Mulberry Hill
395 Golf Links Road,, LANGWARRIN SOUTH VIC 3911 - Property No B3485
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Statement of Significance
What is significant ?
Mulberry Hill was built as the country home of Sir Daryl and Lady Joan Lindsay in 1926-27. Sir Daryl was to become well known as an artist, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria 1941-56, and as a founder and early leading figure in the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) in the mid 1950s. Lady Joan Lindsay became a well-known author, whose most famous work was Picnic at Hanging Rock, written whilst living at the house. Both were from influential, artistically inclined families, and the house was frequented by other members of the famous Lindsay family and some of Australia's most illustrious businessmen, politicians and artists.
The Lindsays remodelled the existing cottage on the site and Daryl designed the main house with the advice of their friend, the society architect Harold Desbrowe Annear. Daryl Lindsay himself developed the garden. When Joan Lindsay died in 1984 the property was left to the National Trust, and it has been managed as a house museum, complete with entire contents of house and studio, since then.
The main house is a rectangular weatherboard structure. The style is eclectic, with a broadly American East Coast 'Cape Cod' transverse gable roof, dormer-style windows and symmetry, combined with Georgian detailing such as the front door fanlight and multi-paned glazing. The central five sided colonnaded porch with open balcony above is the most dominant and unusual feature. The balustrade for this porch, and other details, came from Whelan the Wrecker.
The south wing is formed from a remodelling of a Victorian era house which existed on the property prior to the Lindsay ownership. A multi-paned and shuttered Palladian window faces west from this section.
A Bungalow style weatherboard house is located to the south-west of the house and a small stable block to the north-east. These were not part of the Annear design.
Major garden elements include a large semi-circular cypress hedge with rockery under, the associated brick garden wall with cast cement urns, Italian cypress, pathways and hedges on the south, and an axial brick-paved walk focused on a sundial. The paved garden area to the rear has an enclosing garden wall made from slop-moulded bricks and includes an old mulberry tree, from which the house derives its name. The property is entered via a curving drive lined with gums.
How is it significant ?
Mulberry Hill, Baxter has architectural and historical significance at the State level.
Why is it significant ?
Mulberry Hill has historical significance for its associations with Sir Daryl Lindsay and his wife, Lady Joan Lindsay, who both became prominent figures in Victorian artistic and creative circles during their life there together. Sir Daryl became a noted artist, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria, and a heritage campaigner, while Lady Lindsay became a noted novelist. The house is also significant for the guests entertained by the Lindsays, which included many prominent Australian artists, writers and politicians, such as Lionel Lindsay and Blamire Young, Banjo Patterson and Sir Robert Menzies, and the newspaper entrepreneur, Sir Keith Murdoch.
The house is also of interest for containing all the contents of the Linsdays' occupation over nearly 60 years. The studio is of particular interest as remaining complete with paint, easels and canvases.
Architecturally the house is an unusual adaptation of the American 'Cape Cod' style, rarely used in Australia. It also expresses the taste of Sir Daryl Lindsay and the skill of Desbrowe Annear in adapting the style to create a very distinctive design. The garden and drive planting are also highly complementary as well as having individually notable elements.
Statement adopted with amendments from Frankston Heritage Study. 17/11/2010
Classified: 26/09/1974
Revised: 03/08/1998
See also Landscape File L10013
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MULBERRY HILLVictorian Heritage Register H0745
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Mulberry HillNational Trust
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Morus sp.National Trust
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