OPEN THE DOOR ON HISTORY
As Open House Hobart celebrates its 10th year, we meet the people who help make it happen – the organisers, architects, home and building owners, who allow an increasingly curious audience keen to take a look behind the doors of some of Hobart’s most int
THEY say from little things big things grow, and Open House Hobart has grown alongside the city it celebrates. It was an inauspicious beginning for Open House Hobart, with just nine buildings opened to the public on a single day.
“We had seen the success of Open House in cities around the world, most notably Melbourne and in London, where in the concept began, and we hoped it might succeed here too,” executive director of the Tasmanian Chapter of the Institute of the Architects and co-founder of Open House Hobart Jennifer Nichols says.
“It rained, but fortunately that doesn’t put Tasmanians off a stickybeak,” she jokes, alluding to the feel-good atmosphere the event promotes by encouraging visitors to explore the city.
By the end of the day, the event had counted more than 1000 visits – encouragement enough to stage the event again the following year.
As the event has expanded in popularity, so too has its footprint – going as far afield as Richmond, Rokeby and Oatlands, adding themed walking tours, talks, drawing classes and spawning a popular satellite event in Launceston.
Opening dozens of buildings – many of which are private homes – is no small feat for the small team who makes Open House happen.
“There might only be a handful of us in the office,” Nichols says. “But there is an army of supporters behind us. The building owners, sponsors and volunteers really make the event happen through their willingness to get behind the program, and share their spaces and their knowledge.”
At its heart, Open House Hobart is about
Hobart’s buildings tell the story of the city more elegantly and evocatively than anywhere else in the country.
civic pride and the role buildings play in contributing to our sense of place.
Nichols says the aim of Open House is to promote well-designed architecture.
“A good-quality built environment improves health and wellbeing. This applies to all forms of architecture, from public buildings to private residences, highlighting that good design adds value and has the potential to inspire,” she says.
THE DORNEY EFFECT
This belief in the positive effects of good design is epitomised by the Dorney House, designed by and named after one of Tasmania’s best-known architects Esmond Dorney. Built in 1978 for the architect’s family and now owned and managed by the Hobart City Council, the house is a reconstruction of two earlier homes – also designed by Dorney – that were destroyed by bushfire. Located atop the abandoned
fortifications of Fort Nelson, it features multiple radiating split levels with a sunken lounge and interior that provides stunning views of the Derwent estuary.
The house has been a highlight of the Open House program since it was first included in 2014. This year, it will host An Afternoon in the Dorney House with architecture enthusiast and Open House ambassador Tim Ross, who will present a hilarious, nostalgic, personal and poignant journey though our unique relationship with the Australian home.
Ross, who is also a well-known comedian, radio and television show host, as well as an architecture enthusiast, is a big fan of the house and Hobart’s broader built environment.
“Hobart’s buildings tell the story of the city more elegantly and evocatively than anywhere else in the country,” Ross says, with obvious admiration for our southern city.
“Our best architecture elevates our spirit and tells our stories. The house that Esmond built for his family on the top of Porter Hill speaks of the importance of experimentation and connection to nature, something that has become core to Tasmanian architecture today.”
The Open House organisers have happily scored a new Dorney home for this years’ program, which also happens to be his last.
Designed for ballroom dancers Geoff and Maxine Fisher, Fisher House includes a sprung floor ballroom and indoor swimming pool on the ground floor, which also houses an archive of ballroom dancing ephemera that gives it a museum-like atmosphere.
The upstairs level is dominated by a large living area featuring Dorney’s signature curved ceiling, a sunken circular lounge and extensive glazing that provides panoramic views of the River Derwent and Eastern Shore.
The house that Esmond built for his family on the top of Porter Hill speaks of the importance of experimentation and connection to nature, something that has become core to Tasmanian architecture today.
Each room in the house is uniquely shaped, thanks to the irregular form of the house.
“Well, that was Esmond,” says Maxine, who knew of Dorney through his home on Porter Hill. “I heard that he lived on a house on the hill. Geoffrey and I both liked circles, so we got in touch with Edmond and the rest is history.”
The design and build took much longer than expected, due to numerous redesigns by Dorney, some initial reluctance by the Hobart City Council to approve the project and an ill-sited power pole.
“By the time we moved in it was six years since the first plans. We had five children and a bedroom for each, but by the time it was built one had moved to Melbourne,” explains Maxine.
The ballroom has been host to many dances and fundraising events, with ballroom dancing clearly running in the veins of Maxine and Geoff. “Geoff had been a ballroom dancing champion twice in the 1940s,” says Maxine, who was a young dancer when they met.
“When I started dancing we competed together, it turned into a romance and we got married. Then the children came along,” Maxine says.
Maxine and Geoff returned to amateur competitive dancing later in life.
“One day Geoff said ‘you’ll never guess what I’ve done. I’ve entered us in the competition this Saturday’,” she says.
“We hadn’t danced for 27 years, we only knew one dance and came last. But the next two dances we competed in we won and we kept going,” Maxine reflects.
The dancing couple also established a state body to represent amateur dancers in Tasmania and launched a statewide amateur dancing competition, which still runs today. Despite having lost Geoff to cancer five years ago, Maxine still lives in Fisher House.
Many rooms have been repurposed and the laundry has been moved upstairs to make it easier for Maxine to manage household chores.
Her children still visit regularly, keeping it very much a family home. Maxine has also taken on the role of custodian of the significant archive of ballroom dancing memorabilia downstairs. Maxine’s collection includes photos, articles, trophies and dancing costumes kept in homemade museum display cases.
