| Physical description: | Dobell House is an eclectic building with a series of additions to the original two-room holiday house. The primary facade is oriented north to take advantage of views to Lake Macquarie. The rear of the house and garage address Dobell Road.
The original portion of the house ('Allawah') was a vernacular bungalow with Federation/Interwar stylistic features. A prominent gable with decorative frieze was supported on bracketed, dwarf posts, in turn resting on masonry verandah piers. A low, masonry wall extended between verandah piers. All walls were finished with a roughcast render. The gable and verandah remain as the most recognisable features of the early building. The gable end is filled with profiled metal sheeting, which replaced the earlier battened sheeting.
The walls of the original bungalow are interesting as an early use of slipform (jump-form) concrete. 12" boards were used as formwork, taken apart when the concrete had set, and reassembled at the next level. Evidence of this construction technique is now covered up, however it was noted and recorded during installation of a chemical damp-proof course, by architect Robert Donaldson in 2003/4. Shell, seaweed and fishbones were found in the concrete walls confirming that sand and gravel from lakeshore was used in the construction.
The additions at the rear (south) comprise the 1930s ground floor living area with kitchen and the 1946 second storey studio space. The ground storey is constructed of rendered brickwork and it is likely that it was built by Robert Dobell and his sons. The studio is timber-framed and clad in asbestos-cement sheet. The structure of the fireplace rising from the ground floor allowed a fireplace to be added to the studio level . The studio has a collection of windows of differing shapes and sizes that were designed to allow the amount and type of light Dobell needed for his painting: a large, aluminium sliding sash window facing south; a strip of fixed glazing on the east wall, located below eye level at desk height; corner pair of timber, sliding sash windows on southeast corner; two small, top-hinged casement windows to the north.
The existing pitched roof of the studio, clad in corrugated steel, was installed c 1958, replacing the original flat roof with parapets. The gable ends are filled with horizontal boarding and the street-facing gable is decorated with a carved timber embellishment that seems out of place with the otherwise austere lines of the studio.
The western addition of 1952, is timber-framed and lined with asbestos-cement sheeting and contained sister Alice's bedroom, a bathroom and kitchen. Interesting features of the western addition are the 1950s fitout of the bathroom and kitchen.
The garage incorporates a 1960s metal carport that was, soon after, enclosed with timber-framing and profiled fibro sheeting. The roof is clad in corrugated iron.
The garden contains a number of mature trees, including a prominent Jacaranda. The southern garden includes plant material that Dobell brought back from New Guinea in 1947. These are now substantial trees and include an Irish Strawberry Tree, Guava, Feijoa and a number of Frangipani.
Rendered brick retaining walls surround the property on three sides, with four different types of railings and balustrades used. The rendered walls and railings have all been introduced since the 1950s, replacing the original timber picket fence that is extant in photographs from the 1950s.
The plain white colour scheme of the house/studio, garage and boundary walls serves to unify the somewhat incongruous forms, materials and details of the whole ensemble.
The contents of the house were removed at the time of Dobell's death but many items have since been returned. They include various cane chairs and table, a cane peacock chair and various brass and wooden items. The studio houses several of Dobell's easels, bed, paint boxes, tubes and brushes, secretaire and other paraphernalia. Other items in the house include Dobell's Brinsmead grand piano, his photographic equipment, household items such as china and glassware, personal effects and memorabilia. There is also a small collection of original Dobell works: sketches, studies, Christmas cards and cartoons drawn for friends. The Dobell House Archive, housed in the garage serving as committee office, includes reference material such as books, articles, photographs, scrapbooks kept by relatives, colour slides and film.
The door between Alice's bedroom and the adjoining bathroom was decorated by Dobell with a number of randomly arranged small paintings: a rose, pansy, butterflies, pomegranates. The lack of cohesion of the separate paintings on the door reflects the disjointed quality in the design of the building additions. This is unlike the composition and balance evident in Dobell's portraits and landscape. |
Physical condition and/or
Archaeological potential: | The house appears to be structurally sound and watertight. The quality of the construction is variable, the earlier fabric appearing to be of a better quality of construction than the later fabric. Some of the later works carried out during Dobell's ownership are of inferior quality and have a somewhat haphazard appearance in the way the materials are put together. There is potential in these areas for the fabric to fail.
At the time of his death, Dobell had done little to maintain the house and it was in a poor state of repair. Extensive repairs and reconstruction have been carried out since 1970 by the Sir William Dobell Memorial Committee, primarily to waterproof the building and replace damaged elements. The simple and well-worn quality of the interiors has been retained. |
