For readers obsessed with modernism and the architecture it inspired, 50/60/70 is akin to crack cocaine. In it, 15 Australian homes, each designed by a different architect, are profiled in detail. As a whole, they outline an exciting architectural trajectory from 1950 to 1976 in a country bolstered by post-World War II positivity. Look more carefully, though, at each of the case studies (which are presented in chronological order) and you will find ingenious concepts and fabulous design details to relish.

There are houses by Harry Seidler, John Kenny, Peter McIntyre and others and the influence of international heavyweights like Frank Lloyd Wright and Marcel Breuer can be seen and appreciated. I salivated most over Roy Grounds’ 1954 Melbourne home, with its cork walls, circular courtyard and timber ceilings; the 1967 Marshall House, a brick-and-timber dwelling, which nestles into its environs beautifully, came a close second. Special mention also goes to the fab staircase in Neville Gruzman’s cantilevered construction and the mad room divider in a 1975 Iwan Iwanoff home.