J.E. Cutts House, Geelong

The Cutts House is a an example of what has become known as the Melbourne Queen Anne style house. This house epitomizes the idyllic suburban home set within its own garden and detached from its neighbours. Similar houses can be found in the Melbourne suburbs of Malvern, Hawthorn, Middle Park, Canterbury and Essendon. The all-encompassing spread of a terracotta-tiled hipped roof from which gabled wings project (often with bay windows), the entry into the centre of the house from a square shaped hall, the use of pressed red brick, turned timber posts and rough-cast stucco are the trademarks of the Melbourne Queen Anne house.

In the Cutts House, the diagonal distribution of spaces within gives the house its variety of fronts and is strengthened by a first floor sitting room which has its own balcony reflecting the polygonal bay window of the drawing room below. All the major rooms of the house, the drawing room, dining room and breakfast room face north. All the bedrooms face south. In the garden, there are separate buildings: a wash house and coal store, plus a conservatory and fernery.