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Former Wills House
5 Dickens Street,, WOODEND VIC 3442 - Property No B4673

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National Trust

B4673 Wills House

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Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

One of Walter Burley Griffin's most brilliantly planned homes of Knitlock construction, the Wills Residence is of National significance. The plan form is a combination of the two diamonds and two squares all meeting at a central point. It was built in 1929 as the country home of Alban H. Wills, a successful Melbourne businessman who had opened an Edison Phonograph and Record Shop in Charing Cross, Bendigo. Wills was one of Griffin's best clients, having had four projects built to Griffin's designs. Alban Wills, in partnership with Paton had gone from fancy goods salesmen to owning two successive Edison Shops in Collins Street, near the Cafe Australia and another shop in Bendigo.
Classified: 02/09/1996

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- Physical Description 1
  
  Former Wills House - Physical Description 1
  
  The twin pyramid roof forms, clad in Knitlock tiles, trellised eaves and no roof gutters was a unique design in its day. The living room and two of the bedrooms had pitched tent-like ceilings which sprung from the top plate of the
  walls.
  
  In 1917 - 1918 Griffin had designed the Knitlock segmental concrete wall system which consisted of an inner and an outer skin of concrete tiles which were grooved on the back enabling them to be slid vertically together with staggered joints in both directions. The flat shingle-type Knitlock concrete roofing tiles were laid in a diamond pattern at a very low pitch. Although the building has not been lived in for many years, the exterior and interior have not been modified, except that the bathroom and toilet are combined and some of the original casement windows have been replaced with double-hung windows.
- Show:
- FORMER WILLS HOUSE
  
  Victorian Heritage Register H1221
- WOODEND SHELTER SHED
  
  Victorian Heritage Inventory
- Eucalyptus aggregata
  
  National Trust