‘Well that’s the one thing that Viennese of course take great pride in, is knives, forks, cutlery’… [1] Harry Seidler, 2003
From the curtains to the coffee table to the cutlery – every object and fitting in the house Harry Seidler designed for his parents – Rose Seidler House, now open as a museum – was of a functional and flexible design that reflected the modern lifestyle.
Items from Rose Seidler’s cutlery and Rosenthal tea service (centre). Photographed at the Harry and Penelope Seidler House, 2014. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums (detail)
The modernist ‘religion’
Rose Seidler, his beloved mother, who had moved to Australia via London after WWII with her husband Max, had previously managed the redecoration of her apartment in Vienna, working with an architect, and was ambitious and interested in the arts. Harry recalled of his mother fondly ‘…I remember her fastidiousness, and absolutely down to the last minute detail of perfection.’ [2] However, when Rose and Max moved into Rose Seidler House in late 1950, Rose was prompted to auction her beloved Viennese dining room suite – seen by her son as the antithesis of modern furniture. He acknowledged that ‘I wouldn’t allow my poor mother to have anything in the house not consistent with the religion – modernism.’ [3]
The dining area and kitchen at Rose Seidler House. Photo © Jamie North for Sydney Living Museums
Special concessions
As well as boxes of the very latest modern furniture from New York, Harry purchased crockery and cutlery by influential American craftsman and designer Russel Wright (1904–1976) for his parents to use in their new home, the subject of a future post. Despite this, Rose held her nerve, refusing to let go of her beloved set of Viennese silver cutlery and a Rosenthal tea service – going as far as to insist that Harry design a traymobile for her tea set and provide purpose-built kitchen drawers for the cutlery service in the kitchen at Rose Seidler House.
Penelope Seidler AM, showing curator Joanna Nicholas the cutlery service belonging to Rose Seidler at the Harry and Penelope Seidler House, Killara, 2014. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums
A family heirloom
Despite Harry’s commitment to modernist design, his wife Penelope Seidler AM, poignantly recalls that after Rose died in January 1967, the year their own house in Killara was being completed, she and Harry made provision for Rose’s beloved cutlery in their own kitchen by converting a cupboard under the oven into four drawers. [4]
‘Well that’s the one thing that Viennese of course take great pride in, is knives, forks, cutlery’ ..and when I came for dinner she knew that I would prefer to eat with those (Wright) implements rather than her beloved 19th European design. But she of course loved it – and we inherited that cutlery. We love using it now!’ [5] Harry Seidler, 2003.
References and sources
[1] Harry Seidler, Siobhan McHugh, Oral History transcript with Harry Seidler, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 11 October, 2003 p33
[2] Harry Seidler interview with P Vivian “Harry Seidler: True values & deep seated convictions”, unpublished thesis, Perth 1987 quoted in Peter Emmett, Rose Seidler House Conservation Plan, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 1989, p25
[3] Harry Seidler quoted in Peter Emmett, Rose Seidler House Conservation Plan, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 1989, p25.
[4] Penelope Seidler, interview with Joanna Nicholas, Killara, July 2014
[5] Harry Seidler, Siobhan McHugh, Oral History transcript with Harry Seidler, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, 11 October, 2003 p33
