Literary set take umbrage at Socceroo's house plans

Christina Stead. Photo / Supplied

Last year American blockbuster author Jonathan Franzen reignited interest in an often overlooked Australian novelist, Christina Stead, writing a lengthy essay in the New York Times in which he described her best known work, The Man Who Loved Children, as a masterpiece.

The novel about dysfunctional family life, published in 1940, was based heavily on Stead's own childhood, some of which she spent in a house in the harbourside Sydney suburb of Watsons Bay.

Now her former home, Boongarre, has become the focus of a bitter dispute between local residents and its owner, the Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer - and Franzen himself has got involved.

Schwarzer and his wife, Paloma, bought the five-bedroom Victorian house for A$10.2 million ($13.4 million) in 2009, and want to carry out extensive renovations, including building a swimming pool, glass pavilion, three-car garage and home entertainment room.

The local council, Woollahra, will consider the matter on Monday, and the development application has also been referred to the New South Wales Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, because of its heritage implications.

Watsons Bay residents have lodged 13 objections to the proposed work, which they believe is "unsympathetic to the structure itself and to the area".

They have also launched a petition which has been signed by Franzen and two Australian novelists, Alex Miller and Nikki Gemmell, as well as British writer Fay Weldon.

Commenting on the petition, Franzen - the author of Freedom and The Corrections - described The Man Who Loved Children as "one of the truly great novels of the 20th century". He said that although Stead's United States publishers had insisted she move its setting to America, "its heart is clearly in Watsons Bay ... Her childhood home therefore seems to be a literary heritage site of the first order".

Although she was born in Sydney and returned to Australia in later years, Stead - who died in 1983 - spent much of her adult life in England and the US.

Long underrated in Australia, with some of her work not published here until the 1960s and quickly falling out of print, she is now considered one of the country's best novelists.

The Australian's literary critic, Stephen Romei, last year praised her "penetrating psychological characterisations and satirical wit".

Boongarre, which dates back to the 1880s, has had numerous owners and many facelifts over the years. A heritage consultant engaged by Woollahra Council said very little of the original Victorian fabric remains, other than the kauri and bunya pine floorboards, ceiling panels and concealed timber framing.

Nevertheless, Roger Bayliss, the convener of Watson Bay Residents, says locals are unhappy about Schwarzer's plans. "The house is highly significant because of its history and its associations with one of Australia's greatest literary families," he said yesterday. "We don't think that the additions and alterations are consonant or sympathetic with the structure or with the area."

Schwarzer's architect, Nick Tobias, said six heritage experts had backed his firm's design.

"The site has been treated with the utmost sensitivity since we were first briefed on it," he said. "Although it's not a heritage listed building, we've always treated it as if it was."

Tobias said the Schwarzers had "fallen in love with the property because of its historical charm", and the house would be closer to its original state following the renovations, with later additions such as a two-storey bay window and a street level garage to be removed.

He also denied that harbour views from the street would be impeded, or that any historically significant trees would be felled.

Two of Stead's descendants have weighed into the debate, with a niece, Elizabeth Stead, also a novelist, noting in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald that Christina spent much of her childhood in another Sydney home, Lydham Hall, in Rockdale.

Elizabeth said she nonetheless admired "the efforts of Jonathan Franzen and so many others ... to stop ugly changes" to the Watsons Bay house.

Another of Stead's nieces, Margaret Hanks, wrote that Boongarre "bears little, if any, resemblance to the house in which she [Christina] grew up". Hanks suggested that a commemorative plaque be put up - which, according to Tobias, is part of Schwarzer's plans.

The petition, however, is growing by the day. Gemmell said she was "devastated to think Christina Stead's beautiful childhood home and garden could be substantially altered beyond recognition".

Miller said: "Australia has few cultural sites of greater national and international significance than Stead's old home in Watsons Bay. Australians have a duty of care to preserve this home for future generations."