Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The year is 1961: Yuri Gagarin has astonished the world by becoming the first human to enter space, John F. Kennedy has just been inaugurated as US President and Australian women have gained access to the pill for the first time.
In Sydney, Ron Sevitt, a former medical student from Dublin, and Brian Pettit, an accountant, have just started a project home company. In keeping with the spirit of social change sweeping the world, their eponymous business, Pettit + Sevitt, sets out to bring mid-century modernism to the masses through the supply of affordable housing to the aspirational middle classes.
The company constructed 3500 buildings across Australia before shutting up shop in 1977, when the nation's tastes turned to the colonial-inspired frills and florals that defined 1980s dwellings. But in response to the recent groundswell of interest in mid-century modernist design, Pettit + Sevitt has once again opened its doors - and, this time around, its goals are just as lofty.
The three people behind the relaunch - Sevitt's widow Val and her children Colin and Carol - want nothing less than to save the suburbs from the scourge of the McMansion.
Colin says the decision to revive Pettit + Sevitt is partly a response to declining standards of design in the project home industry.
"People have started to notice how our outer suburbs are developing, with hectares upon hectares of large houses, perhaps unnecessarily large houses, that take up most of the site, leaving very little outdoor space," he says.
"They are asking themselves, 'Is this how we want to live in future?' Perhaps, after decades of less modernism in the suburbs, it's time for the pendulum to swing the other way, returning to the timeless principles of good design."
Ron Sevitt and Brian Pettit first met as employees at Sunline Homes, an early pioneer in architect-designed project homes. When Sunline became insolvent during the credit squeeze of the early 1960s, the pair arranged to complete some of the company's outstanding contracts - and Pettit + Sevitt was born.
The original Pettit + Sevitt offered six house designs from the renowned architect Ken Woolley. The houses were mainly built in Sydney's north shore, northern beaches and hills districts, but were also constructed in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.
The business, which reopened its doors to little fanfare six years ago, is now receiving significant attention from across the nation as popular interest in mid-century architecture gathers pace.
For the relaunch, Val approached Woolley, who passed away in 2015, about revisiting his designs. The reincarnated Pettit + Sevitt, offers three models - the Lowline, Split Level and Hillside - all from the hand of the late architect.
For the Lowline and Split Level, Woolley updated his original Pettit + Sevitt offerings to accommodate 21st-century tastes, with larger rooms, an optional media and entertainment space and other extras to maximise sustainability, such as solar panels and in-ground rainwater tanks.
Many of the features, however, remain the same, including the distinctive wide eaves, high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, exposed timber beams and white exterior and interior walls. Film buffs will be interested to note that an original Lowline was featured in the movie Don's Party.
The Hillside is a completely new design which, as its name suggests, is tailored to very steep sites. The entry level model is the "new" Lowline. Suitable for construction on level blocks, prices start at $468,000, inclusive of GST, for the standard three-bedroom plus study design, excluding site or council visits and variations to the plan.
The Sevitt family, which holds the exclusive rights to market Woolley's designs for Pettit + Sevitt, works in conjunction with a designated architect (for variations) and builder on each project.
At present, Pettit + Sevitt's operations are restricted to Sydney and its surrounding regions, but Val says the Sevitt family is open to expanding the company's offering.
"We're very interested in the possibility of collaborating with design-conscious developers and investors who have an alternative, more considered and sustainable vision for our outer suburbs and want to make a difference," she says.
