The Story of Sycamore Lodge and its connection with Korowa

By Ian Robertson, Alumni Manager

For nearly a century, historic Sycamore Lodge in Emerald in the Dandenong Ranges has through coincidence, played host to many Korowa students. The house was built in 1928 in the arts and crafts style and was then featured in the Australian Home Beautiful. It eventually became home to renowned architect, Phyllis Murphy (Slater, Class of 1940) who attended Korowa for most of her school life.

Phyllis was one of only two women who graduated in architecture from the University of Melbourne in 1949, having topped her fourth year in 1948. At university, she met fellow architecture student John Murphy whom she subsequently married in 1950. Following the completion of their studies in architecture, they set up a private practice and in collaboration with noted fellow architects Peter McIntyre and Kevin Borland, they designed the now heritage listed Olympic Pool for the 1956 Melbourne games. This success made Phyllis the first Australian female architect to gain an international reputation.

Architect Phyllis Murphy, (Slater, Class of 1940)

Of their early residential work, Phyllis wrote; ‘The houses we designed were influenced by a visit to Sweden where living spaces were small but the buildings had a simplicity that we found fresh and elegant.

Fellow Architect, Neil Clerehan described their houses as modest, ‘but their version of contemporary design was elegant and timeless.’ She and John then turned to residential commissions that grew to involve the design of commercial and school buildings.

In the 1960s, they became actively involved in the preservation of historic buildings, and foundation members and honorary architects for the National Trust of Australia. They undertook a range of conservation work that included the façade of the Block arcade.

Left: Daphne Papas (left, Class of 2023) and her sister Lucinda Papas (Class of 2020) at Sycamore Lodge, Emerald in 2022

Phyllis’ father-in-law was architect Gordon Murphy whose brother-in-law was architect Reg Appleford who designed Sycamore Lodge. Phyllis took great inspiration from these two men whose architecture firm Cowper, Murphy & Appleford designed many arts and crafts and art deco buildings, including the theatrical interior of Melbourne’s Regent Theatre. Reg shared his house, Sycamore Lodge, with Gordon’s family in the years around World War II.

By coincidence, Reg’s daughter, Margot Buckingham (Appleford, Class of 1940) was a boarder at Korowa and was in the same year as her future sister-in-law, Phyllis. However, the interconnections did not stop there as Gordon’s daughter, Helen Warner (Murphy, Class of 1941) also attended Korowa as a boarder. She was the first cousin of Margot and the sister of Phyllis’ husband John.

Korowa boarders seen in picture are Helen Warner (Murphy, Class of 1941) sitting next to Margot Buckingham (Appleford, Class of 1940) holding the dog.

However, the connection with Sycamore Lodge and Korowa does not end there as the current owner, Michael Reed who purchased the house in 2006 has cousins who are Korovians, Chloe Papas (Class of 2017), Lucinda (Class of 2020) and Daphne who is currently in Year 12. Interestingly, Chloe recently completed a Bachelor of Communication Design at Monash University and is currently working as a designer at Melbourne's Tric Studio.

Thank you to Michael Reed for providing the inspiration for this article. A teacher of English, Music, Drama and Art, Michael is also a keen historian. His British Royal Family-oriented research articles have been published in periodicals and major newspapers, particularly those in the UK where he has often been a guest presenter on BBC Radio.