“I had all this stuff to do with dancing history in Tasmania. When my husband died, I thought if I set it up, someone like what’s his name at Mona might be kooky enough to want to take it.”
Through Open House Hobart, Maxine’s home and its quirky private collection will be made public for the first time.
Maxine first heard about Open House through her church, the St Pius X Catholic Church, in Taroona. The church happens to be another Esmond Dorney design and has been included in numerous Open House programs, where Maxine has volunteered as a parishioner serving tea and scones to visitors.
Nestled among native bushland with sweeping views to the Derwent estuary, Pius X is considered to be Australia’s first Modernist church. The unique curved roof and building design employs the natural setting and light of its situation to marry internal and external space, which is typical of much of Dorney’s work. Pius X will open again for Open House in November, with the promise of more tea and scones.
Another Dorney highlight in this year’s program is Kaljuvee House, a beautifully restored 1952 house that features two pavilions – one private and one social – that are defined by a butterfly of two opposing skillion roofs.
A BIGGER CONVERSATION
As well as celebrating Hobart’s unique architecture, Open House Hobart also seeks to spark conversations around challenges related to the built environment. This includes a series of talks by experts across the planning, landscape and built environment industries to explore the issues facing the city, such as building height limits, heritage preservation, sustainability and housing affordability.
One such talk will shine a light on affordable and diverse medium density infill housing, which is becoming an increasingly desirable model for small, growing cities such as Hobart.
For architect and current president of the Australian Institute of Architects’ Tasmanian Chapter, Stuart Tanner, advocacy for good design is best achieved by showing the public what good architecture looks and feels like, by opening those doors and providing the opportunity for architects and designers to share their ideas. “The Open House program is a superb opportunity to engage with design excellence in our built environment. Walking through architecture allows one to directly experience how the architect visualised a building in its design phase. The actual experience can reveal qualities that give insight into the inspiration and intent of a building. This can be surprising, uplifting, or even challenging. It also can illuminate how a work of architecture relates to its context, or how light moves through spaces or how intelligent detailing might sensitively respond to heritage fabric. Great architecture can, and should, elicit an emotive response to all who observe it and Open House is a door to those experiences.”
Shamus Mulcahy has been involved in Open House Hobart as both an architect and a homeowner.
Through Open House, the work of his architectural practice Bence Mulcahy has been seen by a wide audience.
“It’s a wonderful weekend sharing the value of architecture with the public, allowing them to
IT IS OFTEN THE MOST UNASSUMING BUILDINGS THAT SURPRISE PEOPLE THE MOST... EVERY BUILDING HAS A STORY TO TELL BEHIND THOSE CLOSED DOORS
experience it first-hand.
The program, at its core, is education – an opportunity for everyone to learn about architecture and our built environment through experiencing it,” Mulcahy says.
This year, the Bence Mulcahy project Fusilier Cottage will feature in the Open House program. A recent winner at the Tasmanian Architecture Awards and now short-listed for a national architecture award, Fusilier Cottage is a successful mix of heritage restoration and contemporary living.
The original Battery Point cottage was built in the late-1830s for Angus McLeod, a Scottish musician and soldier. A new extension features glass doors and timber screens that can be used in various combinations to change how the cottage interacts with its surroundings.
Owners Mark and Sopantini Heyward are clearly pleased with the results, and are happy to share them with the public as part of Open House Hobart.
“The extension has created a wonderful living space. It perfectly integrates the old and the new, and it reflects our love of Tasmania, of its built and natural heritage. It does that through the use of bluestone, vertical shiplap timber panelling, brass and skylights.
“We love the way the walls, comprised of layered vertical hydro-wood and sliding glass panels, allow us to play with the space – sometimes opening fully to the garden and the street, sometimes partially, and sometimes closed. The space feels light and expansive, and the interaction with the Battery Point community really gives us joy,” the couple says.
Beyond opening doors to the city’s private homes, Open House Hobart also provides
access to vital infrastructure that makes our city tick, including the Hill Street Reservoir in West Hobart, TasPorts tower on Macquarie Point and Rokeby Fire Station.
Overall, there are more than 70 buildings currently scheduled for this year’s program, with more to be added in the lead-up to the Open House weekend in November.
While many buildings are “general opens” where visitors can simply turn up at the designated times, some buildings, tours and events require booking, which operates on a first in, best dressed basis.
Organisers urge those keen on attending the most popular buildings and tours to jump online when the program goes live on October 5.
With so many open buildings, tours and events, the weekend of November 12-13, promises to be a busy one.
Event producer Katie Katos is quietly hoping that Open House Hobart will return to a pre-pandemic attendance that peaked at more than 20,000 visits in 2019.
“Like so many events, Covid-19 presented huge challenges for the Open House Hobart program, but we worked within the limitations and developed a strategy to keep it going.
“While we are still presented with some of the lingering challenges from Covid-19, we hope to see the momentum return in 2022.”
While putting together an event of this scale is a huge logistical challenge, Katos says the positive response from attendees makes it all worth it.
“Every year the outpouring of gratitude from the community amazes me,” she says.
“I love hearing people’s stories from the weekend, the buildings they visited and the things they learnt.
“It is often the most unassuming buildings that surprise people the most. I encourage people to look beyond the coveted homes and take a dive into some of the other buildings that are on offer. Every building has a story to tell behind those closed doors.” • Open House Hobart
November 12-13, 2022 www.openhousehobart.org
*There is an open invitation to become part of the Open House team by volunteering a half, full day or the whole weekend at one (or more) of the open buildings. For their time, volunteers are fed a gourmet brekkie and are guests at the official after-party, held at Open House sponsor Brickworks’ design studio on the Hobart waterfront.