Iconic 1983 Murcutt-designed home hits the market

The Ball-Eastaway Home, a celebrated 1983 residence by Glenn Murcutt for artists Sydney Ball and Lynne Eastaway, has been positioned available on the market following its latest addition to the New South Wales state heritage register.

Eastaway first met Ball, a number one determine in Australian summary portray, whereas learning on the Nationwide Artwork Faculty in Sydney within the early Seventies. In 1976, the pair bought a 10-hectare bushland property an hour north of Sydney in Glenorie, looking for a secluded retreat to reside and paint. Collectively, they explored and camped on the bush block many occasions earlier than commissioning Murcutt, then early in his profession, to design a house that might accommodate this.

Commissioned with what he would later describe as one of many tightest budgets of his profession, Murcutt was tasked with designing a house that might double as a gallery. The ensuing dwelling is fastidiously thought-about, with a recessed porch that leads on to a broad central hall for displaying artworks.

In a 2025 article revealed in Homes as a part of the Revisited collection, writer Peter Salhani describes the house as reflecting Murcutt’s philosophy of “touching the earth evenly,” an ecological method that locations humanity inside nature quite than above it.

The dwelling, a easy orthogonal construction, barely disturbs the panorama. Raised above a sandstone shelf in an open pocket of bushland, the house is supported by 14 slender round columns drilled into the bedrock, permitting rainwater to cross freely beneath it. No timber had been eliminated to construct the house, and even the drill holes for the columns had been crammed in with a cement-and-natural-rock combine, in order that if the home had been ever to be eliminated, its former presence could be troublesome to detect.

It’s clad solely in galvanised metal – some corrugated, some folded into protecting flaps over the timber body – a fabric chosen for its lightness, economic system and hearth resistance. Fireplace security formed a number of design choices: the home occupies a much less wooded part of the block and makes use of tallowwood – a really dense timber – for all important timber framing.

The house is modest at 100 sq. metres, accommodating simply two bedrooms, a residing and eating space, a kitchen and a rest room skylit from above and two verandahs – one tucked away for privateness, the opposite meant for communal use. White partitions and a curved ceiling create a serene gallery-like ambiance, as was meant. “Work and artefacts adorn the partitions, the lengthy white curved ceiling funnelling gentle round them,” observes Salhani in his evaluation. “Every room presents a framed view of the panorama.”

To help the couple’s creative apply, two prefabricated industrial sheds of corrugated metal had been additionally positioned on the positioning – one earlier than the home was constructed. Eastaway’s shed sits perpendicular to the home, Ball’s studio is parallel, and each undertake the identical curved roof as the principle dwelling, visually linking the three buildings.

Ball and Eastaway moved into the home in 1983, separating a 12 months later. They remained associates, with Eastaway persevering with to make use of the property and Ball residing there till his loss of life in 2017. Afterwards, Eastaway engaged structure agency Downie North to hold out delicate repairs and restoration in line with the unique design. The lavatory was renewed, retaining its unique tiling sample whereas introducing a brand new round basin and cupboards that match the kitchen joinery. A lot of Downie North’s different work is nearly invisible, together with changing worn timbers, repairing aluminium shutters and updating plumbing methods.

The dwelling has turn out to be an vital instance of Murcutt’s environmentally responsive method to structure. In 1984, the house received the Wilkinson Award for Residential Structure – Homes (New), introduced by the Australian Institute of Architects New South Wales chapter. In February 2026, the Minister for Atmosphere and Heritage, Penny Sharpe, introduced that the home and its whole 10-hectare web site could be state heritage-listed, following a serious marketing campaign led by Lynne herself.

After realising the home, Murcutt later acquired the Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal in 1992 and the Pritzker Structure Prize in 2002.

The Ball-Eastaway Home is now listed on the market. For particulars, go to right here.