Pittwater Life August 2017 Issue

Times Past
‘Trees’ among earliest
roots on the Plateau
One of the earliest
houses built on Bilgola
Plateau was the house
appropriately called ‘Trees’. It
was erected some time after
October 1934 when John David
Handley and his wife, Nellie
May, took possession of two
blocks at the top of Plateau
Road. The road had only just
been formalised from a rough
track by overtopping with
bitumen in 1929.
The house nestles into its
site just below the road level
and has excellent views over
the golf course to Bangalley
Head and beyond (and in the
1930s the view would have
extended around to Bilgola
Beach; trees now create a
visual filter to the southeast).
Originally the house was
one main room, the upper
level of timber-framed walls
set on a sandstone basement.
The upper walls and the roof
were clad with split Douglas
Fir, with the bark still intact
(as shown in the main photo).
The roof has since been re-clad
with green Marseilles tiles
after the original roof cladding
deteriorated. (Interestingly, in
1894 Wunderlich became the
sole agents in Australia of the
imported terracotta tiles from
France and claimed proudly
they had ‘painted the town red’
but the green tiles ‘harmonised
with the dark green of the
eucalyptus’.)
The use of natural materials
such as stone and timber
predominate in the structure
(internally as well as externally)
and like its close neighbour –
‘Stella James House’ by Burley
Griffin in 1933 – it harmonises
well with the environment.
Organic architect
extraordinaire, Alexander
Stewart Jolly, was working in
the area during this period
and it was thought he may
have had some input or
influence in the design of
‘Trees’. He was a master in the
use of natural materials and
The Local Voice Since 1991
there is no record of
him having used made) bricks in any of
(manhis
buildings.
In 1947, Norman
Arthur Kingsbury Wallis
purchased ‘Trees’ from
the Handleys.
He obviously
loved the garden
surrounding the
house and maintained
it enthusiastically.
He won four awards
for the garden in
the Sydney Morning
Herald and Sun
Herald’s Garden
Competition during
the years 1957 to
1964. On 18 February,
1950, he purchased
the block next door
in Plateau Road and six
years later donated this small
parcel of land (0.07 hectares)
to Warringah Shire Council
as ‘Betsy Wallis Reserve’ in
memory of his mother who
had died in 1949.
A memorial seat in the
upper area of the reserve has
cast into the back-rest the
title ‘Betsy’s Corner’ but his
mother’s names were Edith
Emily. (Maybe ‘Betsy’ was a
term of endearment used by
his father, Arthur?)
Wallis was a fine
yachtsman who also received
the award of the Royal Naval
and Royal Marine Forces
Volunteer Reserve Decoration
from HRH Queen Elizabeth in
December 1958.
He died on 17 November,
1965.
TIMES PAST is supplied
by local historian
and President of the
Avalon Beach Historical
Society GEOFF SEARL.
Visit the Society’s
showroom in Bowling
Green Lane, Avalon
Beach.
AUGUST 2017 71
Times Past