Redstone is a heritage-listed private house at 34 Adderton Road, Telopea, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Walter Burley Griffin and built in 1935. It is also known as The Winter House. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 9 January 2009.
History Aboriginal occupation of this part of Sydney The valley of the Parramatta River had been populated by Indigenous Australians for some 40,000 years before European settlement by peoples of the Darug (or Dharug) nation. The Wallumedagal (or Walumettagal) clan lived along the north bank of the Parramatta River, westward from the Lane Cove River (centred on the present day Ryde district). Further west, at the head of the Parramatta River, lived the Burramattagal (or Booramedical) of the present day Parramatta district. Seasonal burning of the long grass to encourage a fresh grass supply for native animal feed created the fertile landscape that attracted the European colonists - large trees, spaced well apart with a grassy under storey.
Colonisation and European settlement Governor Phillip's instructions from George III required him to begin cultivation immediately on landing at Sydney Cove. The failure of the first crops at Farm Cove turned Phillip's attention westward where he found the fertile country around The Crescent (present day Parramatta Park) and Prospect Hill that could sustain the agriculture needed to feed the infant colony. The Rose Hill (Parramatta) settlement was established late in 1788, and the 70 acres cleared for the Government Farm delivered the colony's first harvest of wheat, barley, maize, oats, vegetables and flax in late 1789. From 1791 all agricultural efforts were concentrated around Parramatta, spreading to The Ponds area (north of Victoria Road, Rydalmere, along The Ponds Creek into the Dundas Valley) in 1792 with the settlement of 14 First Fleet emancipists on 30 acre minimum land grants. Redstone is sited on part of each of two of The Ponds land grants, to William Hubbard and William Wade. Hubbard, a plasterer convicted of theft, and his emancipist wife Mary Atkinson (Goulding) successfully farmed the land and raised a family at The Ponds.
By 1834 the land on which Redstone is located was part of the Adderton Estate (with a driveway on to Kissing Point Road) where Major Robert Gerald Moffat, an officer of the Parramatta military detachment, lived with his family and convict servants until 1845. Adderton was surrounded by fruit orchards that had spread south from Carlingford and west from the Brush Farm Estate through the Dundas Valley to the Parramatta River. When the Dundas district was incorporated in 1889, its first aldermen were predominately local fruitgrowers. In 1883 Adderton was purchased as a dairy farm by orchardist Neil Harper who sent fresh milk to Parramatta twice daily. In 1885 Harper and other local residents petitioned the government to open an old track, now Adderton Road, connecting Pennant Hills Road to Kissing Point Road. Harper benefited considerably by the construction of Adderton Road and the Carlingford railway line. In the 1890s he subdivided his Adderton Estate into three to six acre blocks for orchards and small farms.
The Carlingford railway line was completed in 1896, passing near the western boundary of the Adderton Estate. Financed by the Bank of New Zealand it was the first stage of the planned extension of the private rail line from Clyde to Rosehill across the Parramatta River to the fruit growing district of Dural. The line was bought by the NSW Government in 1900, and never extended beyond Carlingford, but it did provide a rail connection to the city which influenced Edward Winter's decision to purchase land nearby for a family home in the country. Winter was reportedly influential in having Telopea railway station opened in 1925.Kass, Liston & McClymont: 1996; Parramatta Park Trust: 2004; Kerry Lee, pers comm., 20 August 2008
Redstone and the Winter family Redstone is the last Griffin house still remaining in the ownership of the family who commissioned it. In 1924 Edward Winter purchased one hectare (2.5 acres) of former orcharding land (part of the Adderton Estate at Dundas) with the intention of building a family home where he, his wife Greta and their six children could enjoy a country lifestyle (until the mid 1950s, the Dundas-Telopea area featured much rural and orcharding land). From 1924 to 1935 the family occupied an existing house on the property, that was originally named Cliftonville but which they called "Redstone" after Edward Winter's grandfather's cottage in Wales. Cliftonville was a single-storey building with verandahs that were used as sleep-outs by its occupants, who included Edward Winter's father who came out from England and a sailor as well as the eight members of the Winter family. The household lived an easy, informal, semi-rural lifestyle at Cliftonville.
Edward Winter owned a gentleman's outfitter's shop in Pitt Street, Sydney while his wife, Greta, had worked as a photographic colourist before her marriage. They were friendly with Walter Burley Griffin through their shared involvement in the Single Tax Movement of the Henry George League and their other common interest, the Theosophical Society. Griffin encouraged Winter to build a new house for his family in the Dundas district and Winter commissioned Griffin to design the home. Construction began in March 1935 on a site approximately 1 acre in size (0.4 of a hectare). The remainder of Winter's land, including Cliftonville, was sold to offset the cost of construction of the new house. (Cliftonville has since been demolished). Upon its completion, in December 1935, Edward and Greta Winter and five of their six children moved into Redstone (the eldest daughter, Madge, having by then left home).
