Abbott Grove House

This ren­o­va­tion of an ele­gant dou­ble front­ed Vic­to­ri­an house in Clifton Hill adopts clas­sic farm­house prin­ci­ples exe­cut­ed in a con­tem­po­rary way to cre­ate a home­ly fam­i­ly focused inner city dwelling.

With a large laun­dry for pick­ling, two mod­ern adap­tions of a her­itage style bath­rooms, fire­places indoors and out, a sep­a­ra­ble self-con­tained wing for vis­i­tors, and a focus on the kitchen at its heart, this house allows for gath­er­ings big and small with­in a warm and famil­iar inti­mate environment.

The new addi­tion suc­cess­ful­ly rotates the ori­en­ta­tion of the house to north, pro­vid­ing a light filled, high­ly effi­cient pas­sive­ly design set of liv­ing spaces. Light and views are con­trolled by a set of tim­ber fins that float along the façade, break­ing down the con­nec­tion between house and gar­den, and pro­vid­ing an ever chang­ing, calm­ing dis­play of light throughout. 

With a focus on nat­ur­al tex­tur­al mate­ri­als, this house sub­tly blends the old and the new as you move from front to back, with a warmth, soft­ness and a light­ness that wel­comes all.