Left of Centre

Lynnsay Prunotto

The mudbrick dwelling at 19 Fordhams Road, Eltham was designed by Bohdan Kuzyk while he was apprenticed to well-known environmentally sensitive architect Alistair Knox. Commissioned and owner-built by Jenni Mitchell, it was the first house Bohdan designed and the last one that Alistair oversaw. At the time, Jenni was in her late twenties and had enjoyed success as an artist. She had lived in the original mining cottage on the property since her birth in the 1950s Jenni's mother, Grace Mitchell, had originally run a tea room and pastry shop from a separate building at the bottom of the property. When Grace retired, she completed a degree in Fine Art at RMlT. The pastry shop became her home and art studio, and the mining cottage was bestowed to Jenni. Grace’s studio on the Mt Pleasant Road end of the property now houses the Eltham South Fine Art Gallery.

Jenni had become friendly with Alistair Knox through their joint conservation work as part of the Natural Development Association. She asked Alistair to design an addition to the cottage, but, when she changed her mind and decided to build a new house, Alistair’s apprentice, Bohdan, keenly offered to design the new dwelling. Jenni agreed, and oversaw the project, working onsite as an owner builder every day.

The block at 19 Fordhams Rd is long, narrow and steep, extending from Fordhams Rd to Mt Pleasant Rd. Access to the mudbrick house is from Fordhams Rd, whilst the art gallery is situated at the Mt Pleasant Rd entry. Between these two buildings sits a bountiful fruit and vegetable garden along with a number of outbuildings, including a painting studio and picture framing workshop used by Jenni and her husband, Mervyn Harman. 

The mudbrick house sits below street level. Approached from a gravel and sleeper pathway, the house is at first viewed from above. Initially it presents as a simple, not-quite-rectangular form with a low-pitched roof. but on closer inspection you realise there is purpose and substance behind this ostensible simplicity. The location of the front door, deliberately placed left-of-centre to the front facade, hints at this.

Bohdan's design responded both to Jenni’s needs and those of the site. Jenni wanted a house in which she could exhibit her paintings, within the constraints of a limited budget. Bohdan designed a floor plan that was an elongated hexagon rather than a plain rectangle, the long sides of which were mudbrick walls interspersed by full-length slit windows made from reclaimed railway timbers. The substantial wall space provided room for paintings while simultaneously allowing privacy from neighbouring houses. The front and rear of the house were predominantly glass, admitting warm north light and beautiful views into the lush private garden. Rather than situate the building with long sides parallel to the side boundaries of the property, Bohdan also tilted the house plan so that the space between house and boundary would seem larger and less defined.

The entrance to the building is off-centre, and leads directly into a study. Rather than being divided into distinct individual rooms, the house is made up of a series of flowing spaces. An arrangement of wall openings guides you through these spaces in a winding fashion, maximising the exposure to Jenni's wall-mounted artwork and enriching the experience of the architecture. Only the combined bathroom/laundry is behind walls and a door. Mixed timber species such as tallow, red box and spotted gum were used for the ceiling and timber walls, rather than the usual pine. The brick floor is also laid in a herringbone pattern.

Bohdan took his inspiration for the structure and form of the house from Alistair Knox’s studio, the building in which he was working at the time. This studio is also on the 2013 Mudbrick Tour, part of the property at 2 King Street, Eltham. As in Alistair's studio, the main structural roof member running through the centre of the building intersects the external, mostly-glazed end walls of the house at a kink. In the studio, the beam is supported by a timber column between glazed panels. Here, it is supported by mudbrick piers on either end. This central, deep timber beam in turn supports exposed, raked rafters along the centre of the building, while the other ends of the rafters are supported by the solid mudbrick walls. The timber ceiling boards are laid between the rafters.

The house provides a rich, sensorial experience. The elaborate path of movement through the house allows you to explore its subtle offerings: the gentle raking of the timber-lined ceiling with Iouvered skylight, the sidelight opening made from railways sleepers in the mudbrick walls, the pointed facade that admits an abundance of light and reads like prow of a ship extending into the landscape, and the rich textures and colours employed in the interior and furnishings. Such details make this a remarkable and interesting building. They reflect the character of the artists that reside within, and echo the philosophy of the designer - to whom it was important to ‘set the stage for the client's drama’.