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Cestria
521 Glenferrie Road,, HAWTHORN VIC 3122 - Property No B5044

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National Trust

B5044 Cestria

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

The first (1891) and greatest American Romanesque Revival house in Australia, conceived and seen at the time as a major step towards a style suitable for the Australian climate, and a blow against the stucco and cast iron Italianate and eclectic work of the past: the architect, E G Kilburn, combined this style imaginatively with other sources and used a bracketted gable of an almost Swiss character; banked colonette around and above the bay window which hint at the so-called Byzantine Revival (as in buildings like McCrae's Queen Victoria Markets, Sydney); a severe performed waffle pattern balustrade in the first floor tower loggia (later continued above the window bay); and a curling art nouveau tendril linking the tower to the gable of the principal facade. There are other features which, though they were derived from the American Romanesque, were novel in Victoria and influenced later designers in other modes, such as the sprays of foliage at arch springings which were developed by local craftsmen into flat leaf art nouveau decoration, and by Walter Butler into naturalistic Australiana motifs. Many interior features survive especially the woodwork of the entrance/stair hall with its a bacus-like screen, and the large west (?dining) room is substantially intact, with wallpapers and decoration from the time of the first owner, T B Guest, the biscuit manufacturer.
Classified: 24/6/1982

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