The Australian Terrace House

The terrace house is Australia's most enduring architectural style. It is also one of the most charming, with its repeated rows of elegant and exuberant decoration, its ornate stucco and balconies of delicate iron lace. Terraces were first built in Australia more than one hundred and fifty years ago, symbols of status, the houses of the well-to-do. Since then they have undergone the full cycle of fashion, decline, and renewal -- their prestige and value have fluctuated wildly. At the turn of the century the middle class abandoned them for the suburbs. By the 1930s terraces were despised as slums. Then, in the 1960s, these rundown, century-old houses were rediscovered. Years of restoration and renovation have followed, and terrace houses have emerged as some of the most desirable, and expensive, real estate in Australia. In "The Australian Terrace House", Brian Turner traces the changing fortunes of these elegant buildings. He concentrates on providing a portrait of the faces that they present to the street. The story of their origins, materials, ornamentation and styles is beautiful illustrated with a rich collection of historical photographs, and Brian Turner's contemporary photographs of restored splendor. Today's born-again terrace houses are a distinctive feature of Australia's cities and older towns. They are all here, in their many styles and extravagant ornament -- the unique and commonplace, the grandiose and minuscule, the inner-city and provincial.