Netherplace (House)

18 Netherplace Drive, Frankston

History
Built: c1924
Acquired by Lend Lease Homes P/L by the early 1970s, this property became the core of a housing estate (LPs 96872, 211160), subdivided from Crown Allotment 31A, Section 6.1 Prior to that, the house and 16 ¾ acres had been owned and occupied by Mrs. Rosemary Lindsay.2 Robert and Rosemary had purchased Netherplace from David Knox of Toorak in the lat 1940s.3 Ten years previously the Fairbairn family owned it, having purchased 11 acres of land in 1922-3 and probably commissioned this house in the following year.4 However, the valuation increase by 100% in 1926-7, when two houses are recorded on the site.5 By 1935 the property increased in area to 16 ¾ acres, still under the Fairbairn ownership.6 The first recorded owner, Mrs. Frederick R. Fairbairn, was listed care of G and C (George and Charles) Fairbairn's offices in Bourke Street, Melbourne. This changed again, coinciding with George Fairbairn Junior's death in a plane crash (1935), when Mrs. R.T. Fairbairn became the owner for a brief period before the sale to Lady Ivy Knox (1939) (of St. Green Knowe, St. Georges Road, Toorak).7 The Fairbairn family arose under the pastoralists, Sir George Fairbairn, whose son, Charles (1858-1925), continued with the grazing empire built up by George.8

The family owned properties across the country, excelled in sport, helped pioneer flying, frozen meat export and the growing of daffodils, achieved many important political roles and proved able military patriots.9 Jim J.V. Fairbairn replaced Lord Bruce in the House of Representatives seat of Flinders (1933) when Bruce became Australian High Commissioner in London.10 A later resident at Netherplace (grandson of Sir William Clarke and related by marriage to the Knox family), Robert Lindsay, also held Flinders, 1954-66.11

Sir Robert and Lady Ivy Knox, also from a distinguished Melbourne family, continued the house's historical associations with their son, David, assuming ownership until his brother-in-law, Robert Lindsay, and Mrs. Lindsay took up residence.12

Throughout its history, the house has been owned and occupied by members of some of the Stat's best-known families, (Fairbairns, Knox, Clarke). The external design of the house (particularly the porch), combined with its construction date and family associations, suggest that the architect was Harold Desbrowe Annear, who also designed Mulberry hill in a similar classical revival manner. Annear designed 249 Domain Road, South Yarra, for the Fairbairns, c1919.

Description
Squeezed on to Lot 2 of the Lodged Plan 211160, the house barely fits the north-south frontage of its site. With its uneven hipped ridge-line, the house appears to be of two major stages, divide about the line of the distinctive arched porch. It is possible that parts of the house were shifted to the site. Other pavilions connect to the south and east sides.

The walls are rendered, the roofing is corrugated iron and the windows timber-framed. Undistinguished by most of its external elements, the barrel-covered porch canopy, which cantilevers from columns set next to the wall, is reminiscent of Annear's detailing in the renovation of the Grimwade town house (Miegunyah). Other distinguishing elements include the cast-iron gate posts, with their rampant eagle cappings. These reputedly once stood on the Golf Links Road frontage atop the two pedestals which survive there. Remnant landscape includes palms, Virgilia sp., Camphor Laurel, Prunus sp., and Monterey pines at rear.

External Integrity
Despite its drastically reduced site area, the house is probably close to its external appearance when the Lindsay family departed, with what appears to be a 1950s-60s added 'patio' at the north end. Some windows and cladding appear to have been changed.13

Context
A Canary Island Date Palm and other mature exotics mark the era of the property's beginning, but the close addition of new housing on adjoining sites is in contrast to the ample acreage of the 1920s. The property is close to Westerfield, Mulberry Hill, Cruden Farm, Costerton and St. Mirins: all owned by influential and respected families.

Significance – Study Grading C
Architecturally, the house is undistinguished except for the notable porch which reflects the South Yarra, Armadale and Toorak work of the noted architect, Desbrowe Annear: of local importance and regional interest.

Historically, still representative of a long tenure by members of some of the State's most distinguished families, complementing the notable property group which developed close to the former McCubbin property (Mulberry Hill) and housed some of the State's most influential figures.