PEOPLE CENTRED HERITAGE: EPISODE 9 // Dr LUKE JAMES - THE RIVER HOUSE

For this video, we had the privilege of interviewing architect Professor Peter McIntyre, who has a long physical and emotional connection to the Yarra River and its banks – elements of the landscape that shaped and informed the design of ‘the River House’ in Melbourne. “Heritage citation and statement of significance is the bedrock for successful heritage protection and management.

When you can take the time to do the research, visit the place and really assess what sort of mechanisms are available, then that provides the best heritage outcomes. Fortunately, that’s the opportunity we had here with the River House. However, what had been missed in the previous heritage citation was the importance of the landscape. The great Victorian architecture critic, Norman Day, described this house as having a sort of theatrical, even cinematic scope.

The foliage acts as kind of stage curtain. In winter, the curtain is open to reveal the house, and in summer the foliage forms a curtain closing over again.” Dr Luke James Luke was able to write the landscape back into the citation by including mention of the trees and included them in a tree protection control, as well as ensuring the boundary of the site included the important trees that provide this incredible landscape protection effect.

To quote McIntyre Partnership, the result is that: “The River House place has a dreamlike quality to its winding tracks and rocky steps, it is a private world, an isolated sanctuary placed in the gentle suburb of Kew, Melbourne, in harmony with its dense canopy of trees and bushy seasonal plants and all the inhabitants who enjoy its protection”. McIntyre Partnership Architects - https://mcintyrepartnership.com/

City of Boroondara

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