I am a heritage consultant in Adelaide, South Australia and started researching concrete houses a few years ago when a client asked me to provide an expert opinion on a proposed addition to a heritage listed house in suburban Adelaide, South Australia. The heritage listing was related to the house’s concrete construction. At first glance it appeared to be just like any other Australian Federation period house on the street. After further digging I discovered that there were several houses in the area that were a poured concrete construction, including footings, walls, and chimneys all poured on site.
Concrete plays a dominant role in today’s residential construction for the construction of floors and footings. Almost exclusively detached houses in Australia are constructed with a poured integrated footing and floor slab. It was therefore interesting to understand the history of the preceding experiments with poured concrete and why they are not more widely known about. I also came upon a curious example of a businessman from Balaklava in the mid north of South Australia who experimented with a single pour house, after the American inventor Thomas Edison tried a similar feat in the United States. There are two of his houses in the Adelaide suburb of Norwood, and the company went on to build a series of houses in Melbourne for a housing scheme there.
I will be adding the houses that I’ve found here and a brief history. An exhibition is eventually planned. Feel free to contact me with any suggested or suspected houses and I will add them to the list.
Stephen Schrapel
Concrete Houses of Australia 