Evenings with DADo: Sanatorium at Robin Boyd’s Walsh Street House

At 290 Walsh Street in South Yarra, Victoria AU 3141, Robin Boyd’s Walsh Street house opens its living room for Evenings with DADo: Sanatorium — a two‑hour film night and conversation that pairs modern documentary cinema with the intimate architecture of Boyd House II. This is an event for anyone who cares about design that engages public life, storytelling that travels far beyond the screen, and evenings that feel like a hosted salon rather than a standard cinema. Sanatorium (2025), directed by Gar O’Rourke, follows the quiet, uncanny life of the Kuyalnik Sanatorium on the shores of Odesa: a Soviet‑era health retreat built around a salt lake and famous black mud reputed to heal. The film threads together portraits of staff and guests seeking renewal while war presses close to the coastline, and the camera lingers on pastel corridors, bathhouse rituals and the odd optimism of people making care out of ruin. On Walsh Street the contrast between Boyd’s mid‑century domestic modernism and the sanatorium’s fading grandeur makes for a productive conversation about design, resilience and the politics of place. The house itself is part of the program: Boyd House II is a working heritage residence managed by the Robin Boyd Foundation; between May and July 2026 the façade and front staircase are undergoing restoration so scaffolding will be visible in the front garden and entry may be diverted via the side entrance. Interior rooms and the courtyard remain usable, and the evening’s screening takes place in the living room where cork flooring and careful conservation conventions shape how visitors move through the space. Evenings with DADo brings guest speakers and a small audience into a domestic setting where architecture and film prompt close listening. Presenters for 2026 include Thandi Lane, Andrew MacKinnon, Tom Hibbert, Jasper Caverly and Sushma Prabhu, and local partners Konpira Maru Wines and Yumbo Soda support the program. Practical notes: attendees must be 16 or older, no external food or drink, large bags checked at entry, and pointed heels are not permitted. If you need mobility support, email [email protected]; the heritage status prevents universal access and bathroom facilities are not wheelchair accessible. Why go? The combination of Robin Boyd’s deliberately non‑decorous domestic environment and a film about care, decay and repair creates a rare kind of encounter: you’ll watch a film about a place shaped by geology and local ritual, then step into a house that influenced Australian ideas about living and design. The setting makes conversations feel immediate, the audience small enough for follow‑up questions, and the experience is an effective, quiet way to see architecture in use while engaging with urgent global stories. Book early; seats are limited and conversations follow every screening, usually.