Robin Boyd CBE
(1919-1971)

Boyd is arguably the most influential architect there has been in Australia. Through his writings Boyd inspired the general community and through his architecture he has become an acknowledged leader in the design and architectural professions. He was a renowned Victorian architect, author, critic, and public educator in the 50s and 60s, a leader in Melbourne’s Modern Architecture movement, a visionary in urban design, and outspoken on the ‘Australian Identity’.

Robin Boyd was a public educator. He was passionate about good design and devoted his life to creating a wider public understanding of its benefits. Acting as the cultural conscience of the nation, Boyd encouraged people to extend their thinking and expectations beyond ‘the known’ and ‘the given’. He urged people to reassess and innovate and, most importantly, he led by example.

‘Walsh Street’, the house Boyd designed for his own family in 1957, is his most well-known work. It has been extensively published both nationally and internationally as an exemplar of modernist Australian architecture and a house that continues to influence architectural thinking. It is now the home of the Robin Boyd Foundation.