Lot 1

In good order with no faults, light scratches consumate to age and use


The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to inspect articles for sale at our pre-sale viewing where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice.
Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Marion Best Pty Ltd, Queen St Woollahra
Guest cottage, 'Penhallow,' Castlecrag, 1968
The Collection of Richard 'Dick' (1913-1989) and Joan Crebbin

'Sydney Style, Marion Hall Best/Interior Designer', Greenway Gallery Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney, July 31 - October 17 1993, cat. No. 196

Babette Hayes and April Hersey, Australian Style, Paul Hamlyn, 1970, illustrated pp 39, 43, 133
Catriona Quinn, Sydney Style, Marion Hall Best Interior Designer Historic Houses Trust 1993, illustrated p16

Originally designed in 1957 as one of Laverne Originals' 'Invisible Group,' this pair were part of an interior commissioned from Marion Best Pty Ltd, Woollahra around 1968 for the Guest cottage of the Crebbins' Castlecrag home. It was photographed soon after by Rodney Weidland, showing how influential Best's earlier visit to the sculptural and spacious Laverne showrooms had been in using their furniture to best advantage. Four Jonquil chairs were arranged in a dining space on a Mona Hessing rug (now in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria). Another two sat beside a zebra skin in a sleeping area of the Guest cottage.
The Jonquil chairs were integral to the sense of light and space Best created in the cottage through glazed ceilings, chrome surfaces, suspended beds and stairs and sheer curtains.

Best was undoubtedly influenced by a 1954 visit to the recently refurbished Laverne showroom at 160 East 57th St in New York, with its sculptural spacial qualities, and huge abstract mural by Erwine Laverne.