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Piper Press Australia

@piper.press

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Independent publisher of Australian art, architecture and design books bringing significant artistic & creative histories to life. 🇦🇺

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⭐️ We’ve got something special to drop. Pettit+Sevitt The Modernist Project, by Kathryn Franco with Foreword by Marc Newson. Architecture, design and the story of an Australian mid-century housing icon.

For pre-orders, visit piperpress.com.au

480 pages, hardcover.

📚The illustrated history of influential Australian project home builder Pettit + Sevitt.

Founded in Sydney in 1961, Pettit & Sevitt were pioneers of a burgeoning project home industry. Their mission was to make it possible for Australians to buy an architect-designed home at a price they could aﬀord. This became an important modernist movement that shaped how Australians built their homes and thought about design.

Working with five of Australia’s most renowned architects including Ken Woolley, Michael Dysart, Russell Jack, Neil Clerehan and Harry Seidler, they created homes that were modular, functional and beautiful in their simplicity.

Pettit & Sevitt display villages became weekend attractions and their houses won numerous architectural awards. They introduced people to the possibility of design as part of everyday life and reflected a growing confidence in Australian domestic architecture. Their houses, and those of their contemporaries, became associated with what would be known as the ‘Sydney School’, a loosely defined group of architects whose work embraced natural materials, economical spatial planning and responsiveness to Australia’s unique landscape.

Alongside archival photography, house plans and sketches, this 480 page book presents selected contemporary Pettit & Sevitt homes that continue to be enjoyed, restored and adapted. It is both the history of an ambitious modernist enterprise, a valuable resource and a record of Pettit & Sevitt’s enduring place in Australian architecture, design and suburban life.

#architecture #midcenturymodern #modernism #housing #pettitandsevitt @marcnewsonofficial

Available in bookstores and online from 1 November, 2026.

📸©️Ron Sevitt, courtesy Val Sevitt, Ken Woolley courtesy Virginia Braden, Dermide and Max Dupain courtesy @statelibrarynsw, Double Head Productions and Bruce Beresford, and Piper Press. taken in Sydney by @piper.press

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It was 1969 and times were changing for Pettit & Sevitt. Others were now competing for their middle class customers. Project builders such as Habitat, Merchant Builders, Civic and Lynton were just a few of the companies that rode the wave of their success, their advertising, their marketing and their houses in order to establish alternatives. Customer tastes were getting more sophisticated. Enter Harry Seidler, one of Australia’s most established preeminent modernist architects and a person Ron Sevitt greatly admired.

Continuing to add choice, originality and diversity to their range — Pettit & Sevitt asked Seidler to design a unique house for a sloping block. Amid social upheavals and the Apollo 11 moon landing, optimistic times still prevailed and Seidler’s Curvilinear model embodied that optimism. Practical solutions with sensuous curves were considered a luxury offer.

Learn more about the impact of this model in Pettit & Sevitt The Modernist Project by Kathryn Franco. Foreword by Marc Newson.

Available for pre-order and launching November 2026.

piperpress.com.au

#australianarchitecture #architecture #modernism #midcenturymodern houses

📸 1. Photo by Michael Andrews, cropped 3. Photo by Max Dupain ©️Penelope Seidler 4. Perspective sketch by Harry Seidler ©️Penelope Seidler courtesy State Library of NSW 5. The Bulletin 8 November 1969 courtesy NLA. 6.Photo by Max Dupain courtesy State Library of NSW. taken in Sydney by @piper.press

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Most Sydneysiders don’t realise that two of Pettit & Sevitt’s most popular models in the 1970s were designed by a Melbourne architect: Neil Clerehan.

Not just any architect, Clerehan and his best man Robin Boyd shaped Australian architectural discourse for decades with their work in both architecture and journalism and helped identify the development of the Sydney School vernacular.

Clerehan designed some 130 Victorian Small Homes Service plans and later became the director of the service providing quality architect-designed plans to many Australians before project housing began to boom.

Inspired by American modernism, Clerehan also met many of the greats including Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson and Paul Rudolph during the 1950s. And, he was an enormous fan of the glamour and verve of Hollywood.

Learn more about Neil Clerehan’s important work with Pettit & Sevitt and their expansion to Melbourne, as well as the award-winning houses he designed for them.

