From the embers of an old Ponsonby villa rises a clever interpretation of traditional forms. Julian Guthrie Architecture achieved something entirely contemporary, yet firmly rooted in colonial design vocabulary.
It took about eight fire engines to extinguish the blaze that in 2015 consumed the two bedroom villa that had stood on this site since the late 1800s. The owner of the house directly behind it, Harry Rogers, recalls the incident with a tinge of sorrow.
He says that, after several months, he acquired the land at auction, and began exploring ways to fix a few issues with his existing, neighbouring house. “I was flatting there with a few friends,” he says, and mentions the limited internal space made worse in winter when clothes drying racks overtook the hallways.
He wanted to add some extra space to the house, and solve the problem of that perennial lack of parking spaces in the densely populated and highly coveted inner-city suburb. “It was very early on in the process when [Rogers] came to me, exploring whether we could move the boundary and build a garage at the back,” says architect Julian Guthrie.
The architect had been recommended by several people as someone who, having built extensively in areas with Special Character caveats, such as Parnell and St Marys Bay, understood how to work within council parameters towards a solution that was both respectful and creative.
“I remember going through that first brief and saying, ‘Well, by the time you get your big garage there, and create enough room to back [a car] out and turn around and a long drive, you’re not going to leave much land for anything else’.” So, the idea soon shifted to selling the existing house and building a new one on the site where the fire had taken place.
“I liked the neighbourhood, but I liked it as it was,” says the owner. “I didn’t want to build something out of place that could have been built somewhere else. However, I didn’t want to build a replica villa, either. I feel like it’s a wasted opportunity not doing something new, not towards changing the architecture here, but adding something to it — moving it along a little bit.”
The site came with several restrictions. To begin with, there were the trees: two enormous, Dr. Seuss–like palm trees that stand tall between the two properties, looking like some transplant from Los Angeles. “They needed to stay,” says the architect, “so we made sure to stay away from those roots.”
Likewise, the suburb has a series of design caveats, including height restrictions and design parameters, to ensure any new house retains the special character of the street. In addition, as there is a school directly opposite the property, there was not much appetite for garages that promoted cars backing out, with limited visibility, into a street full of young kids.
Some of the moves are directly derived from their context: painted cedar weatherboards run horizontally — “so it’s similar to the general rusticated ones nearby, but a slightly more modern version,” says Guthrie.
The hipped roof with a vertical corrugated profile is there, but colour matched to the rest of the house rather than with the usual green or red colouration of yesteryear. However, there are other design elements that took the heritage and sought to reference it laterally rather than in a strictly literal sense.
“Luckily, we still had a heritage planner [in the council] who was actually architect trained, and you could have an intelligent conversation about how traditional versus modern [in a project] could be and how things can reference the past,” says Guthrie.
There are a number of more daring moves. Both north and south façade sport dramatic eaves (both horizontal and vertically) that add depth and sun shade and create an interesting halfway point between interior and exterior.
These read like imploded verandas or bay windows. Guthrie says they act as a drastic contrast to the flatness of the sides of the house.
On the north, this façade spills onto a small lawn delineated by hedging while above is one of the most visible aesthetic flourishes of the project: a steel lattice projects from the upstairs main bedroom in what could be seen as an allusion to a thin balcony.
“We played on the veranda fretwork detailing on the front of houses of the era. This is a steel interpretation of that,” says Guthrie.
This fresh take on traditional adornment wraps around the upper level with a mitre effect. Aside from being visually engaging and offering light and shadow movement, the steelwork offers a layer of privacy from the street to the upstairs bedroom while still allowing views and light ingress.
It’s a sort of high-tech or slightly steampunk version of the filigree style verandas that used to screen the façade, cloaking the exterior in a veil that protected the interior of a building. On the southern end, this taper is capped with a large glass canopy and surrounded by a tropical garden.
“I love the garden,” says Rogers of the stunning, lush space full of palms, taro, monstera, calla lilies, banana plants, and even the odd datura with its controversial, bell-like flowers. “It gets a little bit out of control sometimes, but I am amazed at just how private it is. I like sitting out here having my breakfast and my coffee; even when it’s raining, you are under cover.”
Another exciting interpretation has been in the treatment of the main staircase, referencing the lean-to addition common in old villas. This vertical volume has been tacked onto the side and, internally, uses the same materials as the façade to continue the external vocabulary.
It has been glazed at both ends and that, with the insertion of perforated metal, black stairs, ensures significant light flow and intriguing shadows activating the site.
“It has lovely filtered light,” says Guthrie. “When you’re in that space, you’re actually feeling the whole three-storeyed height of the house; it’s quite a dramatic sense of volume.”
The owner did, in the end, get the highly coveted garage — over 100 square metres of it actually: a true luxury in this suburb of streets that seem as if made for single-horse usage.
Dug into the basement of the house, and with side access, this is a generous space that — with the help of a turntable — comfortably accommodates two cars and a motorcycle, with plenty of space left for a small office area and storage.
“I didn’t want anything too fancy or architectural down here,” says Rogers, pointing out the structural concrete and mentioning that, when excavating, they found a stream that ran down here. “It looks
like a garage should — but a very cool one!”
This modern interpretation of colonial standards refreshes the mood of a neighbourhood that is under Special Character rules.
It is a vibrant approach to heritage. As Rogers says, “Rather than taking an old design and trying to make it work for your modern life, it takes modern life and respectfully borrows accents from the design history that preceded it.
