The Barn (House)

1A Palm Court, Frankston

History
Built: c1913-14
The 'Barn' has been owned by Michael and Edith Gould since the 1970s, but prior to c1971 the McClelland family, preceded by the Taits, had been the major owner-occupiers.

Miss G.D. Tait, of Fairbairn Road, Toorak, was the first owner of land here until 'building fees' are noted in the 1913-14 rate entry.1 A 'house' was noted on this site thereafter, being joined by what appears to have been the initial form of Miss Annie McClelland's 'The Studioette' in c1920, on Lot 3 (now 1 Palm Court),2 which was initially described as 'two huts'. By 1923-24 the 'Studioette' was named as such in municipal files, together with a 'house' on the same lot.3 A 'garage and studio' was listed as 3 Palm Court by c1930, all three properties being owned by Miss Margaret E Tait, of Toorak, (i.e. 1,1A, 3 Palm Court).4 In the next year, the new owners were Miss Anne and Harry McClelland, of 43 Kent Street Flemington (Ascot Vale), the McClelland family home.5 Reputedly, McClelland's 'The Studio' was at the rear of 'The Barn'.6

The Tait name was well known in theatrical circles of that period, Frank and Edward Tait (also of Toorak) being co-directors of the national theatrical firm of J.C. Williamson LTD. Margaret and Miss G.D. Tait may have been connected with this family.

Similarly, the artist Charles Tait was part of the Heidelberg Charterisville artists; camp of the late last century and Bess Norris Tait (1878-1939) of the Melbourne was an internationally known miniaturist with works held by galleries in Liverpool and Toronto.7

Harry McClelland (1884-1951), the son of Isaac, lived and worked at the relatively gracious family home, Bolinda (c1884), Kent Street, Ascot Vale,8 with Eleoner McClelland (his mother?) early this century, prior to living in Frankston. The art furniture manufactures, McClelland and Vary9 used a workshop at the rear of the Ascot Vale House for their business and Eleoner McClelland remained there possibly until the late 1930s when Annie & Harry McClelland went to live at Frankston.

In retirement, Harry McClelland was described as an 'amateur' painter by art historian, Alan McCulloch, and that he had achieved artistic notoriety only as the model of William McInnes' The Drum Major which won the 1930 Archibald Prize.10 Harry McClelland would lead the local Scottish pipe band, as the Drum Major, to Celebrate New Year's Day in Frankston.11 McInnes won seven such prizes in the period 1921-36 and was evidently McClelland's companion and probably a frequent visitor to this building. Baxter and Frankston's eventual status as a peninsula 'art colony' may be in part due to the early construction of Tait's 'Barn' and the McClelland's Studio and 'Studioette,' providing a seaside retreat of visiting artists. The Barn and, more importantly, the McCubbin's Mulberry Hill (Baxter) preceded the influx of distinguished art figures into the area after World War One.

In 1930 McClelland moved to convert the old Mechanics Institute (1915) into an art gallery, claiming the support of local residents, acting National Gallery director, William McInnes, and Paul Montford.12 When McClelland's sister, Nan McClelland, died in 1961, she directed that her estate (worth £100,000) should be used to set up 'an art gallery and cultural hall' in memory of her brother.13 Forty acres of bush land were also bequeathed to the Cranbourne Shire, half to be used for recreation and half as the gallery site. A gallery was completed there in 1971, to the design of architects, Munro and Sargent.14

Nan McClelland is said to have broadcast the first children's programmes on A.B.C radio.15

Description
Pictured in mid – 1930s, the 'Barn' and 'Studioette' provided a picturesque pair which prompted one noted architectural historian, Dr. Miles Lewis, to describe it as:

'A rare example of Anglo Swiss-Fijian picturesque eclecticism…'16

The complex then consisted of the 'Barn,' a steeply gabled half – timbered house with a thatch on the roof and the broad-gabled attic room facing the sea. Window casements were multi-paned, rubble stone was used in the chimneys and the exposed timbering was left undressed. A stone –piered and hipped roof porch provided an entry on to the beach through what appears to be a brush fence. The name of the building (The Barn) is still faintly visible on a plate at the entry and interesting details included two small clay/ceramic masks attached to the portal.

Beside it, the 'Studioette' also had a lych-gate leading to the water but it was of a lesser scale, as was the studio itself (both now gone).17 The studioette was also a gabled form, but with its ridge at right-angles to the beach. A two-level gabled entrance porch also provided for an attic with a round window looking out to the bay. Again stained rough-hewn timber was evident, encasing a rough-cast stucco wall finish.18

Like the later Eltham artists' colony, Monsaalvat, the design drew on medieval village and naïve ethnic architecture. Given that McInnes (McClelland's friend), has commissioned his friend and noted architect, Desbrowe Annear, to design his Alphington house. There is a remote possibility that with the design of a 'weekend house' in 1922, as yet unlocated, but possibly any one of Westerfield, Netherplace or Mulberry Hill.19

External Integrity
Today the 'Barn' still appears eccentric, but new corrugated steel roofing laid over the thatch, and palings in place of the attic cladding, add unrelated hard machine-made finishes to a previously 'organically' clad building. A lean – to roof has been placed over the attic balcony and the formerly stained timbering in the walls painted over. The porch roof has been removed, leaving the stone pillars resting on a large new concrete-paved front yard. The tiny window casements remain, but the trellised balustrade has been altered. An unusual gabled finial appears to be a replacement for the original.20

Context
A large, visually unrelated house has been build on the site of the 'Studioette' and the 'Barn', once dominant from the beach view, is overshadowed by two-story houses on both sides. There is still vegetation along the frontage, but the surrounding architecture is unrelated to the 'natural' materials theme once so well expressed by the Barn.

Significance – Study Grading B
Architecturally, the Barn is an unusual and originally rare response to a former bush land seaside environs. Its picturesque form is still evident, but only some of its natural materials are still visible and other necessary elements for the design's picturesque massing (such as the porch) have been removed. It is visually unrelated context and bereft of the companion 'Studioette' building, but still achieves some of its former rustic expression by its relationship with the sea and remnant coastal vegetation: of local and regional importance.

Historically, it evokes the bush land-by-the-sea resort, romanticized by architectural literature of the period and, in particular, the Medieval-inspired vernacular architecture associated with craftsmen or artists' abodes in a rural setting, later seen in its full expression, at Eltham and Warrandyte. It also reflects the values of the McClelland's, as compared with their more illustrious artist associates (McInnes and Montford) and generally the choice of the Frankston area as an artists' retreat early this century: of regional and local importance.