This project was completed in conjunction with Architect Hewson.

In his 1947 book, Victorian Modern, architect Robin Boyd described the Former Salter House as being “one of the finest house designs of the century”

‘Burley’, also known as ‘Salter House’, designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin in 1922 and built in 1926 for Stanley R Salter, is a single storey family home with seven room bays that intersect and are centred around a sunlit open courtyard.

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This home is one of 80 projects completed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin during their twenty years in Australia. The Griffins designed and built five ‘Knitlock’ houses in Woodend and Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, in addition to their own one-room Knitlock cottage, Pholiota, in Heidelberg. The Former Salter house is one of only three remaining in the state.

The present owners bought the property in January 2018 and their brief was to allow the house to reveal itself through its unique structure, materiality, and context.

This involved room by room removal and revealing of the layers that had been laid over the project during previous unconsidered renovations. Joinery interventions are simple and sit within the datum lines of the horizontal internal timber fretwork and existing wall openings.

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The two existing bathrooms were updated with the addition of a robe space for the larger sleeping area and it was important that we incorporated additional technologies, services and fittings without compromising the heritage fabric of the house.

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The project required engagement with highly respected structural engineers and a well-chosen builder in its repair and conservation. The careful curation of colour and tone of the walls, floors and windows underscore the philosophy of doing only what is necessary and retaining as much as possible of the Griffins’ original intention.

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The objective of embedding the house in an indigenous landscape was deftly achieved by landscaper Sam Cox and his team.

Non-native plantings and inappropriate hard landscape elements were removed, and the in-ground pool was converted into a 27,000 litre water reservoir.

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This project is a realization of the Griffins’ forward-thinking vision of the home, which they saw as a place for reflection and engagement with the surrounding environment.

The Former Salter House once again sits in a natural setting, inside and outside blending together in harmony as was their original intention.

This stunning property was shortlisted for Houses Award last year in the heritage category.

Check out the entire project here!