Belgrave's Monsalvat Connection
Many of our readers would be familiar with the impressive Montsalvat art colony in Eltham. But did you know about its unique link with the Dandenong Ranges? Art teacher, painter and architect Justus Jorgensen, founder of Montsalvat, also built for his brother Elef, a doctor, and his artist wife an imposing bluestone-house on Burwood Highway, now Main Street, Belgrave.
Dr Elef Jorgensen & Family photo courtesy of Belgrave Cricket Club
Justus Jorgensen was born on 12 May 1893 at East Brighton, third of six children of Simon Jorgensen, a master mariner from Norway, and his wife Nora, nee Schreiber. He qualified as a draughtsman at his uncle Robert’s architecture office. After working briefly in a government office, he learned painting at the National Gallery School from 1915 to 1917, where he joined Max Meldrum as a teacher and became his assistant. He later broke with Moldrum but continued to teach and paint, in later years he mainly produced self-portraits. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography Jorgensen detested the commercialism of exhibitions, mistrusted the judgement of critics and the public, and was reluctant to relinquish his canvases to buyers. He only exhibited three times in the 1930s.
The Self Portrait below was submitted to the Archibald Prize at the Rat Gallery of New South Wales in 1961. It appeared at auction in September 2017 at Leonard Joel.
Self Portrait Justus Jorgensen, Archibald Prize Entry in 1961
In 1935 he and his wife Lily, an anaesthetist, bought land at Eltham and with the assistance of friends and students began to build mud-brick or stone houses and studios. The artist colony was named Montsalvat, after the home of the legendary Holy Grail.
The Great Hall, at Monsalavat, which Jorgensen himself described as ‘gothic’, has remarkable similarities with the house he build for his brother in Belgrave (less the gargoyles). The two-storey house (built between 1930 and 1936) was built of granite and includes a large main room with hardwood floors, panel door and a hand-carved staircase and balustrade. House and studio/chapel were surrounded by an English forest garden. The furniture had been hand-carved by students of Monsalvat. In later years the residence and studio, with chapel and garden, later functioned as a restaurant, Jorgies Restaurant.
Earthly Pleasures Cafe in Belgrave aka Jorgies Restaurant aka Dr Elef Jorgenson's home and studio.
Previously known as Dr Jorgenson's House and Studio, 1627 Burwood Hwy (Main Street), Belgrave, is Yarra Ranges Shire Heritage Listed, and now known as Earthly Pleasures.
Justus Jorgensen died in 1975 in Upper Ferntree Gully and is buried in Eltham Cemetery.