Pettit+Sevitt The Modernist Project
By Kathryn Franco
Foreword by Marc Newson
Offical release November 2026
Pre orders open Piperpress.com.au

#architecture #modernism #midcenturymodern #australianarchitecture

📸 1. Courtesy Clerehan family 2. and 4.
By Max Dupain, State Library of NSW courtesy Val Sevitt 3. Piper Press 5. By Alicia Taylor taken in Melbourne, Australia by @piper.press

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Pettit + Sevitt The Modernist Project
Wednesday 4th November 2026, 6.00pm
Tickets: $10.00 https://www.trybooking.com/DQLAF
Venue: GML Heritage, Level 17, 323 Castlereagh Street, Sydney

Join author Kathryn Franco for a glimpse inside the new book, revealing the stories, architecture and previously unseen archival material behind Pettit & Sevitt. Introductions by Colin Sevitt & architect Tone Wheeler followed by Q&A.

Pettit + Sevitt: The Modernist Project is the story of one of Australia’s most influential project home companies and the remarkable collaboration between builders Brian Pettit and Ron Sevitt and five of Australia’s most notable architects: Ken Woolley, Michael Dysart, Neil Clerehan, Russell Jack and Harry Seidler.

Founded in Sydney in 1961, Pettit & Sevitt brought architect-designed modernism to the middle classes in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and beyond.

They produced houses, townhouses and residential developments that responded to landscape, climate and post-war ideas about Australian domestic life. Most strongly associated with the Sydney School vernacular of architecture, their work offered an alternative to the conventional triple-fronted bungalow and established an important model of collaboration between architects and builders that raises questions about how housing is designed and delivered today.

Learn more about the research behind the book, see previously unpublished archival material, photographs, plans and film footage, and gain an insight into the people, ideas and circumstances that shaped Pettit & Sevitt. Hosted by Docomomo Australia - Thank you! @docomomoaustralia taken in GML Heritage by @piper.press

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Well hello there advanced copies. Deluxe! Counting down to 1 November! Thank you to so many who have placed preorders already!🙏🎉 #architecture #houses #design #modernism #midcenturymodern taken in Sydney, Australia by @piper.press

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When early modernist architect Russell Jack designed three project homes for Pettit & Sevitt in 1966, some people just didn’t get it. In fact, many still don’t understand the houses today. They seemed “traditional”. But the architectural press understood it and several threads connected Russell Jack to Ron Sevitt and Brian Pettit from as early as 1961.

In 1965, on a trip back from the world’s first design hotel in Copenhagen, Ron’s to-do list overlapped with vivid ideas about Australian architecture which needed further exploration with Jack — someone who had trail-blazed site responsive designs that blended in with the bush landscapes of Sydney’s modernist heart — the North Shore.

Learn more about Russell Jack’s beautiful Pettit & Sevitt houses and how his work influenced the Sydney School vernacular. Pre orders are open for the new book:
Pettit+Sevitt The Modernist Project
By Kathryn Franco, with Foreword by Marc Newson.

📸 Matthew Jack, Ron Sevitt Super 8, Powerhouse Museum Collections, State Library of NSW.

#australianarchitecture #houses #midcenturymodern #modernism #pettitandsevitt taken in Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia by @piper.press

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Get up close to Greg Weight's Brett Whiteley works tonight at Australian Galleries, Paddington, 6pm.

“This exhibition revisits the time when Brett, having already achieved a degree of success overseas returned to his homeland in Australia fully inspired and hit the ground running, producing a new exhibition every year.

It was a time when a collaboration formed between us; an artist with a vision and a photographer who could seize the moment. We worked in his waterside studio and in Wendy’s, Arkie’s and his Lavender Bay home with its iconic views over the harbour. It was the genesis of what became my lifelong obsession with making portraits of artists.

In these revisited images I nudge his brush, imagine his dream, stare into his binoculars and swing with him around the studio once again." Greg Weight, 2026.

Congratulations Greg!

Greg Weight’s memoir@is available from Australian Galleries, the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery bookstore and bookshops nationally and online. Limited edition prints are available this summer from PiperPress.com.au

#australianart #artists #photography
📸 ©️The Listener 1971, Greg Weight taken in Roylston Street Paddington by @piper.press

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Michael Dysart was an architect whose work has connected with many Australians even if they are unaware that they are living in one of his humanist houses, or went to school at one of his radical light-filled modernist schools, colleges or Universities. When Michael won the Australian Family Home Competition in 1958 with Ken Woolley for their square villa, it skyrocketed them to national prominence, changing their lives and the next 20 years of Australian housing for the better.

In the last 18 months of his life, Kathryn Franco spent time with Michael learning about just a small part of his many achievements: his arrival in Australia as a teenage migrant, his involvement in Pettit & Sevitt's early years, his design influences and his lasting legacy on our built environment.

Pettit & Sevitt The Modernist Project includes unpublished work by Michael Dysart and much more about Pettit & Sevitt's successful period as the nation's leading architecturally-focussed project home builder.

