This design incorporates the original church space housing an open plan living/meals and kitchen with butler’s pantry and formal living/home theatre room with side vestibule with panoramic views of the north- west garden, alfresco area and feature solar heated pool via vast floor to ceiling glazing. A mezzanine level within the volume of the church houses two huge bedrooms with built in joinery opening onto a rumpus room and adjacent bathroom overlooking the living room void and large arched window to valley views of the area.

The roof space within the timber trusses of the church has been converted into a New York-style loft space.  It is a multi-functional room with its own kitchenette and private bath room. Roof skylights and a circular floor to ceiling window encapsulate a panoramic view of the valley & city skyline.

This renovation looks amazing. The neutral palette, the wood and the bricks create a beautiful and modern place, definitely a great place to live.

The house has had a series of renovations over the past century; the original Edwardian home was converted into apartments in the 1930s and then a substantial family home in the 1980’s. The brief was to restore the Art Deco facade, retain the existing footprint and add a third level.

The house is located directly opposite the beach in Middle Park and is constantly filled with beautiful light. Morning sun strikes the garden aspect, and at the end of the day the sun sets across the bay.

The planning has been carefully considered to create a series of distinct rooms, rather than an open plan. Joinery is placed to create spaces, but still allow views to flow from room to room and then to the horizon.

Materials have been selected to provide understated tones within a neutral palette. The neutral colour palette supports the play of light at different times of day. The overall feeling is extremely soft and one feels visually and emotionally connected at all times to the expansive sea, sky and garden views. At the same time the house has a feeling of intimacy & warmth, perfect for family living.

The client’s original intention was to demolish the existing house and build a completely new structure. After living in the house for a year, the architects thought the existing building worked well with the views and light and had a distinct ‘personality’. In short, it would be a shame to demolish a house which had stood for 100 years.

Trades that existed 100 years ago, don’t exist anymore, or are considered too expensive. The architects therefore chose to restore the existing building and protect the craftsmanship of the Art Deco period.  So, the most substantial decision regarding sustainability was to work with the existing fabric of the house.

Once this decision was made, materials and servicing were all designed around principles of sustainability, including a smart managed hydronic heating system, double glazed windows, and positively shaded windows with curtains and screens.

The building uses only natural materials such as stone, and stained (not painted) timber, windows are either steel or timber, and not aluminium. Additional ESD attributes include solar hot water booted system, solar pool heating and rainwater harvesting for drip feed garden irrigation systems.

 Photographs  © Derek Swalwell

Ground Floor: 1 bedroom with courtyard, open plan study and second living room with original roller-door blind and full height operational door/windows, large bathroom with laundry, courtyard and lock up garage. Whole floor could easily be used as home office.

First Floor: Huge open plan living, dining, kitchen and meals area with expansive kitchen joinery, pantry, black mirrored splashback, stunning island bench area and extensive outdoor room-style entertainer’s courtyard.

Second Floor: Oversized master bedroom with city views, walk in robe and ensuite, 3rd bedroom, an amazing wrap around balcony and sun deck.

The wide Greek-Revival style façade was added in 1911.Entry though a pair of massive timber doors is to a vestibule which steps up to the grand living room (155 sq.m. approx), flooded with light, and featuring a stone open fireplace. At one end is a fitted study, and at the other is a splendidly proportioned dining area. (Here, a faded painted banner proclaiming ‘Holiness Becomes Thy House’ testifies to the building’s provenance.)

The kitchen, elegantly fitted with Smeg appliances and marble benchtops, adjoins a butler’s pantry. Two sets of French doors open to a broad east-facing paved terrace with views over Fitzroy. To the other side of the entrance hall are 2 double bedrooms (one opening to a small courtyard), separated by a smart family-size bathroom. Above is a mezzanine gallery with a study area at one end, leading to the apartment-sized main bedroom/retreat, with dressing room, bathroom and separate W/C.

On the upper level is a voluminous storage space with potential for conversion to further accommodation. The garage level, entered from a right-of-way and including a cellar, storeroom, powder room and workshop, might be modified to include a rumpus room or work-from-home space.

Layered with Fitzroy history and retaining exquisite period detail, this light-filled property minutes from Brunswick Street features hydronic heating, richly polished timber floors, security entry and quality fittings. It’s one of a kind!

If you like it, you can even buy it now.

Spread over 180 square meters, the design of MPR Design Group displays a highly modern design. Adorning the rooftop of an Art Deco building, the lightweight metal clad structure benefits from plenty of natural light coming from a mixture of skylights and windows. An immaculate set of interiors and exterior spaces compose social and private rooms, all free flowing and strongly connected to the surroundings.

By adding a contemporary top to an historic building, MPR Design Group created yet another stunning example of blending old and new architectural languages. Laying at the owner’s feet, wide lime washed timber floor boards set the tone for an elegant interior design, where white and silver Alucobond cladding, together with limestone and Calacutta marble shape a dreamy residence. Arranged under cleverly hidden LED light fittings, minimalist pieces of furniture provoke the inhabitants to relax in the comfort of this luxurious penthouse apartment.

