THE Old Dining Hall
The second house built on the site is of rammed earth, Pisé de terre. The ground floor was the great meeting place for evening meals. Leading to the upper floor is a spiral staircase recycled from the Bijou Theatre in the city. Justus Jörgensen’s students helped to build the first two buildings and then this second building enabled them to use the upper floor as a dormitory. When building the first building the students camped out on the site.
The building has a very French look in its style similar to the first building, Lily’s Cottage; the shutters over the dormer windows, slate tiles and the high-pitched roof.
Sue’s Tower
The stone tower and Justus Jörgensen’s studio were built to connect the first two buildings which had been built using Pisé de terre. The mud stone is the same material used to build The Great Hall and perfect material to build the tower and Jörgensen’s studio. Through the archway of Sue’s Tower and to the left is Jörgensen’s studio. Sue’s Tower is named after Sue Vanderkelan, the daughter of a Belgian diplomat. Sue used the room in the tower as her Eltham base, she would come to Montsalvat from the city and cook wonderful food in the French style for dinner at the weekends.
After Sue died, at age 59, the room remained empty until 1970 when some work was undertaken and then used as a bedroom when various people stayed at Montsalvat. The room was again refurbished and then used as a residential studio for visiting artists taking part in the ‘Montsalvat Short Term Residency’ programme.
Jörgensen’s Studio – to the left of Sue’s Tower
Jörgensen’s studio was his private space from around 1938 until his death in 1975, over that period he would paint almost every day. A tunnel in the eastern corner leads through to the old dining room. The large gothic style window, facing South, is of New Zealand pink limestone that Sonia Skipper carved. Matcham Skipper carved the little corbels. The mahogany and cedar bookcase are said to come from Tasmania.
Lily’s Cottage (Jorgensen House)
Latterly Sigmund Jörgensen’s House. The first house built on the land bought with money from Justus Jörgensen’s wife, Lily’s family in 1934. The house is a fine example of French rural architecture. The main construction is of Pisé de Terre with accompanying typical French architecture; the high-pitched slate roof, dormer window, shutters over the windows and a Juliet Balcony overlooking the little patio between the two Pisé de Terre buildings. The holes in the wall above the window with the Juliet Balcony are currently the access point to the roof for local Kookaburras. Inside is a terracotta tiled floor and an iron spiral staircase.