Frederick McCubbin was an Australian painter and art teacher. He was born in Melbourne on the 25th February 1855. When he was 14 he joined the family bakery business and was later apprenticed to a coach-painter. In 1869, McCubbin enrolled at the Artisans' School of Design, Carlton, and later studied drawing under Thomas Clark at the School Of Design, National Gallery of Victoria. He sold his first painting in 1880 and over the next few years, McCubbin’s work seemed to attract a lot of attention. He won a number of prizes and had a number of exhibitions around Melbourne.

In 1885, McCubbin went on painting trips with his friend, Tom Roberts, camping at Housten's farm at Box Hill, at Mentone on Port Phillip Bay and later in the Heidelberg area. Here he was joined by Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and others. These first camps marked the beginning of what came to be called The Heidelberg School. For the remaining years of his life, Mccubbin spent his time painting close to his home in South Yarra. He painted pictures of the Yarra River, as well as occasionally painting coastal and dockland scenes in the vicinity of Melbourne. McCubbin died in 1917.

Frederick McCubbin’s influential work in the Heidelberg area make him an ideal choice as the name sake of our Red House.