A slice of architectural history — a home designed by a pioneering female architect in the 1930s — is for sale in regional Victoria.
The circular timber cottage at Crossover, near Warragul in Gippsland, was created by Edith Ingpen, the first woman to graduate from the Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne in 1933.
Ingpen started her career at a time when only 2 per cent of registered architects in Victoria were female, and became a vocal champion of women in the profession.
The heritage-listed home in Crossover is one of just a handful of buildings believed to be designed by Ingpen.
A Heritage Victoria spokesperson said its circular form was uncommon during the interwar years.
"Ingpen was not constrained by a client's brief and drew on emerging Modernist design principles, utilising local materials including timber weatherboards from Gippsland," they said.
The current owner of the property, Robert Stewart, said his family acquired it in the 1960s.
"I was about 15 or 16 at the time, we went up there one weekend … my father had a cup of tea and a chat with [Ingpen] … he convinced her to sell the house," he said.
Mr Stewart's grandfather was the architect Harold Desbrowe-Annear, who employed Ingpen in 1932.
When his father first bought the cottage, Mr Stewart said Ingpen was living "the life of a hermit" there.
"All the windows were papered up, there was no light in there, the block was overgrown, [there was] rubbish and stuff," he said.
"It was pretty unkempt truth be told … we spent years doing it up".
Mr Stewart, who lives in Melbourne, said successive generations of his family members used the house as a "weekender", creating many happy memories there.
"We call it a round house, it actually has 13 sides to it and I remember someone once saying it's like a 50-cent piece," he said.
"Just the way it's built, the simplicity of it, every inch of space is utilised. Shelving, cupboards, kitchen … you can't open the bathroom door unless you close the pantry door, it's all intertwined."
Mr Stewart hopes the next owner will appreciate the cottage's history.
High interest for small town
Owner of Baw Baw Real Estate Ben Codling said an online listing for the house reached 2,300 views in three days.
"Crossover is a small place, there's only a few houses there, normally you wouldn't get that sort of interaction," he said.
"With a normal listing you're happy if you get 2,300 over a couple of weeks, if not even a month."
"It's eight to 10 minutes to [nearby town] Neerim South … you're not locked away in the middle of a forest but it is hidden down from the road."
According to documents from Heritage Victoria, the town of Crossover was established after gold was discovered there in 1864.
Several buildings were constructed including a post office, railway station and primary school, but by the 1920s Crossover had become a secluded location.
People often travelled there from Melbourne to spend weekends in the bushland, as it was accessible by rail until the 1950s.
Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Melbourne Julie Willis said the cottage's remoteness would have forced Ingpen's hand when designing it.
"It would have to be [built from] materials that were found on site or could be brought in … so that it's framed in timber is not altogether surprising," she said.
Ingpen 'paved the way' for women
When Ingpen's employer Desbrowe-Annear died in 1933, his firm closed and Ingpen established her own architecture business.
Professor Willis said Ingpen resolved to take on every job that came her way, "no matter how distasteful".
"It was certainly very challenging to be out on your own running your own practice," she said.
"There would have been 15 or so women working in Melbourne as architects in that period of time, but many of them were working within larger firms.
"Running a practice on your own, you're responsible for bringing in the jobs and making sure they are seen through to completion.
"Getting architecture jobs in that time was not easy; the Great Depression had a significant impact on the industry."
Professor Willis said the cottage and a block of flats in East Melbourne were the only confirmed surviving buildings of Ingpen's, though there may be others that aren't officially identified.
"Her relatively small outputs are not unusual for sole practitioners, particularly female sole practitioners, around that period," she said.
Professor Willis said Ingpen endured numerous hurdles throughout her studies and she "worked incredibly hard" to become qualified as an architect.
"Every woman architect who fought their way into the profession paved the way for another to follow, or another two or another three," she said.