Pre-orders are open and will be signed.
Official release 1 November 2026.

#architecture #modernism #houses #sydneyschool #pettitandsevitt

📸 Max Dupain, Australian Women’s Weekly, Jason Granziera, State Library of NSW and Michael Dysart. taken in Sydney by @piper.press

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Chances are you’ve spent some time in a building by Ken Woolley be it a home, city skyscraper or university library, townhouse or social housing, a broadcasting HQ or maybe an airport control tower.

Read more about Ken Woolley’s long commitment to architecture, quality housing and Pettit & Sevitt and the way he helped shape the Sydney School style in Sydney and beyond.

Pettit + Sevitt The Modernist Project by Kathryn Franco. Available for pre order.
Official release 1 November 2026.

#architecture #modernism #midcenturymodern #pettitandsevitt #houses

📸 1. National Archives 3/4/5/6/7/8 SLNSW. Photos by Max Dupain, courtesy Val Sevitt. Drawings by Ken Woolley, courtesy Virginia Braden. taken in Sydney by @piper.press

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Let's talk about houses! Save the date on one of these upcoming events and keep an eye out for booking links coming soon.

WED 04 NOV 2026
LAUNCH
DOCOMOMO
SYDNEY

FRI 13 NOV 2026
ROBIN BOYD FOUNDATION
MELBOURNE

WED 18 NOV 2026
BOOK SIGNING
ARIEL BOOKSHOP - PADDINGTON
SYDNEY

MON 23 NOV 2026
CANBERRA MODERN
AIA CANBERRA

SAT 12 DEC 2026
BOOKOCCINO - AVALON
SYDNEY

Stay tuned for talks and walks.

#architecture #australianarchitecture #houses #modernism #pettitandsevitt by @piper.press

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In 1961 it was very much a mid-century man’s world. But there were at least five women who were key to Pettit & Sevitt’s success. Val Sevitt is not only Ron Sevitt’s wife, but was a concert pianist by day who had a sense of style, appreciation for culture and love of design. As one of the “Partners” in Pettit, Sevitt & Partners in the early days, it was Val’s love of gardening, flowers and nature that inspired the interiors of their display houses.

While Marion Hall Best popularised Marimekko fabrics in the 1950s thanks to importer Russell Whitechurch, the spaces she styled were the domain of wealthy clientele who could afford interior designers. Val Sevitt made the brightly patterned modernist fabrics a fundamental part of display homes for the middle class customer, often sewing the curtains and tablecloths late into the night.

In Ron Sevitt’s short films Val is seen gardening, planting and mowing lawns at their Pettit & Sevitt prototype Lowline house in Wahroonga; as well as travelling to natural landmarks like the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves with good friends, the Bowens.

Pettit & Sevitt The Modernist Project by Kathryn Franco

Open for pre-orders with official release on 1 November.

📸 Courtesy Val Sevitt, Powerhouse Museum Collections and State Library of NSW.
🎥 By Ron Sevitt, 1963. ©️Val Sevitt and Family.

#australianarchitecture #design #housing #pettitandsevitt #houses Val Sevitt, Pettit & Sevitt taken in Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia by @piper.press

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Brian Pettit was the essential partner for Ron Sevitt. Their goal to bring architect-designed housing to as many middle class Australians as possible extended far beyond their work. An accountant by training, he excelled at the numbers but was more than just a bean counter. He understood and appreciated design. In their personal spheres, Brian and Ron walked the talk: they both lived in Pettit & Sevitt-built homes, forging lifelong friendships with each other’s families, staff and architects, in particular the Woolleys. In fact, Brian commissioned no other architect in his lifetime — only Ken Woolley. Ken designed the Pettit House in Canberra, and several in Sydney including the extraordinary Pitt Point House on Scotland Island, and Brian’s final home in Bayview.

The legacy of Pettit & Sevitt houses and the way people regard them today is closely connected to the attitudes, reputations and beliefs of both Brian and Ron — they were a different breed and above reproach. They were driven by quality and integrity and they thrived on the notion of “betterment” — a term often used in the postwar period that embodied striving for the good life.

Pettit + Sevitt The Modernist Project
By Kathryn Franco

Available 1 November and open for pre orders.

#australianarchitecture #architecture #housing #modernism #midcenturymodern

📸 1. Courtesy Val Sevitt, State Library of NSW 3. Courtesy Gabrielle Pettit. 4. Pitt Point House photograph by Tom Ferguson 5. Eric Maguire Collection RMIT Design Archives 6. Bayview House photograph Eric Sierins. taken in Sydney by @piper.press

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