SYDNEY
A classic terrace house is sensitively modernised.
While respecting its heritage and period features the owner of this Sydney terrace injected a subtly modern aesthetic.
This page The exterior of the c1880s four-level home with its decorative mouldings and fretwork. Opposite page On the landing, antique console from Arida holds a sculpture by Camie Lyons. Artwork by Kenny Williams Tjampitjinpa. Apparatus ‘Highwire’ light tting from Criteria Collection.
This page In the open-plan living/dining room, Eames ‘Wire Base’ low table from Living Edge. Custom sofa and console with marble top from Tyrone Dearing. Cushions from Planet. Lamp bought in New York. African ceremonial headdress on mantelpiece bought in Mali. African elephant from Paris. Composition with Fish by Mascha Braunger (left). The Plane Tree Suite 1 by G. Purle. Apparatus ‘Highwire Tandem’ light tting from Criteria Collection. Walls painted in Bristol ‘Coral Fern’, trim in Dulux ‘Antique White USA’. Opposite page Dominating the hallway is Guy Maestri’s Inferno. Classicon ’Usha’ umbrella stand from Anibou. Framed needlework bought in Argentina hangs on the dining room wall.
“I L I KE PL ACE S TO LOOK
I N D I VI DUA L , L I VED IN, AND N OT O VER DE SIGNED.”
“I LOVED THE FACADE,
THE PROPORTIONS AND THE VOLUME OF THE ROOMS ... I COULD SEE THE POTENTIAL.” This page BassamFellows ‘Mantis’ chair and ‘Tray Rack’ side table from Living Edge. Artek ‘A805’ oor lamp from Anibou. Rug from Rugs, Carpet + Design. Opposite page, from le Kitchen dining area has Kai Kristiansen ‘#42’ chairs, and 1950s table by Helge Sibast and Arne Vodder from Great Dane Furniture. Metal tray from Planet. Untitled by Guy Maestri. Colonialstyle cane chair on the verandah.
Within a row of Victorian terraces in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, this home’s handsome facade celebrates order and uniformity. Its window mouldings, ligree railings, heritage hues and cast-iron downpipes perfectly mirror those of its neighbours. But beyond its black-panelled door, the house tells a story uniquely its own – it’s a highly individual, sometimes idiosyncratic expression of owner Peter Stewart’s past and his passions. Perhaps not surprising, as he was both client and designer.
Already resident in the area and with no intention of moving, he chanced upon the four-bedroom house for sale in early 2015. “It was totally spontaneous. I thought I would pop in and have a look,” he says. “I loved the facade, the proportions and the volume of the rooms. And I hadn’t seen many terraces this unadulterated. I could see the potential.” He was tantalised by its original features such as marble replaces, cornicing, mouldings and archways, all wonderfully preserved. Similar homes had long since been subdivided into ats, but not this one. The serene and tranquil outlook from its elevated living areas into the tree canopy on the street made the seduction complete.
But it wasn’t a perfect match. While the ow of the four-level home ticked most boxes, it needed tweaking. And, although a 1990s renovation hadn’t tampered with that period detailing, it had left its unwelcome calling card with its cherry-red timber oors, cream walls and terracotta tiles in the bathrooms. Those mock-colonial bathrooms, with their clawfoot baths and distressed-timber joinery, added little to the home’s appeal. Meanwhile, the basement level with its home of ce and copious storage was sorely underused.
“The bathrooms were crazy, there were too many cupboards and it had histrionic oral mouldings on the walls that were later additions,” he says.
Peter, a medical professional who counts design as one of his hobbies, tackled the renovation largely on his own, with the help of a draughtsperson and a heritage architect. “I am a frustrated architect-cum-designer,” he says. “I like the problem solving, imagining what could be and then seeing it come to fruition.” That problem solving would later prove invaluable, when council sometimes made him “jump through hoops to retain the original features”. None of the detailing could be altered in any way, which meant plans had to be adjusted more than once.
His brief? “I wanted to contemporise the home as well as respect its integrity, to make it ow a little better and update the palettes and nishes to be modern, but not unsympathetic to the original.”
He sacri ced one of two bedrooms on the top level to create an ensuite for the remaining bedroom, updated a second bathroom on a lower level and moved the laundry upstairs to the kitchen. Meanwhile, he created a self-contained apartment in the basement. Apart from those tweaks, the oor plan remains largely unchanged.
The entry level comprises a hallway, open-plan living, dining and kitchen. Up one ight of stairs is a bathroom, while up a further ight sit two bedrooms, one with a study. The top level houses a parents’ retreat with a bedroom and massive ensuite, although Peter favours one of the bedrooms below as the main bedroom.
To create consistency and ow, he stained the oors in dark chocolate brown, installed sisal carpet on the upper levels and painted all the walls in the same off-white to bounce natural light around. While light can be a problem in many terraces, it never is here. Slick new bathrooms boast milky limestone and tan marble.
“I kept the palette constant so that it ows, with one colour, the same carpet and the same stain on the oors,” says Peter. “It’s a restful, neutral palette. There’s a lot going on with all the paintings.”
His extensive art collection inspired much of the decoration, especially the Guy Maestri work in the hallway, which prompted splashes of red in the living room. Similarly, the tans, ecrus, yellows and ruby reds, which also provide earthiness and warmth to the predominantly white palette, echo the more muted artworks.
“I like places to look individual, lived in and not over-designed, an eclectic, mid-century aesthetic, smart, but not overdone,” says Peter of the interiors. Mid-century furnishings collected over many years found a ready home here, but with a twist or two. Special nds from his travels, such as a tribal headdress from Mali, technicolour hand-weaves from Argentina framed on one wall and sinuous midcentury table lamps from New York, offset the largely Danish furniture with its slim pro les.
The results are “relaxed, individual and sophisticated,” says Peter. “I don’t follow a look. I like to do what I like.”
This page Walter Knoll ‘Andoo’ chair from Living Edge. Italian 1950s oor lamp from Tyrone Dearing. Rug from Jason Mowen. Blanket from Planet. Float artwork (left) by Paul Higgs. Flavus J artwork by Karmyn Gibson. Opposite page, from left ‘Crema Luminous’ limestone from Marble & Ceramic Corp, and ‘Emperador Light’ marble from Marable in the bathroom. Eames walnut stool from Living Edge. Pots from Planet. In the study, BassamFellows ‘Soft Series’ desk accessories from Living Edge on a Henning Jensen & Torben Valeur desk. Kai Kristiansen ‘#42’ chair from Great Dane Furniture. Shark Fin Soup by Guy Maestri.
SPEED READ
» In early 2015, health professional Peter Stewart chanced upon a four-bedroom Victorian terrace for sale in Sydney’s inner east. » Although he wasn’t in the market for a new property, the four-level home with its grand proportions and preserved period detailing won him over. » But the decor, refreshed in the 1990s, was looking tired, with cherry-red timber oors, cream walls and dated bathrooms. » With a keen interest in architecture and interior design, he tackled the renovation himself, with the help of a heritage architect and a draughtsperson, turning one bedroom into an ensuite, moving the laundry and overhauling the underused basement. » His starting point for the interiors were his collections of art, mid-century furniture and objets gathered over many years.