Following its construction in 1885, the Mowbraytown Presbyterian Church became a focus point for the East Brisbane community, and a key feature of the streetscape. The church interior, including timber joinery, leadlight windows, the organ, memorial boards and inscriptions reflect the aesthetic values of the congregation and the community at the time, and today form a unique and cohesive image of the era.

The client was drawn to the historical significance of the building, and the brief was to provide an office environment that was functional and contemporary, yet respectful to the existing structure. The client was drawn by the opportunity for adaptive re-use within the city fringe suburb, simultaneously preserving the cultural value of the existing structure, while also making it relevant and meaningful to the community today.

Throughout the re-development, the majority of the existing structure was left untouched so as to preserve the significance of the building within the streetscape. External finishes and applied cladding that were added to the structure following its initial construction were stripped back to expose the original 1885 weatherboard. The dominance of the bell tower to the streetscape was revived by restoring it to its original colour.

The internal redesign of the space was governed by the preservation of the original structure, while also sustaining the requirements of a working office. The church nave was repurposed as an open plan office, featuring the original intricate timber work and stained glass fittings. A steel and glass mezzanine structure was constructed, which both emphasizes and utilizes the volume of open space within the church. Half height glass walls draw attention to the original timber structure within this space, which houses a new boardroom and individual offices.

The organ was a key component of the building during its time as a working church so the instrument has been left untouched and now sits centrally as a feature of the office space. In addition, the roof trusses form a significant part of the original church both aesthetically and functionally. The use of internal up-lighting and individual task lights left the ceiling space untouched, and allows the trusses to remain a focus within the structure.

A rock mass forms a bridge to exploit both the sea frontage and limited Westerly light. Under this, the living area nestles into the escarpment contrasting an intimate living terrace to the North-East with a grotto-like western courtyard. Bedroom areas are grouped above as finely scaled louvred lookouts at the canopy level of the pohutukawas.

The building uses materiality to become intimately scaled to ‘belong†in its setting. This strategy is empathetic in that it intends to facilitate the home’s occupants to feel the same way.

The unique modern stone fireplaceitself is a work of art. Stone can be quite rustic and raw, but the open design of the fireplace makes it really modern at the same time. The flames sit a top a semi-glossy looking white slab while whimsically dancing around those metal rings. The stone backdrop ties everything together for a cozy, contemporary look. We love how each element of this fireplace design has its own defining characteristics but when put together in this way, they have a symbiotic relationship.

The Mechanics Institute Hall – think Victorian era guild or trades halls. Almost churchlike. This modern conversion plays with scale and height, positive and negative space, open and enclosed. Love the kitchen, the spiral staircase and the soaring grey ceilings, the clever use of half walls of storage to divide spaces and the privacy of the bedroom and bathroom tucked away in the mezzanine but a little confused by the large box like lights.

Here’s a video walkthrough:

It is being auctioned today, grab it while you can!

The one-bedroom, two-floor warehouse is located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and encompasses a large, airy open-plan living area, an overlooking kitchen located on the mezzanine storey and an uniformly-white Corian-lined bathroom. Interestingly, the existing structure of the house has been repainted white while the new elements have been developed in black creating this monochrome, undeniably modern interior.

This project is the conversion of a late 19th century former grocery warehouse into a 2 level, one bedroom residence. In the mid 20th century it had 35 years of use as an engineering workshop before being converted to an artistâ€s studio and residence in the 1970s.

Internally a 1.7 metre height difference between the 2 streets is utilised to create the tall volume of the living space, with its†floor to ceiling wall of books. The kitchen occupies the half level above, overlooking the living area and is screened by a black steel plate structure incorporating a built-in black leather bench seat.

All existing structure has been retained, lined and painted white, while all new elements are painted black. This concept is carried through to the black and white rubber flooring. All joinery is finished in black anodised aluminium, including the bathroom on the upper level, which maintains the datum established by the height of the original window openings.

The clear glazing above allows light from the new clerestory window to illuminate the formerly dark centre of the deep open planned space. Internally the bathroom is lined with Corian on both walls and floor.

The property has 2 street frontages, allowing clear separation of pedestrian and vehicle entries. The new front door is located in the former loading dock at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, adjacent to a heritage listed sandstone wall. The entry is defined by a full height steel plate portal, adding to the palimpsest of former window openings and recycled brickwork that make up this façade.

The main street façade reinterprets the original but in steel rather than timber, with the address spelt out in water jet cut steel letters reflecting the original engineering workshop signage. The contrast between the precision of the steelwork and the patina of the original brickwork summarises the transformation from 19th to 21st centuries and from industrial to residential.

Strelein Warehouse by Ian Moore Architects; photo by Iain D. MacKenzie

They named the project ‘Cloud 9â€, making reference to the 1896 International Cloud-Atlas in which cloud No. 9  was the biggest, puffiest and most comfortable-looking. The kitchen, which is really beyond belief, is literally the heart of this home where all the living spaces converge into a central area.