The Modern House is History

2022 marks fifty years since the publication of Jennifer Taylor’s landmark book An Australian Identity: Houses for Sydney 1953-63. The book  is an optimistic account of the postwar, architect-designed house and its project home cousin. In it Taylor contends that Sydney is home to a culturally distinctive, regionally derived domestic architecture. But more than that, she also claims that the kinds of houses featured in the book could play a crucial part in addressing the city’s housing needs. 

To celebrate the anniversary please join us for a panel discussion that will explore legacy of Taylor’s book and the status of the buildings she documented. Architects, critics and historians will respond to the following questions:  Can we still view the architect-designed modern house as Taylor did?  If not, how should we understand them? And what do the answers to these questions tell us about what we should do to protect and preserve them? 

This event is presented in association with Sydney Living Museums and Sydney Open 2022 #Sydneyisopen

Speakers: Richard Leplastrier AO, Catherine Lassen and Cameron Logan