Best Overend

Acheson Best Overend ARAIA ARIBA (15 October 1909 – 28 July 1977) was a Melbourne based Australian architect. He is best known for the Cairo Flats in Fitzroy, built 1935–1936, a daringly Modernist design for Melbourne in the 1930s.

Best Overend in a 1926 Grand Prix Type 37 Bugatti.

Best Overend
Born	Acheson Best Overend 15 October 1909 Launceston, Tasmania
Died	28 July 1977(1977-07-28) (aged 67)
Citizenship	Australian
Alma mater	Swinburne Technical College, University of Melbourne
Occupation	Architect
Years active	1931—1977
Spouse	Bernice Adelaide Emily Overend (née Lawn)
Children	Darren Lawn Overend (10 June 1944—16 January 2024)
Parent(s)	Harold Acheson Overend, Emily Trahair
Buildings	Cairo Flats

Early life

Best Overend was born in Launceston, Tasmania on 15 October 1909. He was the son of Harold Acheson Overend, a Methodist minister and Emily Trahair, a businesswoman, and was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne. Overend was educated in architecture at Swinburne Technical College and later attended the evening classes at the University of Melbourne Architectural Atelier.

Military service

Overend served in the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II. He rose to the rank of Squadron Leader and was mentioned in dispatches.

Career

In 1926 he became an articled pupil in the practice of architect Hugh Vivian Taylor, who was an expert in acoustics and specialised in the design of theatres and broadcasting stations. During this time, he worked on additions to Station 2AY Broadcasting Studio in Albury, 1930, the remodelling of the Crown Theatre for HO Peterson Esq. Overend moved to London in 1931, where he first worked for Raymond McGrath, a fellow Australian who was then working on the interiors of the BBC's Broadcasting House. Overend soon left in July 1931 to work for modernist architect and designer Wells Coates. Under Wells Coates he worked as chief draftsman for over eighteen months when the office was developing the iconic Isokon Flats.

In September 1931 he received a job offer from Serge Chermayeff (whose office adjoined McGrath's) to do the drawings and calculations for a house which he designed on his own. Wells later rejected the offer on behalf for Overend as he refused to let Overend work under Chermayeff as his subordinate. Overend passed his RIBA examinations in 1932 and joined the Architectural Association.

Practice in Melbourne

Overend returned to Melbourne in March 1933. He was then offered a partnership with H. Vivian Taylor and G. A. Soilleux, architects of 499 Little Collins Street in May. It was only shortly after he was elected as an Associate of the RVIA. The firm later known as 'Messrs H. Vivian Taylor, Soilleux and Overend' specialized in cinema design. Important examples included the Windsor Theatre, Albert Street, Windsor, 1936 and the Padua Theatre, Brunswick in 1937, both now demolished, with only the heritage listed Rivoli Theatre in East Hawthorn still standing. Other commissions include service stations in Carlton and in Flinders Street at Queens Bridge in 1933.

While working at Taylor & Soilleux, and drawing on influences from his time working under Wells Coats in London, he designed Cairo Flats in 1935, a two story block of flats in Melbourne, for which he is best known. In 1937 he left the partnership to travel overseas again, sailing for Japan, but was diverted to Shanghai, where he found work with Lester Johnson & Morris, and worked on the design of an ultra-modern skyscraper for the Bund waterfront. The project was halted with the Japanese bombardment of the city in September which Overend reported on extensively for the Australian press. In May 1938, Overend opened his own firm in Melbourne, and his projects were mainly residential before World War II began.

Between 1938 and 1955 Overend was appointed to the Housing Commission of the Victorian Architect's Panel where he advocated prefabricated housing solutions. He has been credited with the design for the Gippsland 'new town' of Churchill, announced in 1965.

Achievements

• Published in The Argus
• Published in the Home Beautiful, an art magazine from Geelong entitled Manuscripts
• Published in Table Talk
• Awarded Prize-Winning Nursery Design in 1930
• Writer for the column, "Architecture and Property" in The Argus
• One of four architects on the Architects Panel of the Housing Commission of Victoria from 1938 to 1955
• President of the Victorian Chapter of Australian Institute of Architects, 1961–1963
• National President of the Australian Institute of Architects, 1967–1968
• Awarded title of MBE in the 1977 New Years Honours for 'services to architecture'

Notable works

Armytage House

One of Overend's first works in this partnership was the design of the Armytage House, Mont Albert Road, Balwyn, 1933. An article in the Australian Home Beautiful talked about the simplicity of materials, and how this principle determined the form and finish of this house both internally and externally . The sweeping concrete stair ' apparently unsupported' and expressed on exterior by a curved corner tower, was a notable feature of the design. The house was demolished in 1980.

The Ascot Vale Estate

The Ascot Vale Estate was built on the site of the former Ascot Vale Racecourse, has a significant history tied to Melbourne’s post-war urban development and social housing initiatives. By 1947, Best Overend completed the designs for the entire Ascot Vale Estate was deputy chairman of the Housing Commission of Victoria. The site was designed to accommodate over 2000 residents and feated hundreds of flats as well as many homes. The estate was one of the Housing Commission’s flagship projects, marking a shift towards modernist, affordable apartment housing for all residents in line with his other buildings. The Ascot Vale Estate thus stands as a landmark of post-war public housing, reflective of the social and architectural shifts in mid-20th-century Melbourne.

Cairo Flats

Main article: Cairo Flats

Cairo Flats in Fitzroy

In December 1935, Overend was asked to design a block of 40 flats in Nicholson Street, Fitzroy. He proposed 28 apartments, mainly studio flats with a single main room, as well as some with a separate bedroom. The development included a shop, a communal dining room, storage rooms, and an apartment for a manager. They were planned as a U-shaped block around a garden, with two main long wings facing north with small balconies and large window-walls allowing maximum sun penetration. The building was completed in December 1936.

Koornong School

Overend designed the school at Warrandyte, Victoria in 1939. He used exposed framing with stained boards and paintings from the teachers. Most of the schools' buildings were destroyed by bushfires in the 1950s.

House in North Balwyn

Another of Overend's projects for a house was built on a hillside in 1939. It is located in North Balwyn. The house was two stories high, and is a rectangular prism. It is made from brick, cement sheets, steel, and timber. Each area inside was separated by a sliding curtain.

References

• Goad, Philip (1995). "Best Overend – Pioneer Modernist in Melbourne". Fabrications. 6 (1). doi:10.1080/10331867.1995.10525089.