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It is the home that sparked a love of architecture for many young students, and laid the foundations for Australian architect Glenn Murcutt to become the first and only Australian winner of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2002.
Yet from the outside, Ball-Eastaway house is humble, deflecting attention to the Australian bush nearby.
The NSW government announced on Tuesday that the home Murcutt designed 40 years ago for artist and teacher Lynne Eastaway and her former partner, the late abstract artist and acclaimed colourist Sydney Ball would be added to the state heritage register on Friday.
NSW Heritage Minister Penny Sharpe said the house was a landmark Murcutt design in Australian architecture, “perfectly capturing the spirit of the bush”.
She said the listing “secured its place in our story, ensuring future generations can learn from it and be inspired”.
Eastaway was relieved. “I am just so glad it has happened, so when I leave it is hopefully in good hands. It can’t be destroyed.”
Many people fear heritage-listing a home reduces a sale price, but Eastaway’s goal was to protect a slice of Australian cultural history. “I am a custodian of architectural and art history. It is as simple as that.”
The Glenorie property in north-west Sydney also includes two standalone artist studios on a 10-hectare bush conservation zone. The two-bedroom home is likely to be listed for sale in the next two months.
Eastaway has lived in the house for the past eight years, enjoying watching small bush orchids flower and die, swamp wallabies overcome their shyness, and noticing how the light hits the bush at different times of day.
“You are always looking out in the bush,” said Eastaway. “It made me feel like I was a tiny speck in the wholeness of nature.”
Murcutt’s designs are best known for “touching the earth lightly”, and celebrating the Australian bush.
And the home seems to hover above the ground. The site on a rock ledge was chosen because it would protect the home from fire, least disturb the native bush, and allow water to run underneath.
Architect Daniel North, who nominated the home for heritage listing, said it was supported on 14 slender steel columns that would leave no trace if the house were moved.
“The site would look like nothing was ever here,” said North, who, with his practice partner, architect Catherine Downie, did repairs and updates to the home last year.
Downie said they pinched themselves when they got the job. “Glenn is the reason I wanted to be an architect,” North said.
Visiting the site last year, Murcutt, 89, said: “I think it is a better building now.”
Surrounded by bush, Murcutt’s design couldn’t be more different from those of the large new homes nearby.
From the outside, nothing tips off the visitor to the art on the walls inside, and the views of the bush.
The house includes two verandahs, both without railings, designed to be meditative.
Eastaway met Ball at art school when she was 25 – he was her art teacher and nearly 17 years older. They became lovers and lived in the Glenorie home before splitting up, but they remained lifelong friends.
Ball gave Eastaway half the house and, when he died in 2017, he left her his half, and some money.
Eastaway said: “I used to say, ‘Put it in your name, it is your house’. He would say, ‘No, no, it will all be yours’.”
“It was very hard to separate from Syd, even when we had separated.
“We were still good mates, and there was a lot of loyalty between us. Even now, I’m thinking, ‘What would he think?’”
The home includes Ball’s large collection of chamber music, and art by Ball and many others. A bookshelf, featuring a small piece Ball made from plastic cake bases, is likely to be displayed at a Shapiro auction. Other items will be donated to public galleries.
Afraid she will fall over in the uneven bush nearby, it is time for Eastaway to leave. “I haven’t got any kids. I’ve got nieces and nephews … I’ve seen them deal with their own parents’ death, and seen how hard it is to sort everything out.”
The NSW government announced measures last year to make owning and buying a heritage home less onerous, offsetting fears that owning one would be expensive and time-consuming. These included no longer requiring approval from the Heritage Council of NSW to install solar panels, security, fire suppression and water systems.
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