here looks as though it may have been partitioned, note the flimsy wall on the left, which appears to have been erected across a fireplace - the ceiling hints at a room of once grander proportions:
Here's a link to the agents site
September 21, 2013
|
| Stephen Nicholls |
Stephen Nicholls
National Domain Editor
View more articles from Stephen NichollsThe owner, entrepreneur Adam Garrisson, bought the Queen Anne-style mansion in 2009 in a derelict condition from the state government for considerably less than the original 2008 $8 million asking price, but industry sources said he'd spent more than double what he paid on restorations.
|
| Redcourt before the renovation. |
- The heritage-listed 3497-square-metre property had been a residence for art and music students in the 1950s, but was abandoned in 1996. Vandals damaged several rooms.
- ''For many years I would drive past it once or twice a week and I was absolutely enamoured by the building,'' Mr Garrisson tells Domain. ''It was very mysterious to me. I was always intrigued by it and I thought I'd love to get inside, wondering if there was ever any potential to do anything with it.''
 |
| Redcourt after the renovation. |
- Developers were proposing to covert it into 28 bedsits.
After reaching a deal, Adam Garrisson brought in
- Shannon Bennett, the chef and owner of Vue de Monde, to design the kitchen;
- leading fashion designer Akira Isogawa for the music room makeover;
- artist David Bromley for a children's bedroom and some sculptures.
- John Warwicker, of the British design collective Tomato, was responsible for the art.
- It comes complete with tennis court, servants' quarters coach house and pavilion.
''It's an extraordinary property in every way,'' says Ross Savas, a director at Kay & Burton in South Yarra.
- Agent Ross Savas, Kay & Burton, 03 9820 1111.[1]
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| Mystery: With expansive gardens and intriguing features, the restored Queen Anne-style mansion is a place of sheer beauty. |
How Adam Garrisson saved Melbourne mansion Redcourt
- Annemarie Kiely
- From: Vogue Living - Reprinted in the Australian newspaper
- September 18, 2013 11:48AM
ADAM Garrisson (Oriental Pacific Group, previous owner of The Windsor Hotel and current owner of Kitchen Cat - ex Fifteen) is a publicity-shy Melbourne investor who rescues significant old buildings from the bulldozer.
- But don't imagine he is a tweed-wearing National Trust zealot intent on freeze-framing architecture and the "ye olde" times in which they were built.
- Rather, he affects the unassuming air of a Silicon Valley software mogul (neat sneakers, hoodie and jeans) and makes big business of recycling existing buildings for modern use.
- He bankrolled and creatively briefed the redevelopment of Melbourne's neo-Renaissance GPO into a thriving retail hub.
- He co-founded socially responsible restaurant Fifteen with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, and is currently creating a six-star eco-resort (with Vue de Monde owner/chef Shannon Bennett) out of the Art Moderne mansion of Burnham Beeches, a 1930s estate on the edge of Victoria's Sherbrooke Forest.
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| Old buildings "encase the character of a civilisation," says Garrison. Picture: Earl Carter/Vogue Living. |
His most recently completed project is Redcourt, the landmark Armadale, Melbourne, residence that Garrisson spent four years and untold millions rescuing from the ashes of ignominy.
- It was built by glass and timber merchant Edward Yencken in 1888 to the design of architect Joseph Reed, whose firm also designed the State Library of Victoria and the Royal Exhibition Building. Reed's exuberant Queen Anne design consists of Tudor-style half timbering, turned porch posts, ornamental spindles and stained glass.
- The building passed through the hands of a series of eminent pastoralists, politicians and mining entrepreneurs. In 1935, the property was repurposed into a guesthouse, after which it was bought by the Ministry of Education for the residency of music students, before slipping into abject neglect and ultimate government sale in 2009.
Garrisson appointed John Warwicker of London art and design collective Tomato as creative director. The pair walked through the building dozens of times before deciding on a theme. Garrisson says the idea was to achieve a "universal language" but with "different dialects" within each space.
- Other creative people were enlisted for different rooms.
- Fashion designer Akira Isogawa conceptualised the music room as an exotic Bedouin tent;
- British-born, Australian-based artist David Bromley designed the children’s room in the style of a Boy's Own annual;
- and Warwicker himself steeped the Great Hall in the visual vocab of an eccentric English manor - all dark panelling and decorative cross-pollination.
he White Room, featuring a cloud-like sculpture by Naomi Troski. Picture: Earl Carter/Vogue Living. - Melbourne artist Naomi Troski Naomi created a cloud-shape ceiling installation of white netting for a room Garrisson has dubbed the White Room. It's a place for meditation - "nothing to over-stimulate, just room to reflect".
- The adjacent study counterpoints the White Room's ethereal effect with space-swallowing black walls, one of which Warwicker swamped in gilt-framed, Dutch-style still life paintings sourced from op shops and the odd auction sale.
"I wanted to create an environment that fostered a cultural and artistic exchange," says Garrisson, who is legendary for hosting jazz afternoons, gourmet evenings and poetry readings by such Redcourt regulars as actor Jack Thompson. "Some people don't care about old buildings, but they are defining, contextualising and encase the character of a civilisation."
- Or, translating from the truisms of Danish philosopher Kierkegaard: Life must be lived forward, but it can only be understood backward.
- This is an edited extract from the September-October issue of Vogue Living, out now.
- See more at:
- http://www.theaustralian.com.au/executive-living/home-design/how-adam-garrisson-saved-melbourne-mansion-redcourt/story-fngmet9f-1226721878096#sthash.j7yojL4o.dpuf
- Interior photos from Walking Melbourne:http://www.walkingmelbourne.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4936
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