INTERNATIONAL ARTIST'S FITZROY GARDENS-INSPIRED ARTWORKS UNVEILED AT THE EASTBOURNE BY MIRVAC

Published by: Mirvac | 24-Nov-2019
Two stunning Fitzroy Gardens-inspired artworks have been unveiled at Mirvac's recently completed luxury residential development in East Melbourne, The Eastbourne, an inner-city eden and new legacy for apartment living, delivered in partnership with Freemasons Victoria. The paintings by Cape Town, South Africa artist, Zarah Cassim, who is represented by Melbourne-based gallery, Otomys Contemporary, adorn The Eastbourne's opulent main lobby. Ms Cassim, whose work often focuses on natural landscapes, took inspiration from the beauty and light of the Fitzroy Gardens during her visit to Melbourne earlier this year, when she worked on the 3.2-metre (w) by 4.0-metre (h) paintings from an Abbotsford studio. A $460 million residential landmark on the site of the former Dallas Brooks Hall, The Eastbourne has fulfilled Mirvac's vision to reimagine urban life at an exceptional Melbourne address, while paying tribute to the Fitzroy Gardens and heritage of Freemasonry.
Venue: The Eastbourne
Address: 280 Albert Street, East Melbourne, VIC 3002
Web: www.theeastbourne.mirvac.com
Two stunning Fitzroy Gardens-inspired artworks have been unveiled at Mirvac's recently completed luxury residential development in East Melbourne, The Eastbourne, an inner-city eden and new legacy for apartment living, delivered in partnership with Freemasons Victoria.

The paintings by Cape Town, South Africa artist, Zarah Cassim, who is represented by Melbourne-based gallery, Otomys Contemporary, adorn The Eastbourne's opulent main lobby. Ms Cassim, whose work often focuses on natural landscapes, took inspiration from the beauty and light of the Fitzroy Gardens during her visit to Melbourne earlier this year, when she worked on the 3.2-metre (w) by 4.0-metre (h) paintings from an Abbotsford studio.

A $460 million residential landmark on the site of the former Dallas Brooks Hall, The Eastbourne has fulfilled Mirvac's vision to reimagine urban life at an exceptional Melbourne address, while paying tribute to the Fitzroy Gardens and heritage of Freemasonry.

Mirvac Head of Residential, Stuart Penklis, said the artworks marked a new beginning for the site's rich arts history.

"We wanted to pay respect to this history and felt the best way to do this was to give the lobby a gallery-like feel, contributing to Melbourne's position as Australia's arts capital," he said.

Ms Cassim's commission is part of a broader art and community focus for The Eastbourne, along with The Eastbourne Art Competition in partnership with the Victorian Artists' Society, which attracted more than 100 entries from artists across Victoria. The winning artworks by Bronwen Hunt (Soul of the Yarra), Egidia Yorke (Ghost Gumtree Bark), Clive Sinclair (Smoke Haze Longford and Wind Swirl on the Simpson), Ray Hewitt (Botanic) and Ron Reynolds (The Movement of Trees) have also taken permanent pride of place in The Eastbourne's gallery-inspired spaces.

Australian artists, Hannah Quinlivan and Richard Blackwell, were commissioned by Flinders Lane Gallery to produce artworks for the subsequent lobbies. 'Aisling' by Ms Quinlaven, a sculptural masterpiece of anodised aluminium, wire and black rubber appears in the Victoria Parade lobby and a series of five works, titled 'Portal To Another Spacetime 1-5', by Mr Blackwell are displayed in the Eades Street lobby. In each of the individual residence lobbies, Australian photographer Jacqui Henshaw was commissioned to photograph scenes within Fitzroy Gardens to bring the gardens into the building, further enhancing the inner-city eden vision for the building.

"The Eastbourne is a timeless residential icon and significant addition to Melbourne's rich architectural fabric. The design honours the tradition of Freemasonry, which maintains a prominent presence on the site with a purpose-built Masonic facility on the corner of Victoria Parade and Eades Street," Mr Penklis said.

He said The Eastbourne was an expression of elegant restraint, adopting a refreshed approach to exemplary amenity akin to a six-star hotel, including a luxurious pool, spa and steam room oriented to embrace the natural light from the northern aspect. Adopting a focus on wellbeing, The Eastbourne also includes a well-appointed gymnasium and yoga/Pilates room.

"The Masters Club offers an unrivalled private-lounge experience, complete with an inviting fireplace and temperature-controlled wine cellar; while the Conservatory is a residents' lounge available to all occupants, providing an exceptional space for connecting with friends and neighbours, encompassing a courtyard terrace, a bookable entertainer's kitchen and dining room. A theatre and state room business centre are also available for residents to book and use as required," Mr Penklis said.

Mr Penklis went on to say that purchasers appreciated that The Eastbourne was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

"Due to the extraordinary location, diversity and exceptional quality of the product, purchasers felt that Mirvac had presented an unparalleled residential prospect. The response to both the maturity of the design and powerful design ethos of the project led by Bates Smart and Mirvac, as well as the exceptional sales journey that our buyers experienced, meant that The Eastbourne residences were highly sought after," he said.

Comprising 245 one- to seven-bedroom luxury residences across 14 levels, including seven ground-level terrace apartments, The Eastbourne seamlessly blends into the Fitzroy Gardens through its verdant porte cochere, with the roofline stepping back gradually to ensure the scale of the building is sympathetically aligned to Albert Street. The residences range from 50 square metres to 565 square metres, with generous terraces ranging from four square metres to 300 square metres.

The Eastbourne is crowned by an extraordinary 500-square-metre, light-filled penthouse, The Grand Pavilion, with a 300-square-metre-terrace, 20-metre lap pool and panoramic vistas of Melbourne's CBD, the MCG, Port Phillip Bay and beyond.

"These carefully crafted residences offer sophisticated, elegant and refined living at every level, creating a life of effortless luxury within uncompromising surrounds and a private sanctuary," Mr Penklis said.

"The Eastbourne is an important landmark site. The Dallas Brooks Hall means something to this city so we wanted to create a memory of the previous building within East Melbourne, which is consistently characterised by a high level of architecture and offers a green front door to Melbourne's most prestigious inner-ring suburbs," Bates Smart director, Kristen Whittle, said.

He said The Eastbourne was at the forefront of luxury design and amenity, instilling a sense of generosity and grandeur to its residences and utilising high-calibre materials, such as limestone and marble, in pedestrian areas to encourage residents to linger.

"Being minimal has allowed us to push boundaries, truly embodying simplicity, which is rare in residential architecture in Australia - it takes a lot of consideration to achieve elemental architecture," he said.

"The generous balconies are extraordinary, they give you a sense of being up in the air but grounded in the tree canopy, with cinematic views of the Fitzroy Gardens and back across Port Phillip Bay. Then there is the consummate amenity, which is stunning, mesmerising - everything from the beautiful pool area to the two strong axial corridors and expanded lateral foyer that link all of the vertical circulation.

"The experience is similar to a luxuriant hotel, it is well lit and beautifully landscaped, you feel like the stress just disappears and you just want to be there, live there."

The commencement of The Eastbourne's construction in 2017 coincided with the 50th anniversary of the laying of the Dallas Brooks Hall foundation stone by Freemasons Victoria in 1967, marking a new beginning for the site's rich arts history.

For more information, please visit: www.theeastbourne.mirvac.com

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