Building Details - Architects of South Australia

The substantial International Style house that Mokwinska designed for her own family in Kensington Park, in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, was built in 1956 for £3000, with the family doing most of the work (Burnside Heritage Survey: Part 2 ‘A’ Item Documentation 1987, p. 89). It features a flat roof (Burnside Heritage Survey (S.A.): Part 1 General Report, 1987, p.45). The Mokwinskis spent the rest of their lives here and the house is still owned by the family.

The house sits on a corner block, facing north and east, with two main entrances, with one adjacent to the attached carport and driveway. Roughly L-shaped in plan, it is built of hand-cut Mount Gambier limestone, with the corrugated iron roof split into sections set at different, overlapping heights, and a curved corner wall with projecting bay window facing the street. The framing of the windows and external door openings by projecting stone courses is unusual. Original internal fixtures and fittings are not visually documented but are said to have harmonized “with the unusual spaces and curved lines” (BHS 1987, p.89).

In a leafy suburban landscape of mainly traditional detached homes set in cottage gardens, the most distinctive feature is the roof structure. Historians commissioned for the Burnside Heritage Survey reported that council building inspectors “were won over by her enthusiasm, professionalism and collection of pictures of sub-tropical buildings with flat roofs” (BHS 1987, p.45).

Local Heritage Place, No. 8198, City of Burnside (Authorisation date: 13 August 1998)

Australian Institute of Architects (SA Chapter), Register of Notable Twentieth-Century Buildings