Art Forms

Victorian houses are generally quite ‘stubborn’ to rework into contemporary family homes. Often dark and with little connection to a garden, these period dwellings can be both challenging and costly to change. However, for this Italianate Victorian terrace in Fitzroy, Hindley & Co. worked closely with the owner, also an architect but not practicing, to create a seamless transition between the past and the present.

 

While the two-storey Fitzroy house retains all its fine exterior detailing, including large windows and an arched portico, the interiors have been redesigned for a couple with two teenage children. Here, it was a case of removing a number of interior walls, particularly at ground level. Prior to this renovation, chunky brick walls segmented the kitchen from the adjacent dining room, and a large fireplace created another barrier to the living area (an ad hoc 1980s addition) and to the garden beyond.

 

Apart from the formal study/home office at the front of the house, the rear wing has been completely ‘unlocked’ – with the kitchen now flowing into the dining area, and the dining area feeling part of the new brick extension that comprises the living area. Complete with large glass sliding doors that fully retract to the rear courtyard, there’s now a greater sense of space, as well as natural light – the latter achieved via a series of strategically placed skylights. Skylights above the new staircase also allow light into the core of the floorplan, with an operable window in the ceiling allowing hot air to be purged during the warmer months of the year.

 

Although there are now few rooms in the house, including the removal of one bedroom, the spaces are now more functional and geared to a couple with children. And unlike many Victorian homes that have inadequate storage, the house - post renovation - now includes generous built-in cupboards, in the kitchen, bedrooms and in the dining and living areas with a low bank of cupboards doubling as a display for art and objects. Hindley and Co. also provided outdoor storage for the family’s many bicycles. But rather than the usual rudimentary shed, here there’s a black stained timber structure that ‘reads’ as a back wall, allowing the garden to be the focus.

 

This home, on its prominent corner site, regularly made those walking past pause and admire the impressive façade. Those fortunate to live here, as well as visit, can now enjoy the interior spaces, full of light and character.

 

- Stephen Crafti