EXPERTISE  back

The Post-War Period (1942 onwards)

Simon Reeves maintains a long-standing interest in Australian architecture and culture of the post-war period, borne out of many years of research, interviews and fieldwork that has been undertaken in both a professional and non-professional capacity.

Working with AllomzLovell & Associates (now LovellzChen), Simon worked on Conservation Management Plans for such significant post-war places at the Lyceum Club and the Beaurepaire Centre.  More recently, as senior architectural historian with Heritage Alliance, he was largely responsible for the City of Bayside Inter-war and Post War Heritage Study (2007) and the Survey of Post War Places (2008) commissioned by Heritage Victoria.  Both projects made extensive use of Simon's vast personal archive, database and other resources relating to post-war architecture.

Over the years, Simon has assessed and documented many building types that are either exclusively associated with the post-war era, or were otherwise fundamentally transformed during that period.  Inthe process, he has also documented the careers of many architects and firms.  

Building Types

Specific post-war building types with which Simon has research experience include:

• Drive-in cinemas
• Fast food restaurants
• Industrial complexes
  
• Migrant hostels
• Military structures (Nissen, Quonset and other prefabricated huts)
• Motels
• Project housing estates (A V Jennings etc)
• Public housing (Housing Commission of Victoria)
• Small Homes Service houses (RVIA/Age Small Homes Service)
• Tenpin bowling alleys

Simon has spent some years compiling typological studies of motels and bowling alleys, which will ultimately provide a complete chronological and comparative framework for all known examples across the state. 

top

Architects and Firms

In addition to his Access database of post-war Australian architecture, which can be searched by the name of specific architects and firms, Simon maintains biographical files and a digital archive of many practitioners associated with Melbourne's post-war architectural scene.  He has undertaken new research on a number of well-known and well-documented architects and firms, including Grounds, Romberg & Boyd, Godfrey Spowers, Yuncken Freeman and Stephenson & Turner.  However, he had a particular interest in documenting the careers of the less well-known Melbourne architects such as Peter Hooks, Anthony Hayden, Anatol Kagan, Wystan Widdows and Smith & Tracey, whose work, although clearly of importance, is often overlooked in published sources.

Simon  also has an interest in documenting the generally little-known projects that Melbourne architects have carried out interstate, as well as the often overlooked work of interstate architects (such as Donald Crone, Don Gazzard and Harry Seidler) in Victoria, and, more broadly, the work of Australian architects outside Australia.

top