Calthorpes House

Glad I went! Interstate visitors and I thought we would be in and out in three minutes...we were there almost an hour! We arrived just in time for the 45minute tour, it was a small group which made it more personal. The tour guides didnt miss a beat and what an experience. There were children in the group who enjoyed themselves and the history of this home. The tour guides even made it more interesting for the kids by doing small things like allowing them to ring the service bells. Really enjoyed the experience and glad i finally went!

Paul my tour guide spent the best part of an hour explaining the history of The Place. In depth. Without notes. He was so understanding towards me. Due to my shortage of breath.It was a real eye opener. A personalised tour. Highly recommended. I give Paul 500 stars just for that. Highly recommended.

The people are lovely at Calthorpes. It's a beautiful house suspended in time. Wish I could have seen inside the air raid shelter

Was led by Neridah, very knowledgeable and friendly guide. She knew so much about the history of the house and its surrounds, and of course the Calthorpes. The house itself is absolutely beautiful - it was like stepping back in time, everything is still in its original place, even the clothes in the wardrobes and the childrens toys. Very glad to have been able to visit here.

What an interesting day we had at Calthorpe house yesterday. We were met by our tour guide Netadith who gave us a very informative tour of the house and gardens. We were very impressed with her knowledge of the area, house and gardens. A very very enjoyable visit.
Thank you so much Neradith.

I had a lovely visit to Calthorpe House.
It was my first visit to this delightful home.
I was guided by a most informative lady called Nerida. She took me back in time to when the Calthorpes lived at the home and I thoroughly enjoyed the stories she told. She was also very knowledgeable about the gardens which interested me as well. Thank you Nerida.

Very interesting and well preserved residence. Well worth a visit if you are interested in how things have changed over the last hundred years.

Awesome experience. Only open Saturday Sunday though.

A great window into Canberra in the 1920-50s

Interesting tours, nice garden

Very friendly staffs

Finally ticked this one off my Canberra bucket list. I did the tour with a neighbour and was very pleased with the experience. The guides were knowledgeable and passionate and added a lot of context and insight to what we were able to see - well worth the $7. This is a wonderfully preserved piece of early Canberra and a great insight into life in the 40s/60s.

A family home held for generations and now open to the public. Its full of the original furnishings, fittings etc as own but the family. The family earned its wealth through the buying/selling of farms/land etc during the time that capital city of Canberra was first being developed.
We were given an informative tour (held on the hour) by an enthusiastic volunteer. Cost I think was $6 each. All houses in the area, when being developed, were expected to have a minimum spend on them, thus making them a class above other areas of Canberra. Its an area of embassies and large houses and land area

This home was built for the Calthorpe family in 1927, the year the Federal Parliament and public service were transferred to Canberra. Harry and Dell Calthorpe moved to Canberra from Queanbeyan, having seen the potential of the new city first hand through Harry’s role in land auctions in the growing Federal Capital.

The Calthorpes chose the architects Oakley and Parkes to design their home; the same firm that had won a national competition to design suitable houses for the Federal Capital, and had also designed the Prime Minister’s residence, the Lodge.

The house was designed for the hot, dry Canberra summers and to correspond with the Garden City ideal of a free-standing cottage set within a large garden. Like many Canberra houses of this period it has a roughcast exterior finish painted in earthy colours, a tiled roof with shingled gables, arched verandahs and shuttered windows.

Adding to a few treasured items of furniture transferred from their old house, Mrs Calthorpe selected new furniture and household items from Beard Watson & Co. in Sydney. As most of the furnishings and fittings were purchased at the same time, and were carefully cared for by Mrs Calthorpe rather than being replaced, the house and its contents remain excellent examples of the prevailing style of the time.

The Calthorpe Family
Harry Calthorpe was a partner in the stock, station and real estate agency of Woodgers and Calthorpe. The firm conducted the first sale of leases in Canberra in 1924. Harry had served in WW1, sustaining injuries at Gallipoli which saw him return to Australia to work in the recruiting campaign. Harry married Della Ludvigsen in 1917 and their two daughters, Del and Dawn, were born in Queanbeyan.

The girls grew up alongside the new city of Canberra, attending the Church of England Girls’ Grammar School which was a short walk from their home. Del married Captain STG Coleman in 1942, and in 1944 Dawn married Douglas Waterhouse, an entomologist at the CSIRO where Dawn worked as a laboratory assistant.

Harry Calthorpe died in 1950, and his wife Dell remained living in the house until shortly before her death in 1979. In the mid 1980s, as many in our community were becoming concerned about the loss of Canberra’s heritage, the Federal Government purchased Calthorpes’ House. It is now preserved as a window into a family’s life in our city’s early years.

A guide to the rooms
Calthorpes’ House is divided into areas based on function, with the public rooms grouped at the front of the house, the family’s private rooms are separated by the hall and passage and the domestic work areas are toward the rear of the house.

Interior decoration
The stained blackwood panelling in the hall is mirrored in the ceiling beams of the dining room and the ceiling of the sitting room. Other timber used in the house has been stained to match, while the walls are rough-rendered and painted. The public rooms are encircled by a plate rail for the display of ornaments.

The rooms were very comfortable and fashionable and have altered little since the Calthorpes’ time. The gramophone, pianola, records and bridge cards reflect the family’s entertainment and pastimes. Mrs Calthorpe was a keen bridge player, and many of the items on display were won in bridge competitions.

Kitchen, pantry and bathroom
There was a new focus on the science of hygiene in the 1920s which is reflected in the use of easily cleaned surfaces such as tiles and linoleum. The Calthorpes welcomed the new domestic technology of a toaster, iron and fan, but they still relied on an ice chest which required daily supplies of block ice. The stove burned solid fuel, but was later replaced by an electric Early Kooka stove.

In the 1920s tradesmen delivered most household supplies to the back door. A tradesman’s safe is located on the back porch in which goods would be placed if the house’s occupants were not at home. On the wall in the pantry is a grocer’s reminder list made of tin.

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Great tour guide, seemed a tad pricey. Not good for kids. Loved seeing the restored place.