page_title: Simpson-Lee House I
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Simpson-Lee House I / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: Simpson-Lee House I: Rear Deck showing detail of handrail seat.
context_page_description: Simpson-Lee House I is a heritage-listed residence located at 23 Roland Avenue, in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Arthur Baldwinson and built from 1958 to 1962 by George M. Koch. It is also known as Simpson Lee House. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 27 November 2009.
context_section_description: Glenn Murcutt's description of the site for Ku-Ring-Gai Council, 1998:
  "The Roland Avenue house was commissioned by Professor Geelum and Mrs. Sheila Simpson-Lee, in 1957. Construction took place in two stages, the first during 1958 and again in 1962. As a consequence of the single continuous occupation and ownership since 1958, the house is in its original condition. It has been carefully maintained, without structural changes or changes to finishes, - and beautiful, it is! The house is modest in size, reflecting the Modernist ethic of modest housing standards of the time. Furthermore, the house is representative of Baldwinson's mature work. It is an exceptionally good example of early 1960s modern architecture in Australia. The house is in very good condition and has "aged" beautifully over the forty odd years since construction.
  The building is set well back from Roland Avenue, it is superbly sited, responding to the site contours with apparent ease. The gravel surfaced pedestrian access and driveway passes through large eucalypts and other mature flora, it is angled across the depth of this long and comparatively narrow block. The setback from the Roland Avenue boundary to the house is in excess of 30 metres. This area has been generously landscaped with native and exotic trees and shrubs and provides the dominant visual element to the street. The siting minimises the building's visual impact on the streetscape and presents a discreet face to Roland Avenue. Privacy from Roland Avenue is therefore achieved for the occupants, enabling an appropriate and generous use of glass.
  A planar wall forms one side of the carport and extends into the sitting room where it is punctuated by the fireplace. This wall is a very strong element and it establishes the direction of the entry and makes for containment of the paved entry courtyard. The planning is clear and it is beautifully simple.
  The house is entered through the deep front garden and then alongside the strong whitewashed wall which leads to the paved entry court. The entry door - within the floor to ceiling glass wall - is directly off the entry court and leads into the sitting room via a subtle, shared entry/hallway space. The sitting and dining rooms are combined and planned so as to form a clear link to the suspended timber, western facing, deep veranda. The veranda is contained on its south by another planar wall which is an extension of the bedroom wall and to the west by a generous low level seat which in no way interrupts the connection between the veranda space and the landscape. A section of the veranda projects into the native Australian vegetation and sandstone outcropped landscape. Privacy to neighbours is achieved through the largely blank side "bagged" brick walls. The floor to ceiling glass between the entry court, sitting and dining rooms and the veranda, separates as well as connects the internal rooms to the external spaces and landscape. The kitchen and laundry share the small northern courtyard and are separated from the living spaces. The kitchen has a close and direct connection to the carport via the small courtyard. Directly off the entry, a bedroom connects with the western veranda and the small well planned bathing space serves the main house. A stair links the hall/entry space to a lower study/bedroom.
  The skillion roof which extends from the carport, over the day living spaces and veranda, is a powerful and unifying element commonly used by proponents of the "Modern Movement". The section through the house responds directly and logically to the falls presented by this site.
  Upper and lower level spaces connect visually and physically to the natural landscape of native plants, sandstone rocks and the gully, with ease. Walls extend from the exterior landscape to form planes defining the interior spaces. Floor to ceiling glass walls are set between solid wall planes and reinforce the connection of rooms to external spaces and to the native wooded gully landscape. The front garden and courtyards have been planted to the original design and they are
caption: Rear deck with handrail seat
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS CORPORATION", "Image Model": "C770UZ", "Image Software": "v772-82", "Image DateTime": "2009:05:21 11:51:14", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "458", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "96", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:21 11:51:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:21 11:51:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2288", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1712", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}