The new house was given the Winter family's traditional name of "Redstone". This is the name the family has always used for the property, although architectural historians tend to refer to it as "The Winter House".
The sandstone for Redstone was obtained from the grounds of a nearby property in Telopea owned by the Rumsey family (seed merchants and nursery owners) who were friends of the Winter family.
In September 1953, in order to fund his retirement, Edward Winter subdivided the remaining land into 8 allotments. He retained Lots 7 and 8, Redstone being located on lot 7. Suburban detached housing was constructed on Lots 1 to 6 and Winter Street was created to services these sites.
Edward Winter died in 1963 and the property passed to his widow, Greta. In 1974 Greta suffered a stroke, requiring her to move to a nursing home. The title to the house was transferred to the eldest of the Winter children, John Norman "Jack" Winter, although he never again occupied the house. In November 1976 his sister Nella Melchert (née Winter) and her husband Charles purchased the house and they resided there with their family. Following Charles' passing in 2002, Nellla lived alone at Redstone until her death in early 2008.
The Winter family have maintained the house with loving care over the many decades of their ownership, and Redstone remains almost unaltered in its structure and layout (although the colour scheme of its walls has changed at times). The original specification and original coloured contract drawings are still in the family's possession. The family is also remarkable for having employed high quality heritage advice in its maintenance and repair since the 1970s, ensuring that it has been conserved according to Burra Charter principles. In 2008 the family was preparing the house for sale.
Redstone was the last house designed and supervised by Walter Burley Griffin before he departed Australia in October 1935. Griffin's wife and professional partner, Marion Mahony Griffin, is understood to not have been involved in the design of Redstone.J Weirick, pers. comm 2008 Similarly Griffin's practice partner, Eric Nicholls is understood to not have been closely involved in either the design or supervision of Redstone's, although he did sign-off on its construction in December 1935, after Griffin's departure.Kerry Lee, pers comm., 2008
Comparisons of intactness with other Griffin houses Redstone is the most intact of the 19 surviving houses in NSW designed by Walter Burley Griffin,Walter Burley Griffin Society Inc, 2008 of which 13 are located in Castlecrag. Four of the five other Griffin houses outside Castlecrag are on Sydney's North Shore. Redstone is the only Griffin house built in Western Sydney.
Fishwick House is generally considered to be the most intact of the 13 houses in Castlecrag, both externally and internally, although Fishwick's windows have been replicatedJ.Weirick, pers comm 2008 and 1970s-80s modifications included a rebuilt kitchen. In scale and form the Fishwick house differs considerably from Redstone. It is a large, two-storeyed house, the largest and grandest of the surviving Castlecrag houses, and is set in a naturally landscaped (rather than explicitly planted) garden. The Fishwick House and The Eric Pratten House re both large, grand two-storeyed houses. The Eric Pratten House was Griffin's largest Australian domestic commission. It was completed by his partner Eric Nicholls after Griffin departed Australia and there are differing professional views of the place of this building in the body of Griffin's work. Its intactness has been compromised by unapproved works in 2002 which gutted five bathrooms.
More closely comparable to Redstone are the Duncan House and Stella James House. The Duncan House is a small, ground-hugging building with similarities in design and use of sandstone bays to Redstone. But it was built as one of a group of three houses, is flat-roofed with no eaves and has been considerably extended in the 1940s and 1990s. More closely comparable in design, scale and use of materials is the Stella James House at Avalon. It differs from Redstone in that it is set in a steep natural bushland setting and not a planted garden. It is also less intact than Redstone. Originally a two-bedroom cottage, a terrace was added and in 1957 Sydney Ancher sympathetically added a third bedroom, on and over the terrace. The kitchen fittings were also modified.
Redstone is unprecedented in Griffin's work although its lines have an affinity with his horizontal Prairie houses. There is no other Griffin building with this roof form. There is an unbuilt project in Victoria that has some similarities in design approachTurnbull Navaretti 1998: 160 and the Christian Jollie Smith house additions project at Castlecrag has similarities in its large stone end wall that includes the fireplace.Turnbull, Navaretti, 1998: 297
As at October 2008, four Walter Burley Griffin Houses are listed on the State Heritage Register: Fishwick House At Castlecrag, the Eric Pratten House at Pymble, the Walter Burley Griffin Lodge ( the Stella James House) at Avalon and the Duncan House at Castlecrag.
Description A small sandstone and brick single-storey house, with a detached garage in similar style, set in a large open and intact inter-war era garden.
The double pitched overlay roof of "Super-6" corrugated asbestos cement has wide splayed, dark-stained timber bargeboards and deep overhanging eaves. External walls to sill height are of locally quarried (Telopea) sandstone. Above sill height, natural-coloured cement rendered walls form piers between very fine timber framed window and doors. There are heavy sandstone bookend walls to east and west elevations. A rustic sandstone chimney dominates the front view of the house.
The RAIA has described the style of the house as "Interwar exotic" and a "unique resolution of a compact, economic, suburban villa".RAIA, 1979