HOUSE

PLAYING IT COOL

This refurbishment sought to update and refresh an iconic 1950s house to meet the present owner’s needs while paying respect to the original design

S tory by SAM DUNCAN P hotography by FELIX FOREST

wWhen interior architecture practice Richards Stanisich first looked at her pottery and ceramics; extend the house to meet the garage so that this house designed by renowned architect Harry Seidler – regarded as there is a continuous covered passage; add a pool; have fun.” one of the leading exponents of modernist architecture in Australia – The house, positioned on a street corner, has a beautifully modest and built in 1958, it was far from in its original state. sense of scale. The long street elevation is remarkable: simple shapes

“The exterior was in decent shape but the interiors had all with low-slung proportions. The floor-level is raised off the ground by changed,” says the studio’s co-director, Jonathan Richards. “The six steps, creating a sense of arrival, with the balustrade adding a deterioration, however, didn’t conceal what an incredible house it was.” graphic design element.

The house exemplified fifties modernism in Sydney, which Inside the house, the lounge and family areas are open to the Richards says was the beginning of cool, expressed in elegant northern garden, where Richards positioned the new pool. The proportions and beautiful colour. “Miles Davis recorded his iconic southern part of the house contains the bedrooms and a lush album Birth of the Cool in the fifties and it’s a phrase that perfectly courtyard. The new extension connects the original house to the describes the best of that decade’s architecture and design,” he says. garage with its pottery studio. Richards’ overarching intent with the commissioned refurbishment Richards started with the history of the building to understand its and extension was to work with the original building. But he also inception and how it arrived in its present condition. Above all, he looked to Palm Springs, in the Sonoran Desert of southern California, wanted to listen to the client and work with the building. for inspiration with the styling and landscaping. “The original interior planning was a beautifully rational modernist Located in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the building stands out as a layout,” he says. “Our design started with reinstating a modernist plan Palm Springs, California, was the inspiration for low-slung, single-storey residence in an area dominated by boxy two- and developing interior concepts that respond to the era.” the styling and landscaping that was storey houses. “Revel in the magic of mid-century modern,” was the A key element of the house is the walnut-lined wall that connects all part of the refurbishment brief to Richards and his team. “Create a space for the client to practise areas. It is the spine, says Richards, wrapping around seamlessly from

The use of colour references midcentury style and lush, sculptural gardens balance the built forms

the kitchen through to the pottery studio. On occasion, the panels open up to reveal colour – as in the green-patterned wallpaper of the powder room. “We were inspired by mid-century colours and the way they were often used in strong blocks set against natural timbers and crisp whites,” he says. “We shared with the client a love of green terrazzo and pink tiles: the colours are an exuberant celebration of the mid-century era.”

One of the few remaining original interior elements was the basketweave herringbone parquetry floor.

“It’s magnificent,” says Richards. “In reconfiguring the floorplan and extending on to the house, we extended this parquetry pattern to make more of it.”

There was another element to the brief, he says, that the client insisted upon as just as important as anything else: a leopard-print rug given to her by a grandmother. “We installed it as a carpet in the open wardrobe, and it is perfect. It is surrounded by walnut joinery and connects with the pink tiles of the ensuite – a surprisingly dynamic marriage of materials.”

The gardens, designed by creative landscape practice Dangar Barin Smith, are an essential element of the whole. Typical of many great modernist houses, the balance between the crisp architectural forms and lush sculptural gardens is a major part of the house. “Every interior space has a beautiful connection with the internal gardens, and indeed the exterior relies on the succulents and palms,” says Richards.

As for the exterior walls, for many years they had been no more exciting than plain white. Richards looked to archival photos and worked with Porters Paints to reintroduce the original colours –including the buttermilk yellow front door.

“I think the clients particularly love the little mid-century modern world we have created,” he says. “The house feels very private and insular – in no way is it over-scaled and vacuous. It’s a gem of a building and the house feels very cool and very them.”