The Burnham Beeches is a mansion and its associated gardens, located on Sherbrooke Road in Sherbrooke, in the Dandenong Ranges, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. Built in 1930 on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people, the house was built for Alfred Nicholas, a sales magnate for the Australian subsidiary of Aspro.
The house was added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 27 March 1991 in recognition of its historical, architectural, and aesthetic significance; and was also added to non-statutory lists by the Victorian branch of the National Trust on 29 October 1987 and the now defunct Register of the National Estate on an unknown date.
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Etymology
The property was named after the English National Forest of Beech trees in the county of Buckinghamshire, near the location of Nicholas' Aspro factory in England.
History
Colonial history
Land in the Parish of Monbulk was opened to selection in 1893 and the area now forming the place was first selected that year. Using provisions of the Land Act 1890, gardener and bee-keeper Henry Seaby selected approximately four hectares (ten acres) in August 1893 which comprised much of the land Alfred Nicholas later used for his terraced garden. Another gardener, Gerald Watt, selected just approximately four hectares (ten acres) at the same time where Nicholas later constructed his ornamental pond. Tourism in the Dandenongs increased sharply with the construction of guest houses in the first decades of the twentieth century. This was aided by the access afforded by the new narrow gauge railway link with Emerald and Gembrook and, in the 1920s, by the popularity of motor vehicles.
Nicholas family acquisition
The land for Burnham Beeches was acquired by the prominent Melbourne merchant and Aspro manufacturer, Alfred Nicholas, from 1926. Several adjacent properties were acquired together with an area of land held on permissive occupancy from the Crown Lands Department. In total, the Burnham Beeches property comprised approximately twenty-four hectares (sixty acres). The architect was Harry Norris, who had toured Europe and America in 1929 for G. J. Coles to research the latest elements in chain-store design and construction before he finalised the plans for Coles store No. 12, the Bourke Street store. Nicholas and Norris were neighbours in Melbourne, and Norris was engaged to design a house with the brief that it was to have “fresh air, sunshine and an outlook of command, yet under control”.
There was much interest in the completion of the main residence, with the Nicholas family being prominent members of Melbourne society at the time. The Age, reporting on construction progress, was complimentary of the design, stating that ‘much ingenuity was shown in accordance with present day tendencies in designing this massive but simple home’. It was ‘a well-conceived adaptation of a style which came into prominence on the Continent and in America during 1931-32.’ The architecture of the house is understood to have been influenced by the desire to allow as much light and air as possible into the rooms, as well as a preference for a modern, ‘daring’ style. Harry Norris’s design incorporated numerous characteristics of the Streamline Moderne style, including strong horizontal lines with a central vertical element, curved, cantilevered balconies, and wide expanses of glazing, supported by the reinforced concrete construction. Internally, luxurious fixtures and fittings were installed, including in bathrooms, door furnishings as well as in heating and refrigeration.
The internal planning included a huge lounge, music room, study and dining on the ground floor, sunrooms to both ground and first floor, with bedroom suites to the first floor. Staff quarters and a theatrette were included in the basement level. The Australian Home Beautiful, in the first of a series articles dedicated to the property through the 1930s, declared Burnham Beeches to be ‘a wonder in the hills’. The 1934 article was a detailed survey of the rooms, including the bedrooms, sunrooms, lounge and rooftop. The house was described both as a ‘gigantic aeroplane come to rest on the hilltop’ and as a ‘towering bulk of a great battleship with turrets, masts and a searchlight’. Aside from transport metaphors, the house was ‘from any viewpoint’, ‘unusual and extremely interesting’. The views gained from the interior spaces were of particular note, with the writer observing ‘the bewildering vista’ gained from the vast lounge windows, with the sunrooms ‘command[ing] the springlike morning sunshine, and every beautiful view is accessible through the huge plate windows’. Each view was ‘literally exclusive’, ‘particular to one window in one home on one mountain’. Harry Norris was quoted, describing the key aspects to the brief, that Nicholas wanted ‘fresh air, sunshine and outlook at command and under control’.
Institutional use of the Burnham Beeches estate
Nicholas died in 1937 and was survived by his widow, Isabel and two children. He resided at Burnham Beeches for less than four years. From the 1940s, Burnham Beeches was used increasingly for institutional use as the Nicholas family relocated their lives from their mountain home. Isabel Nicholas and her children remained at the site until c. 1941, when the two children were each married, Maurice in late 1937 and Margery in 1940. Maurice constructed a new residence on a property adjacent to the Burnham Beeches, called Strathalbyn.
With the outbreak of war, the Melbourne Children's Hospital approached Isabel Nicholas about the use of Burnham Beeches as a potential site to relocate some of the hospital’s patients and services. Although negotiations were ongoing, it was not until late 1941 that the family was informed by the hospital that the site would be required, and alterations were to be undertaken. Changes made to the residence included the removal of carpet and the upgrade to the sewerage system, as well as the removal of all furniture and installation of medical equipment. The hospital occupied the property until mid-1943.
After the hospital’s departure, Isabel Nicholas did not return to the property until 1949, following repairs and redecoration works to the house. The cottage known as Stringers Cottage, situated to the south-west of the house and which accommodated friends of the Nicholas family, was destroyed by fire in 1948. However, despite her return in early 1949, Isabel soon based herself again in Melbourne, after Maurice sold Stathalbyn in 1950.
