Eric Phillipps

25/12/1890

Eric Phillipps Danker was recognised in the years between 1912 and the Second World War for his fine artistically proportioned and detailed houses and articles in the popular press on architecture and civic planning.

Eric Phillipps Dancker was born in Norwood, the son of architect Frederick Wilhelm Dancker (1852-1936) and Clara Anne (nee Phillipps) (d.1939). His mother was a sister of (Sir) William Herbert Phillipps (1847–1935), a prominent South Australian businessman and philanthropist who was in a position to introduce clients to his relatives. Dancker was educated at St Peters College and in 1906 was articled to his father, becoming a partner in the firm F.W. Dancker and Son in 1913. He was a member of the South Australian Institute of Architects, becoming a Fellow on 6 December 1920 (SAIA Roll Book, AM). He continued to practice under this name until 1939.

In keeping with the spirit of a new century, F.W. Dancker and Son changed the style of their designs from the elaborate mansions of the late Victorian period to simpler and smaller houses suited to the servant-less household. The inspiration however came not from Federation, but from designs published in American and English journals. The plainer, redbrick and tiled roofed house in Buxton Street, North Adelaide (1909) and Tudor styled house at 5 Fitzroy Terrace, Thorngate, completed in 1912, (RAIA card index 1986) marked this development. This was followed by two bungalows, influenced by the Californian arts and crafts style. One has been absorbed into new development at Loreto College, Marryatville and the other is at Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town.

Dancker’s enthusiasm for the arts and crafts ideals was documented in a letter he wrote to the artist Hans Heysen regarding further alterations and additions to the house at the Cedars, Hahndorf (1919) - Alfred Conrad had been responsible for the studio some six years earlier. His letter to Heysen read in part:
‘In work of this sort it must “evolve” more than be “dropped out of the sleeve.” I want to get a correct atmosphere about the place, and one which is local rather than exotic…..Do you think you could arrange to have the wood for verandah posts, half-timbering, beams etc., cut locally from red gum? If you could, we could use much heavier stuff at a reduced price, as well as having the satisfaction of knowing that it is what it is. We could leave this red gum to tone naturally without paint. The curved braces in the gable would be cut from curved branches, and everything pinned together with wooden pegs; in fact, the whole the whole thing constructed in the old fashioned way…’(Thiele 1968).

The development of new housing estates of Toorak Gardens, Springfield and Maxwell Terrace, Glengowrie, brought a number of new commissions. Toorak Gardens and Springfield had strict design standards which suited Dancker’s preference for English vernacular revival styles. He built the house in Toorak Gardens that he shared with his sister, directly opposite Attunga, which had been designed by his father and the contrast in style and scale is significant. Two red brick, Tudor styled houses on triangular blocks are signature examples of picturesque design and siting. At Springfield, in the 1920s he was commissioned to design and illustrate the sales office, street signs and furniture to promote the estate as the epitome of the garden suburb (Wilkinson Sando and Wyles Ltd, c1920s). A decade later, in 1937, the developer engaged him to design six new houses at Maxwell Terrace, Glengowrie to set a standard for land buyers to emulate (‘Six Houses for New Area’ 1937: 29). These modest designs display his skill at achieving a fine domestic quality through well resolved proportions, good craftsmanship and accomplished detailing.

Although most of his houses were for well-to-do clients in the Eastern suburbs, North Adelaide, Medindie and Walkerville, he was adept at designing on low budgets and won a competition for Adelaide Workmen’s Homes competition at Hilton in 1929, adopting the ‘Arts and Crafts picturesque cottage style’ (McDougall 1998: 256). A house ‘near Naracoorte’ (Apsley) for Sir Magnus Cormack was an essay in exploring an Australian domestic style and was noted for its use of pier and beam foundations (‘Passing By’, 1937: 4; ‘Pier and Beam System of foundations’, 1939: 17 ). Melbourne historian, Professor Miles Lewis records that it was built using pise using suitable soil found on the property. It was rendered with a mixture of lime and animal fat (Lewis).

Judging by reports in the newspapers he was prominent in Adelaide society. As honorary Vice Consul of Spain, he regularly attended levees at Government House, was honoured by the King of Spain in 1929, receiving the Cross of the Order of Merit, Naval (Second Class) for services rendered (‘Personal’, 1929: 45) and this was authorized by King George V in 1930 (‘Late King of Spain’, 1941: 11). The Critic, under the banner ‘Who’s who in Adelaide’, published a cartoon of him dressed as a bullfighter and noted his hobbies – books, applied art, antique collector and recreations as motoring and golf. He supported fashionable charity events as set designer for plays and fairs. At Moseley Square in Glenelg, he re-created an ‘old English town,’ to raise funds for a war memorial. For another fair he decorated the square as a ‘quaint Chinese village’ with pagodas, willow pattern tea gardens, temples and lanterns. The Mail, in a section headed ‘Talk of the Town: Men, Women and Gossip’ quoted Eric’s favourable comments on Adelaide’s climate and pretty girls, after returning from Melbourne (‘Talk of the Town’, 1935: 9).

His articles were not all frivolous. He wrote extensively on home design, showing examples of interior decoration and planning arrangements, campaigned successfully to have advertising signs removed from the Adelaide Hills roads, voiced opinions on town planning and civic design. He was critical of Light’s plan for Adelaide, called for an Australian style of housing, and explored ideas for housing the poor.

His architectural work came to a sudden halt in 1944 when his practice was closed. His library is now held by the Flinders University Library (Russell 1997) although no architectural records have been located.

John Schenk

Citation Details
Schenk, John, ‘Dancker, Eric Phillips’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2013, Architects of South Australia:
[http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=123]