A striking modernist extension comes together with a traditional Victorian home in Melbourne to create something truly spectacular in a unified way
FAMILY ROOM
In the extension, the architects played with the idea of how solid materials, like the concrete here, create a sense of historical permanence.
Originally built in the 1880s, this Victorian house is ingrained with history and character. Its renovation by the team at Neil Architecture and interior designer Megan Hounslow was all about combining the careful restoration of the 140-year-old building with a striking new extension. ‘The family wanted to honour the traditional elements of the existing house, while maximising modernit y,’ explains architect Daniel. ‘This project encapsulates this concept of dualism with solid, heav y materials simultaneously creating a sense of historical permanence and crafting a warm, inviting home ref lective of a contemporar y way of life.’ It ’s a desire shared by the project’s interior designer Megan: ‘I felt aresponsibility to preserve the home’s period character by engaging traditional craft techniques and hand-honed trades,’ she says.
Concrete features prominently throughout the new addition. Its strong materiality echoes the solid brick construction of the existing Victorian section of the house. The bold, striking concrete ceilings, columns and fireplaces were painstakingly crafted under cover of a large tent to produce a consistent finish and are juxtaposed against tumbled-edge limestone f looring, warm timbers and marble.
The architects have chosen to highlight the connection bet ween the existing building and the new addition: ‘ We used the threshold bet ween old and new to give the journey through the house a sense of drama, so a two-storeytall volume, containing a suspended staircase, sits at the end of the existing hallway and high-level windows f lood the space with light,’ says David, a director at Neil A rchitecture.
The download
THE DESIGNERS
Melbourne-based architects Daniel Riddell and David Neil of Neil Architecture and interior designer Megan Hounslow worked on the reimagining of this Victorian house for a professional couple and their two sons.
THE PROPERTY
A single-storey Victorian house with a three-storey extension. In the original part of the house is a formal living room, a library, a main bedroom with en suite and dressing room, a guest bedroom with en suite, a cloakroom and a laundry. The extension has a kitchen-diner, family room, two bedrooms, a bathro
