Salvage of Mornington Peninsula beach shack at Shoreham a lesson in restoration

To make a point about how significant she thinks the humble, fibro beach shack archetype is to Australia’s built environment, Melbourne architect Sally Draper agreed to take on a salvage and light-handed restoration project on one at Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula.

Prominently situated in the seaside village “and in a street that still has a number of fibro shacks”, Draper and the owners mutually felt that it was important “to save it”.

To further advance the idea of retaining a representative sample of the mid last century building type, she entered the “long shot” finished product into the heritage category of this year’s Victorian AIA awards. Although it wasn’t shortlisted, the submission did the trick of getting attention, for here we are talking about its easy, enduring charm.

That’s the thing about these once numerous and mostly home-made vacation houses that invariably occupy prime sites in sea change locations up and down Australia’s east coast – and that are therefore perilously under threat of demolition. The only statement they seek to make is, “come on in and have yourself a holiday”.

They are, however, progressively being replaced by flasher new houses that Draper tells “have a very different relationship to both site and context.

“These simple, informal shacks are not showy”. Made of lightweight, often salvaged materials, they were unobtrusive “and set in nature – fragile nature. That’s what makes them fabulous. They were all about the idea of being able to access their beautiful environments”.

The rude truth about these rudimentary houses is that fibro cement sheeting is one of the worst of the asbestos-imbued materials and in refurbishing the 1956 Shoreham building, the original cladding had to be removed and the structure taken back to its surprisingly sound hardwood frame.

“But even if we’d demolished it,” Draper says, “we would have had to remove the fibro and it wasn’t that onerous a job. We got the right people in and peeled it off the frame.”  

Cement sheeting, new wooden strapping and replacement ’70s style, cedar windows that the builder Bernie Everett recycled from a local demolition job, along with new stumps and the addition of adequate insulation, bought the homey place up to a level of comfort that can take 10 staying guests spread across the three bedrooms and all without altering its basic personality.

Draper says there is subtle evidence of an architect’s involvement. “We haven’t restored it exactly, but it is elegant and considered. What we’ve done is to continue the type to the next step while keeping to the ethos and the feel of the old house.”

That feel is pure, unambiguous, unpretentious holiday mode. “Not cluttered or complicated like the rest of 21st century living, but quite Spartan, simple and cosy. All your needs are met in a simple place that maintains a very soft interface with its environment.”

The Shoreham Beach Shack is available for rent: http://beachshacks.net.au/shoreham-beach-shack

www.sallydraperarchitects.com.au