Building an icon

Our architects are rarely immortalised with bronze statues. Seldom do they have laneways named after them. Often, in fact, their names aren't known by the public at all. Yet the formative power of design can have an everlasting impact on all who experience it. I'm sure many Victorians recall, as kids, the twin joys of running a hand through the National Gallery of Victoria's water wall or marvelling at Arts Centre Melbourne's illuminated spire. These quintessentially "Melbourne" moments have the potential to unite us in a simple but meaningful way, and both are the legacy of the late Sir Roy Grounds, the award-winning architect responsible for designing both beloved cultural institutions.

Roy Grounds' cultural precinct may not have the knockout factor of Jørn Utzon's more famous Sydney Opera House, but in terms of the overall impact his buildings have on the cultural life of the city, I'd argue they are more successful. They transformed the derelict Wirths Circus site on the banks of the Yarra into a cultural and community hub, and refashioned Melbourne's identity into a city defined by its love of the arts.

There's an elegant accessibility to his works; they're welcoming, and they embrace the city that they're in, which is why they've shaped so many of us.

Grounds' daughter, Victoria, sees this as the key.

"My father's intention with his design was to create a public building for the people's use, not for the artists or a committee, but for the people of Victoria; something they could recognise as 'theirs', something that was for them and of them," she says.

The design of this arts precinct was incredibly considered. He visited "nearly 100 galleries in America and Europe" before completing the designs for "a centre of cultural life".

Born in Melbourne in 1905, the young Roy Grounds was obsessed with "making things", which set him up for a life in design. After studying architecture at the University of Melbourne, he worked in his hometown before taking off to England and later the United States.

Landing in New York around the time of the Great Crash, he jumped on a bus to California and found himself designing movie sets in Hollywood for MGM and RKO. He described his three years in Hollywood as like working in an "art colony" due to the sheer number and variation of creatives he associated with, and he "became deeply involved in the creative arts". This experience proved incredibly formative for the young architect, and he returned to Melbourne with a bag of Hollywood money and an even bigger bag of new ideas.

It was during this time that he received a phone call from Betty Ramsay, who wanted Grounds to design her a compact beach house on a small bush block at Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula: a place where her two sons could enjoy carefree days at the beach. At the time, Betty was married to Thomas Ramsay of the Kiwi Boot Polish dynasty, but by the time the beach house was done, Roy and Betty were not only an item but also the talk of the town.

They later sold the house, and it was recently purchased by Victoria, who now lives there and remembers it as the place where her parents were at their happiest.