Aspendale

Distinguished and Famous people from Aspendale

Aspendale's beach houses became a meeting place for Melbourne's modern art community in the 1960s. The connection was made through friendships, holidays and creative work, with neighbouring houses providing a coastal counterpart to the better-known gathering places in the city.

🎨 Sunday and John Reed

Art patrons Sunday and John Reed commissioned a beach house at Aspendale, completed in 1961. Designed by David McGlashan, it provided a setting for visits from artists associated with their wider circle. John Perceval, Charles Blackman and Albert Tucker were among those who spent time there. The Reeds' involvement in modern Australian art extended to this relaxed coastal setting, where social occasions and artistic work could occupy the same afternoon.

🎨 Mirka Mora

Artist Mirka Mora and her husband, restaurateur and art dealer Georges Mora, built a beach house next to the Reeds' property. Architect Peter Burns designed the small house with its distinctive angled walls. The neighbouring homes became places to relax and make art, and photographs by Lazar Krum record the Mora family at Aspendale. These surviving images and the houses' documented history preserve a seaside chapter in a creative life more often associated with Melbourne's cafes and studios.