The Fishwick House is a heritage-listed private residence located at 15 The Citadel, Castlecrag, City of Willoughby, New South Wales, Australia.

[1] Walter Burley Griffin was born near Chicago and trained at Nathan Ricker's School of Architecture at the University of Illinois, graduating in 1899.

In 1911, Griffin married Marion Mahony, who had graduated in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as Wright's head designer.

Apparently unsatisfied with the lack of relevant curriculum, Simonds urged him to pursue architecture and study landscape gardening on his own, as he himself had done.

[1] By 1914 Griffin and his architect wife Marion Mahony had moved to Australia after winning the 1912 international design competition for the Federal Capital, Canberra with a scheme based on its topography, a distinctly non-prairie valley landscape of undulating hills.

He also developed an economical construction system of pre-cast interlocking structural tiles, which he called "Knitlock", and used it widely, as well as stone, in the houses of Castlecrag.

[2][1] Griffin's contribution to the development of the Wrightian / Prairie School style internationally has begun to receive attention from architectural historians in recent years.

It is now increasingly acknowledged that Griffin contributed a number of fresh concepts to the Prairie School, most noticeably: his attention to vertical space (a development leading directly to the ubiquitous split-level style post-war houses); "open plan" living and dining areas dominated by a large central fireplace; and the extensive domestic use of reinforced concrete.

[1][7] Griffin is also internationally renowned for his work as a landscape architect, especially the innovative town planning design of Canberra and Castlecrag, Griffith and Leeton.

Landscape itself, for example, crucially served as a basis for architecture - a conviction first made explicit in the Canberra publicity, Griffin noting (in Chicago) that: "...a building should ideally be "the logical outgrowth of the environment in which [it is] located"."

Walter Burley Griffin arrived in Australia in 1913 to supervise construction of his winning design for the new Federal Capital at Canberra, his involvement with this project was over by 1918.

[1] Walter Burley Griffin designed over 40 speculative houses for Castlecrag, the majority being large and lavishly finished to cater for the intended affluent clients.

Mrs Bell sold the land in 1929 to Mr Thomas Wilson Fishwick, the Australian representative of Fowlers, a Leeds-based road making equipment manufacturing firm.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a major works program was undertaken to restore the fabric of the property, including the rebuilding of the kitchen, replacement of the bituminous and pebble roof membrane, underpinning of the north-east corner, repair of concrete spalling to internal walls, and upgrading of water, gas, sewage, stormwater and electrical services.

[1] Castlecrag, a promontory jutting out into Sydney's Middle Harbour provided a dramatic and beautiful setting for Walter Burley & Marion Mahony Griffins' design ideas and philosophy for housing and estate development.

The floors are timber with the exception of the upstairs corridor, work room, bedroom 3 and the bathrooms that are of concrete hollow block construction.

[1] The house is asymmetrical, incorporating split floor levels in stark contrast to the simple rectangular forms of most of Griffin's Castlecrag work.

The split level design produces strong external geometry manifested as a series of stepped forms with horizontal planes, reflecting the contours of the site.

The entry to the house is via a series of connecting spaces, progressing from the claustrophobic, tunnel like front passage into the entrance hall and finally the lounge, each time the ceiling height increases to provide a sense of journey.

[1] A sand, cement and bitumen mixture has been applied to the sub-floor as infill between floor joists to minimise rising damp, to act as a termite deterrent and to serve as insulation.

Design inclusions considered modern for the time were: the large built in garage with 6 panel, articulated, glass sliding door suspended from a curved rail; a large picture window 2.0m x 1.25m overlooking Middle Harbour; built-in wardrobes; sunken bath and en-suite to the main bedroom; concealment of plumbing to the upstairs toilets above the upper ceiling level and recessing their flush pipes in wall cavities (since removed); cork floors in both bathrooms; a large waterproofed planter box; and indirect lighting.

[1] The Griffins also used a variety of decorative and textured finishes, mirrored glass, shaped wood and ceramics to create special effects, some having strong symbolic qualities.

Of note are the 25 tall mirrored amber glass panels in the entrance; the use of 60-degree angles to produce diamond or crystalline shapes; attention to decorative finishes particularly to the pillars; a row of colourful ceramic tiles in the moulded fireplace (unique amongst the Castlecrag houses); the entirely moulded concrete fireplace in the work room, a "prow" design integrated with the pattern of coloured glass tiles in the hearth.

[1] The design, construction and detailing of the Fishwick house demonstrates Griffin's commitment to combining creativity and artistry with innovative uses of technology and materials.

[1] Fishwick House was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 15 December 2006 having satisfied the following criteria.

The attention to siting and insistence that the building harmonise with and enhance the natural landscape make it a clear example of the design philosophy developed by Griffin.

This is demonstrated in; the 6 panel articulated glass sliding garage doors, the large picture window in the lounge room raised into specially constructed recess with counterweights inside two flanking concrete pillars, the use of cork flooring in bathrooms, the use of sand cement and bitumen sub-floor infill in the ground floor to achieve damp control, temperature insulation and termite proofing.

Its rarity is further enhanced by the fact that it is one of only two of Griffin's houses in Castlecrag built to the large scale level and high quality of design detail consistent with his concept of the estate as a "high-class residential area".