Home Stories: Paddy Nixon and Vanessa Gstrein
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In a quiet part of the University of Canberra campus, between all the gumtrees and shrubs of the native bush, lies the Vice-Chancellor’s residence.
Unless you work at UC or have dealt with the university at a corporate level, it is unlikely that you would get to see this unique Canberra home. During my visits there, I always thought of you as my audience and did everything I could to talk Paddy Nixon into a Home Story visit. My power of persuasion, or possibly the training I received from my cavoodle in doing puppy dog eyes, must have worked and he said yes. Now Cass and I get to share this UC VC residence experience with you!
So, one of the great things about being a Vice-Chancellor of a university, aside from being surrounded by deep thinkers and passionate students, is that many get to live on campus. Even though not all universities can accommodate the VC, most do as a long-held tradition. Afterall, the VC represents and connects the life of the campus. Even though most of us probably wouldn’t want to live at work after quickly imagining sleeping under the desk, this is different. It’s a home inside a tight community that has educational, research and lifestyle elements to it.
Paddy has been VC for two years now and in his previous role at a university in Ireland he lived on campus too. By now, he, his wife Vanessa Gstrein, kids and the doggies are all used to change and, more importantly, they are experts in balancing legacy with adaptation so that the residences feel like their home.
The residence was designed on a bare soil patch in 1995 by the Romaldo Giurgola. If his name gives you flashback to your studies at school, that’s because he also designed New Parliament House. There is no expansive use of marbles ad large columns as we would expect from NPH, however there is certainly a similarity of feel with the high ceiling lines and the separation of the foyer to the reception space which has that modern grandiose formality about it.
The space is divided into the corporate and private quarters with the corporate housing an office, the foyer and the main light filled reception space. There is plenty of room to have meetings, wood fire chats, dinners or outside functions.
The most intriguing feature is the raised platform in the middle of the room. When Paddy first pointed and said ‘this is where the quartet plays from during breakfast’ I though he was up for a joke so I joined in ‘I would have preferred a jazz trio’ to which he replied ‘they could fit easily but carrying a double bass up that steep ladder is too hard’. It’s only then I realised that indeed there is a hidden ladder to get up to the platform and that even though Paddy does not get the royal musical treatment each morning, that platform was designed solely for music performances.
Paddy and Vanessa, in their responsibility as the new caretakers, updated the corporate space by giving the walls a fresh coat, changing rugs, adding their own well-travelled furniture and purchasing vintage pieces such as the Fleur dining chairs. Though, the stand-to contribution was ensuring the prime display of the stunning art by Tommy Watson. Paddy often takes Zoom calls from the dining table only to have people comment about how cool his Zoom background is. He takes real pleasure pointing out that its real art by Tommy Watson, an Indigenous Australian artist of the Pitjantjatjara people from Australia’s central western desert.
In the private quarters, the formality and grandeur are dropped in favour of comfortable living that includes a kitchen, dining, living and four bedrooms. That section of the residence reflects more of the family’s heritage with lots of cultural décor including a collection of black and white photographs depicting Irish music as well as the late King of Tory Island in Ireland. Bet you’re now checking if such a King exists. Well, they do, and apparently the island is rather hard to get to on a rowboat.
While Paddy was educating me on these finer Irish details, we were staring at the kitchen bench and looking at an amazing view of the Brindabellas made possible by the architect’s strategic placement of high windows. It turns out that this view of nature from the kitchen, especially as the sun sets, is the space the family loves in the house the most. As Paddy put it, ‘It’s clear that the architect encourages it residents and visitors to celebrate not only its inside but also its natural setting. Whether it’s this kitchen view or the lush gardens that were planted in most part by the wife of the VC that commissioned the home, the late Don Atkin.’
And with those words Paddy made it very clear how the contribution of past VC’s and families in upkeep and additions gets passed on to the next VC family and the next—keeping legacy and change hand in hand forever. If only the quartet was playing while you read the last sentence, I’m sure it would have sounded even more profound.