After its brief reoccupation as a residence, Burnham Beeches was converted to the newly established Nicholas Institute for Medical and Veterinary Research from 1955 until 1981. Alterations for this new use were undertaken by architects Yuncken, Freeman Brothers, Griffiths & Simpson and building contractors G. A. Winwood Pty Ltd. The institute was opened in December 1955 by Prime Minister Menzies, who declared the conversion from residence to research facility, ‘a stroke of imaginative genius’.
The residence’s rooms were used as reception area (former lounge), staff cafeteria (former dining room), lecture theatre (theatrette), library (former sunroom) and laboratories. Outbuildings were used for the accommodation of animals used for testing.
Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens
It was during the institute’s occupation of the site that the gardens were excised from the property and donated to the Shire of Sherbrooke in 1965 (subsequently transferred to the Victorian Government), forming the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens. There was considerable controversy in July 1968 when the Shire removed almost 100 mature Australian mountain ash trees from the entry to the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens. one hectare (three acres) of the garden (including the section cleared by the Council in 1968 and the Upper pools) was leased during 1971-73 to the Robson and Koslowski families who ran a miniature village known as ‘Kindyville’ on the lawn beside the front drive.
In August 1973, the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens was transferred to the Forests Commission. A research station for the study of the Mountain Ash and various insect pests was established on the site and drawings for the extant brick building were signed by Hugh Flockart, Public Works Department Senior Project Architect, on 30 October 1973. A curved shed adjacent to the research station building was erected to study the effects of sirex wasp in pinus timber. A nursery was established on the cleared eastern portion of the site in conjunction with the Hamer Arboretum. Much new planting was undertaken during this time.
Contemporary use
Burnham Beeches was purchased by businessman, restaurateur and hospitality expert, John Guy, who converted the former residence and institute into a hotel, including removal of laboratories, offices and the staff canteen and some original internal partition walls. Burnham Beeches Country House opened in April 1983 and comprised five hotel suites, kitchen and bar, and patisserie, bakery, kitchen and cellar, as well as the 100-seat restaurant in the former ground floor lounge for which the site became known. Subsequently, the indoor pool annexe was removed and an additional two multistorey wings were constructed adding 48 new hotel suites, as well as function rooms, and new swimming pool.
Management of the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens was transferred to the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands in 1985. Much work was done including the renewal of bridges on the ornamental lake, restoration of the entry gates and general maintenance and rejuvenation of the gardens. The residence was extended in 1986 resulting in the destruction of the Nicholas swimming pool and tennis court.
The property was sold again in 1987, the commencement of a period of changing ownership and an uncertain future for Burnham Beeches. Aman Resorts operated the Burnham Beeches Country House until 1990, when it was acquired by Raymond Hall and Michael Wilson in 1990. The hotel was last operated by Adrian Zencha (Aman Resorts) in 1991. A group of investors commenced works in 2005 but ceased those works in 2008.
In early 1992, the hotel was closed for a programme of major refurbishment. Since this time, there have been numerous proposals for the redevelopment and occupation of Burnham Beeches. These have included retirement living, tourism and other hotel operations, which failed to eventuate for a variety of financial, planning and approval reasons.
The hotel continued to operate under the ownership of Burnham Beeches (International) Pty Ltd, closing in 1992 for extensive planned renovations. An auction of hotel furniture, crockery, fittings and other items was held in June 1992. Although permits for the renovation works were issued by both the Shire of Sherbrooke and the Historic Buildings Council in 1991, the building was vacant from mid-1992. The property was purchased in 2010 by investor Adam Garrisson (Oriental Pacific Group). and chef and restaurateur Shannon Bennett. The pair proposed to utilise the buildings and grounds to create a "sustainable resort" with hotel, spa, wellness centre, villas, café, bakery, function areas and restaurant. The ambitious proposal, with much residential accommodation included, proved to be contentious because of the possible adverse impact on existing residents and the overall very special nature of the Sherbrooke/Dandenongs region; there were also concerns over health and safety issues such as traffic management and bushfire response. The proposal was rejected pending further information at the Yarra Ranges Council meeting of 11 August 2015.
Description
Burnham Beeches and the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens, a three-storey Streamline Moderne mansion (designed by Harry Norris and built in 1933-34) with interwar outbuildings, set within an extensive landscaped garden. It includes the estate’s early and highly intact gardens (now the Alfred Nicholas Memorial Gardens), which features a massive, terraced rockery, an ornamental lake constructed on a tributary of Sassafras Creek, and an extensive collection of imported and locally transplanted specimen trees. It also includes an interwar cottage and remnant farm and other structures related to the operation of the place. The lines are said to be reminiscent of an ocean liner. The zig-zag motif was used as decoration on the decorative wrought-iron work and the balcony balustrades. The exterior of the house was of reinforced concrete, painted white and decorated with Australian motifs of koalas and possums in moulded relief panels.
A 1980s pamphlet stated that the house included a “private theaterette with talkie equipment”, an “electric pipe-organ” in the music room, orchid houses, a dairy with “prize Jersey cows”, and the gardens included artificial waterfalls, a lake and floodlighting at night.