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<\/p>\nBoth buildings have a symmetrical arrangement with a central entry. \u201cFor the NGV, it\u2019s the archway which goes into the water wall, while for the Hill Street house, it\u2019s a single, very oversized door,\u201d Lee says.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The NGV archway.Credit: NGV<\/p>\n
They both used similar materials such as timber panelling on the walls, which remains a fixture of the Hill Street home but has been removed from the gallery.<\/p>\n
While the Toorak flat mostly reflects Grounds\u2019 original design (Grounds lived there with his family until his death in 1981), it has been through several iterations.<\/p>\n
When cardiologist Dr Martin Hiscock bought the home in 2003, it had been modernised and become what he described as \u201cnothing special\u201d. He visited the State Library searching for the original drawings, and over one year, faithfully restored the home to its former glory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put the cork wall back in the dining room, found the original tiles for the bathroom \u2013 I really wanted to bring back what Roy had done and intended. We even found the original 1950s plumbing,\u201d Hiscock says.<\/p>\n
Betty Grounds was still alive, and so Hiscock brought her to see the results. \u201cShe came in and said, \u2018Why, it looks just like new.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Jellis Craig Stonnington selling agent Carla Fetter says that in 21 years in the industry, she has never sold a house like it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult for a real estate agent to value this \u2013 what it could be worth for one person would be vastly different to the next,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like buying a piece of art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
The guide is $2.3 million to $2.5 million.<\/p>\n
Designers, architects and architectural students have flocked to the open days to experience something they\u2019ve only seen in textbooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis house hasn\u2019t been offered near on 20 years, and it\u2019s a very rare opportunity,\u201d Fetter says. She has sent out seven contracts, some to downsizers who love mid-century architecture, as well as \u201cyounger bachelors who can see themselves meeting their future wife here\u201d.<\/p>\n
Owning Grounds\u2019 house means access to a man who changed the way we interact with light.<\/p>\n
Today, a sliding door leading to an outdoor space is commonplace. Before Grounds, houses were \u201cdark and gloomy \u2026 [with] little windows, very high ceiling rooms that didn\u2019t get a lot of natural light\u201d, Lee says. \u201cRoy made it possible for people to move from inside to outside rather seamlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Danos, letting the house go has been emotional. \u201cIt\u2019s really a work of art,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s time for it to go to someone who will cherish it and really appreciate it the same way we have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both buildings have a symmetrical arrangement with a central entry. \u201cFor the NGV, it\u2019s the archway which goes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-209068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}