What so few of us knew as students in the 1970s was Ross Thorne’s career as a foundational figure of the "Sydney School" architectural movement.

His accomplished mid-century designs included a celebrated house at Whale Beach for surfer Nat Young, beautifully integrated into the Australian landscape, and the 1959 Thorne House in St Ives, a home for his parents and studio for himself.

Originally named ‘First Rock’ and located on the edge of Sydney’s Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in St Ives, it was one of his earliest projects, influenced by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Spanish courtyard houses, both of which he had admired on a recent travelling scholarship.

The design incorporated a series of interlocking courtyards and frameless glass sliding panels that allowed appealing indoor and outdoor vistas. In addition, the concrete block construction, glowing Queensland maple joinery, and polished terrazzo floors of river pebbles are all features of the house.

The Thorne House featured in a 1961 exhibition entitled 15 Houses by Sydney Architects.

Standing the test of time, it was revisited in the exhibition Fifties Houses: Plus or Minus? held at the Rose Seidler House in 2001, asking the question, "Have they ‘stood the test of time,' been adapted or conserved, loved or lost?” In his case, very much the former.

I am indebted to the Instagram feed from Rebecca Hawthorne (author of The Other Moderns) for these images of a ‘weekender’ by Ross Thorne at Palm Beach.

As for Ross Thorne’s second career as an academic for over thirty years? He became one of the architecture school’s foremost scholars and was a pioneering and dedicated architectural historian, documenting and preserving Australia's cultural and built heritage.

With an immense passion for the performing arts, he became Australia's foremost authority on theatre and cinema history, including the seminal text Picture Palace Architecture in Australia, which remains a key reference for historians and conservationists nationwide.

Here's a complete list of his publications (as far as I can find):

Picture Palace Architecture in Australia 1976—2 editions
Theatres in Australia: An historical perspective of significant buildings
Housing the arts: Establishing community arts centres or performing arts facilities: a guide for local councils and arts groups, based on the results ... survey of thirty centres throughout Australia 1979
Theatre Buildings in Australia to 1905: From the Time of the First Settlement to the Arrival of Cinema
Attitudes to housing: A cross-cultural comparison
The Housing & Living Environment for Retired People in Australia
Cinemas of Australia via USA
Country theatre: Aspects of audience, financial support, and the buildings used, with particular reference to N.S.W. (Research paper - Dept. of Architecture, University of Sydney; 3) with Paul Frame, 1972
People and the man-made environment: Building, urban, & landscape design related to human behaviour: collection of papers delivered at the University of Sydney, May 19-23, 1980
People and the man-made environment: Building, urban & landscape design related to human behaviour: collection of papers delivered at the University of Sydney, May 19-23, 1980
For all the King's Men: The King's theatres of Sydney, NSW

As a former student and later colleague, I particularly recall his strong support in the internecine battles with the Department of Architectural Science at the University of Sydney. As Henry Kissinger once said, “University politics is so vicious because the stakes are so low."

His legacy lives on in the historic spaces he fought to preserve. Vale Ross Thorne

Cross-Sections are Friday musings from Tone Wheeler, formerly of Tone on Tuesday. Amateurs draw plans; professionals draw sections; never at cross purposes

Tone Wheeler

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