Est. 1949

FREDERICK ROMBERG (1913-1992)

Frederick Romberg, the architect of the Kallista Tea Rooms, was the second child of Prussian parents Kurt and Else Romberg and was born on 21st June 1913 in Tsingtao China. His father was a doctor of law and had travelled widely in Papua New Guinea, Africa and China. In September 1913, the family returned to Berlin when little Frederick was just 3 months old. Frederick’s father volunteered for the service when the war broke and was killed in action in May 1915 near Ypres in Belgium.

Frederick’s earliest memories were of the small flat he and his mother moved into in Berlin Dahlem after his father died, the efforts of his mother to look after then all, the end of the war and ensuing political unrest. When he was seven, he spent a year with his grandparents in central Berlin. His grandfather Hermann Gilow was the principal of one of Berlin’s oldest schools situated in Wallstrasse, not far from local museums, to which his grandmother took him on regular visits. In his later school years, Frederick attended concerts, operas and plays in Hamburg and witnessed the final throes of German avant-garde. Indeed, his youth was spent in privileged circumstances, and attended by academic success and access to the best of Germany’s intellectual and cultural life.

In 1931, Frederick intended to follow the family tradition of practicing law and he enrolled in his first semester at law school at Geneva University, Switzerland, as his father had done before him. Geneva however, with its sophisticated and wealthy émigré population proved too unreal an experience in the face of the hardships at home and he returned to Germany at the end of the semester.

Thereafter, Frederick continued his studies in a peripatetic fashion across the country at law schools in Munich, Berlin and Kiel. In Munich, he joined several student groups whose activities eventually known to the police, meetings were raided and names taken. By mid-1933, the authorities had caught up with him and a hasty departure to Switzerland was arranged by his stepfather. It was on the train trip to Zurich that Romberg decided to abandon law and enrol in architecture course at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, renowned as one of the world's leading technical universities. There, he spent five years as a student from 1933 to 1938, after when he migrated to Melbourne, Australia.

KALLISTA TEA ROOMS (1945-1949)

Having completed his architecture education in 1938, Frederick Romberg became a likely candidate for military service in Germany. This idea did not appeal at all and he decided to travel to Australia, a notion he had first entertained in conversation with a fellow-student who, similarly placed politically, had intended to follow up a contact he had in the State Electricity Commission in Melbourne. This colleague however, changed his mind and joined the Nazi party in Cologne leaving Romberg alone to carry through his idea.

To understand the experience of migration is of fundamental importance in understanding the architecture of Frederick Romberg. While his commitment to Australia was absolute from the moment he arrived here, he brought with him memories, knowledge and attitudes what were European in general and German in particular. He was 25 when he left Antwerp on. 16 August 1938 and after a six-week journey, on 28 September the ship docked in Melbourne at Station Pier.

During the following five decades, Frederick Romberg became one of Australia’s most innovative architects of the postwar period whose complex and inspired modernist buildings helped bring an exciting new edge to Melbourne’s urban environment.

During 1940s, Frederick Romberg designed three buildings in Dandenong Ranges. The Miller Short House (Ventura) in Upwey is a design dramatised by a stone chimney wall and recognised by the Art Deco Society. Perhaps, the most curious project of these years was the Wayside Inn at Kallista 1945, which was later built on modified form and renamed as Kallista Tea Rooms just before it was opened. 

The original Kallista Tea Rooms design compromised both the tea room with a central dance floor and the manager’s quarters. The two areas were treated quite distinctly, the latter on the ground floor encased in stone and the former, a glazed eclipse, cantilevered over this. The Tea Rooms, with its modified design, was built over the next 4 years before its completion in 1949 and opened its doors to the public on 1st January 1950. Since then, with its Art Deco inspiration, Kallista Tea Rooms continues to be one of the most loved places by locals and visitors from all around the country and the world. 

KALLISTA, the most BEAUTIFUL (1925)

"It is a long, steady rise from Belgrave to Kallista, and 20 years ago the road was rough and stony. The two city artists who were with me had found the walk rather far. As we rose to the crest, topped now by the Kallista school, the water-colourist sighed, drew his hands from his trouser pockets – he always strolled with his arms buried to the wrists – and looked at me reproachfully. 'Someone has stolen the end of this road,' he remarked with conviction. Five minutes later his back straightened, his eye brightened, he was a different man; we were facing that wonderful view which is framed by the soft green hills of Sassafras and Olinda. 'Why didn't I bring my paints?' he asked." [Good-Bye by R.H. Croll 1933]

Kallista, with a population of 1,437 people, along with the other towns of the Dandenong Ranges is celebrated for its picturesque natural setting, wealth of heritage and luxury houses and gardens, and country atmosphere all within commuting distance to inner Melbourne. Kallista is located between other local towns of Olinda, Sassafras, The Patch and Sherbrooke. 

From 1912 to 1918, roads were completed between Belgrave and South Sassafras (Kallista) and Monbulk. Melburnians then began to use the area for weekenders and holiday homes as the original 10-acre (4.0 ha) farm blocks were subdivided. The South Sassafras State (Kallista) School opened on 10 March 1919 with sixteen pupils. It was first located in the local hall known as the Mechanics Hall and by 1924 had moved to its current location on Monbulk Road.

By 1924, the problem of confusion of the name of South Sassafras with Sassafras led to suggestions that the name of the town be changed. Many names were suggested and finally, the name "Kallista" (in ancient Greek, "Kalliste", meaning "most beautiful") was adopted and the change made on 1 April 1925.

Today, Kallista Village is particularly known for its proximity to Sherbrooke Forest. Walks around Sherbrooke Forest range from easy to somewhat steep. Sherbrooke is well known for its Superb Lyrebird population, which has increased recently with efforts to reduce the feral cat and fox population. Although early in the morning is the best time to see and hear lyrebirds, they can be seen and heard throughout the day. The males' calls are particularly prominent in June. The area is famous with its large numbers of sulphur-crested cockatoos, crimson rosellas, galahs and Australian king parrots.