Item HT 35157 Booklet - Ideal Home & Building Exhibition, Melbourne, 21 Feb-7 Mar 1936

Summary

The 'Timber Merchants' Association of Melbourne and Suburbs' presented a life size display of the ideal, modern, four-roomed timber dwelling at the Ideal Home & Building Exhibition, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings. This booklet contains a ground plan of the home, with details about the home's construction, and a short essay on the benefits of timber in home construction. Timber was valued for it's cheapness, the ability to create unusual designs, and the its suitability for the Australian climate. The Timber Merchants Associations was still active in 2014 (when this object was donated to Museum Victoria). At that time, the company noted that over 'the last 126 years the association has been involved in many issues on behalf of its members, promotion of timber, pricing, industrial affairs, government representation'.

Australia's recovery from the depression in the early 1930s was led by building manufacturers. In 1934, the Western Australian Royal institute of Architects built a model timber home in the Perth suburb of Floreat as an example of what could be achieved at low cost. The Model Timber Home built in Floreat cost less than 600 pounds to build. In 1936, the Timber Merchants Association arranged the display at the Ideal Home & Building Exhibition with the assistance of other manufacturers such as the Metropolitan Gas Co, Ltd and Ormond Plant Farm.

Physical Description

A black and white, stapled, glossy booklet. The front cover has a black and white photograph of the exhibit and black text.