Ashwood: Screaming with 'buy in' opportunity and plenty of tears for design lovers

Architecture lovers must bawl when they come to Ashwood. Serious tears streaming. It’s here, in this little “where’s that?” suburb, that a couple of architect Robin Boyd’s classics stand, and they are seriously unloved.

One’s got a graffitied “for sale” sign out the front. Its online listing mentions “development site”. The other’s got the tell-tale signs of graffiti removal all over it, and seems a shadow of its former life – standing rather sadly as a bottleshop.

Given that Boyd did construct the latter as supermarket in the first place, we can’t shed too many tears about its use now. Who knows, maybe he’d like that it’s a spot to pick up a bottle of cabernet. But, despite its current sad state, this unique arched building remains intriguing.

This shop, at 1 Cleveland Road, Ashwood, is on the Victorian Heritage Register. According to the register, the igloo-shaped structure was built in 1953-54 using the “ctesiphon” system, where “walls and roof would be formed as one self-supporting unit”. According to the register, it involved concrete poured onto a form made of timber arches at four foot centres, with hessian suspended between.

It’s not the only Boyd in town: around the corner, at 132 and 134 High Street, you’ll find two other Boyd classics. Get excited: this is where you can actually buy a Boyd. This completely unique property (he didn’t end up using this method of construction again) is on the market, marked as “price reduced”.

Both properties, seemingly designed as one – shopping centre and dwellings – were in the suburb of what was once known as Jordanville. Jordanville railway station, on the Glen Waverley line, keeps that cool name alive. There was once a Jordanville Technical College (now a housing estate).

A nearby area was once named Stocksville, which also has a nice ring to it too, but that’s now also known as Ashwood. The Stocksville Post Office was open until 1993.

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Both names seem eminently more interesting than Ashwood, which got its name from stealing bits from its neighbours: “ash” from Ashburton and “wood” from Burwood. It’s a classic ‘burb that sprang up in the 1950s – double-fronted cream brick houses still feature, there’s a smattering of housing commission houses. It’s a ‘burb that screams: “buy in!”: There’s little development and much opportunity, with big blocks and great access to public transport and universities.

What sets Ashwood apart, other than its “stuck in the ’50s” vibe, is that despite it once being the frontier of urban development, it’s got green space galore. Gardiners Creek runs right through it, from Warrigal Road through to the border of Ashwood Drive. Alongside the creek is Gardiners Creek Trail. It’s not completely trail-like, with a small diversion on High Street Road – though that diversion gives runners/cyclists a good opportunity to quickly detour to check out the aforementioned Boyds.

Warrigal Road, and its shopping strip, splits Ashwood from Ashburton. It’s a classic Aussie strip with shops straight out of the ’50s. The modern Woolworths on the corner of High Street Road and Warrigal Road is designed with a kind of boomerang shape facade, which looks almost almost Boyd-like. Is it a possible nod to the former supermarket further up High Street Road? I’d like to think so.

Five things you didn’t know about Ashwood:

• Australian Ninja Warrior contestant Zac Zakharia runs Frank Dando Sports Academy School at 33 Raymond Street
• It’s 14km from the CBD but feels a world away
• Australia’s biggest shopping centre, Chadstone, takes up a lot of space just south of Ashwood
• Hyde and Seek cafe on Yertchuk Avenue, with its Turkish food, ticks the good cafe box
• It’s a great spot for higher education with Deakin University just north and Holmesglen TAFE just south