RIVIERA LIFESTYLE IN ELIZABETH BAY
The European Riviera is a well-known international, glamorous, waterside lifestyle location bordering France and Italy.
Riviera apartments, 106 Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay, mirrors that image and locale right here in Sydney.
Apartment 35 is for sale though Penny Timothy and Luke McDonnell
https://www.rwebay.com.au/6383371/
Riviera sits on the edge of our sapphire-coloured Sydney Harbour with views of the harbour bridge and beyond. Its waters lap at the foot of the Beare Park gardens below with apartments enjoying direct access to Beare Park’s marina, kayaking storage station, popular on-wharf café and the Elizabeth Bay foreshore with its own beach.
Apartment 35 features polished concrete floors, a space-saving European wall bed, cross-flow ventilation and chic design elements contemporaneous with its mid-century modern (MCM) period of design and construction. A Louis Poulson pendant light hangs over the dining room table. Louis Poulson is a Scandinavian atelier whose ethos is form-follows-function. The firm states “the shape of light creates space and our products should live harmoniously within the space they define – indirect, soft and inviting.” A glamorous wall light sculpture highlights the inventive use of space. The wall bed fascia becomes a feature element. Floating cabinetry in the lounge adds to the uncluttered but confidently-designed spaces.
Elsewhere, an Alessi-designed fruit bowl and kettle highlight its modernism and sympathetic to its mid-century provenance.
It’s no surprise that the current owner, Mike Dawborn, is passionate about design and the MCM era in particular. He is a locaI resident and proprietor of 506070, a retail outlet specialising in items from the1950s, 60s and 70s. See contact details below.
The eleven-storey, chevron-shaped apartment block is angled to face northeast and north west to capture Winter warmth and light.
Riviera was designed by influential Hungarian immigrant, Frank E. Hoffer, ARAIA (Associate of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects), and was built over 17 months between 25th March 1965 and 25th August 1966 according to Sydney Council’s archives and plans held by the building.
He also designed the 46-level Park Regis Apartments in the Sydney CBD, completed in 1969, together with fellow Hungarian, Evan Graf OAM (1924-2002). It was the first building to utilise Sydney council’s mixed use planning rules and was the tallest residential tower in the southern hemisphere at the time of its construction.
Graf formed the Stocks & Holdings development company in 1952, later to become Stockland. In the next decades the company diversified into commercial and retail development, becoming one of Australia’s largest property groups.
Frank Hoffer was head of its architectural department.
Many Europeans and European architects fled before, during and after World War II (1939-1945). They were escaping persecution from the German Nazis because of religious anti-Jewish holocaust activities or simply sought a safer life.
Australia was one of the farthest places from Europe with a democracy that was seen as safe.
In 1984 author, Cara Greenberg, coined the phrase “mid-century modern” (MCM) in the title of her book, “Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s”.
In the early eighties, MCM design had been out of fashion for a decade, experienced a renaissance. The surge in interest was reflected by rising prices and mainstream enthusiasm. Nostalgia may also play a part in its revival since the modernist aesthetic really came into its own in the 1950s-1970s when many of us were growing up.
The MCM aesthetic of Form Follows Function suited our modern way of living. These days we are living more in open plan and light filled spaces and the modern materials of glass, marble, steel and colourful timbers such as maple, teak, coachwood and rosewood fit well with that space and light. The simple forms and practical function of classic MCM design suit our busy schedules.
The MCM design aesthetic is characterised by clean, simple lines, honest use of materials and generally does not include decorative embellishments. As for the phrase “mid-century modern,” Greenberg say she “just made that up as the book’s title”.
Hugo Stossel (1905-2002) was another local MCM architect. He was highly skilled and highly educated. Also born in Hungary he trained in Rome and Vienna and had travelled widely in Europe.
He designed Bayview in the 1960s, an eleven-storey, blonde brick block of 110 apartments as a large V-shaped building looking directly over Elizabeth Bay, hence its name. His apartments also featured ceiling to floor windows to enjoy the panorama and allow natural light.
Stossel’s most ‘elegant’ project, the St. Ursula apartments, 5 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay, NSW, where he once lived, was completed in 1951 with a reinforced concrete and steel curtain wall structure with floor to ceiling steel framed windows. Other important commissions for H. Stossel & Associates include projects in the eastern suburbs and various factories.
While Harry Seidler is one of Australia’s most famous immigrant architects, less is known of his European-born contemporaries. Other modernists include Sydney’s émigré architects, interior designers, and furniture makers working here from the 1930s to 1960s. Their impact on our modernist designs was ground-breaking. Their work highlighted the direct connections between Sydney and the European design centres of Vienna, Berlin, and Budapest.
Oceana, 108 Elizabeth Bay Road, adjacent to Riviera, was completed 1961 and designed by Theodore Fry. He was a Polish immigrant and MCM architect.
Other nearby MCM buildings in the Elizabeth Bay loop or nearby are Ercildoune, 85 Elizabeth Bay Road (1966), International Lodge, 100 Elizabeth Bay Road (1970), Ithaca Gardens, 12 Ithaca Road, Elizabeth Bay (1960), all designed by Harry Seidler, the famous Austrian-born immigrant.
Mr Fry’s design principles for Oceana also followed the 1920 Bauhaus philosophy where form follows function. This period of architecture developed at a design school in Dessau, Germany called the Staatliche Bauhaus (literally “school of building”). All facets of design were reinvented in this school. This period of architecture was also termed the “International Style” because it occurred all around the world. It was founded with the idea of creating a “total” work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk) in which all the arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together. The Bauhaus style was and is one of the most influential currents in modern design. Frivolous and superfluous decoration was eschewed. Windows in the façade of a building provided decoration for the building. They reflected the function of the room inside the building by way of the size and placement. Living rooms had large areas of glass whilst bedrooms and bathrooms often had smaller areas of glass.
These design principles have also been utilised in Riviera.
The 20th mid-century was an exciting post-war time for new building as architects were rejecting all that history had previously offered and were bravely experimenting with new forms, new materials and new ways of living.
Many influences of that period can still be seen today, such as open-plan living and the use of large windows to bring the outside in. Features most likely to be found in a MCM homes are use of the natural elements to regulate temperature such as cross-flow ventilation and efficiency of the home’s energy use such as solar passive design, flat or single angled rooflines, floor to ceiling windows, clean lines and open plan spaces with specific attention paid to the building’s placement within the block e.g., the front of the building does not have to face the street, split-levels and sunken living areas, uninterrupted indoor/outdoor areas, lack of decorative and ornate styling such as ceiling roses, iron lacework etc., use of new materials for the era e.g., laminate, stainless steel, large scale glass windows, plastics and natural and textured surfaces of interest such as wood panelling, slate, shag carpets and woven curtains.
MCM is now recognised as an established design idiom worth conserving from our past for our future
By Andrew Woodhouse
Heritage Solutions
With thanks to Dr Peter Sheridan AM and Mr Fernando Lopez, Riviera Building Manager
Mr Michael Dawborn
Proprietor 506070
Address: 31 Elizabeth Bay Road, Elizabeth Bay, NSW 2011
Hours: Sat 10am to 2pm
Phone 0404 755 484 Email: mike@506070.com.au www.506070.com
