Some of the best architecture can often be discovered behind modest facades where it’s not screaming for attention. A renovated, bluestone, traditional Victorian cottage that conceals an edgy city pad in Fitzroy has that appeal.
For its owners, Richard and Laura, the brief they gave to their architect – Emlyn Olaver, director of Olaver Architecture – was fairly open. There was trust from previously working with his practice on their other home on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
“That place has a more coastal feel. Here, it was about a city pad where they could spend time with friends the other half of the week,” says Olaver.
Just over 4.5 metres in width and about 20 metres deep, the inner-city plot came with a fall of 1.5 metres to the rear. “I love working with sloping sites. They set up interesting floor plans as much as allowing for greater ceiling heights,” says Olaver, who retained the heritage-listed facade, along with two of the cottage’s original rooms.
One of these was reduced to create a pocket-sized study at the front, benefiting from western light, and the other was reconfigured and expanded to provide a second bedroom and a bathroom. Although the cottage suffered from additions and alterations in the 1970s, the arched entrance remains along with what was originally a fireplace in the bedroom – now framed in travertine that complements the travertine-lined bathroom.
Past these rooms, the Fitzroy cottage gives way to a three-level addition with a courtyard separating the past and present. Lined with granite cobbled paving, the courtyard includes the original bricks of the neighbouring terrace, with its bluestone footings.
Planted with a singular birch tree, this courtyard creates transparency to the rear fence, also planted with birches. “We were keen to have texture in the design, something that created a cocoon-like environment, given we’re only moments from Gertrude Street (shopping strip),” says Richard (he requested his surname not be mentioned). “Laura and I also wanted a sense of the unexpected. You don’t really expect this design behind such a humble facade.”
The open-plan dining, kitchen and living area, orientated to the east, is certainly not standard. Stainless-steel joinery occupies one side of the kitchen, including steel shelves, while the generous travertine island bench, with its built-in walnut joinery, conceals a slide-out record player at one end.
“The initial discussions with Richard and Laura started out around this 1970s dining table, which they’d owned for some time,” says Olaver, who took the ’70s vibe when introducing the chandelier now suspended above it and the generous use of travertine.
But it’s the dramatic seven-metre-high void above the table that helps to generate the “wow” factor, with the main bedroom’s large picture window framing one side of this void. “When you’re working with small sites, it’s important to work with height wherever possible,” he adds.
The scale, although relatively modest, still allowed for a high level of detail, one that’s sophisticated and measured. Mirrors, for example, have been used in areas such as a wall, separating the old from the new. Mirror was also used in the dressing area of the main bedroom, extended beyond to allow the timber bedhead to float. The use of Roman-style glass bricks in the ensuite also adds a golden hue to the bedroom.
And for those who recall the television series Mister Ed from the early 1960s, there are even barn-style doors leading to the bedroom, that can be left open, imitating Mister Ed, the talking horse.
“I saw similar doors in Italy and just thought this could be another way of adjusting the amount of light and privacy.” And although it’s only around 100 square metres, Olaver and his team still managed to create a roof terrace concealed behind the cottage’s pitched steel roof.
What was once a modest home has become a hip city pad, one that not only offers an entirely different experience from the couple’s coastal home but also an escape from the busy city.
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Stephen Crafti is a specialist in contemporary design, including architecture, furniture, fashion and decorative arts.