LET THERE BE LIGHT

The transformation of a dark Victorian terrace into a light-filled dream home is nothing short of breathtaking.

- DAVID MEAGHER

There are certain elements of a house that you can’t change when it comes to a renovation and it has nothing to do with the size of your budget. You can’t change its location but, more importantly, you can’t change its orientation.

There are of course a few exceptions to that. If you have a large site and you’re prepared to knock down an existing structure and rebuild you can design your house to take advantage of a northerly aspect. But if you are hemmed in on one side and your house is in an area with strict heritage conditions then demolition of the existing building is virtually impossible. You have to make the most of what you have.

For this house, which faces south and couldn’t be knocked down, Madeleine Blanchfield Architects decided the best solution was to use as much glass as possible to bring natural light flooding into the main living spaces of the building.

The house is located in Woollahra in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and when the clients originally bought the Victorian terrace, it had a 1970s concrete extension at the back, which was dark and heavy with low ceilings, according to Madeleine.

The original fabric of the terrace house was also in a bad way. “It had been heavily messed with internally over the years and the outside was painted yellow and it had a high brick front wall,” she says.

The brick wall, however, ended up being a blessing in disguise. Heritage restrictions in the suburb no longer allow such high walls at the front of terrace houses to be built, but the fact that it was already there meant the architects could create a private, north-facing courtyard. The front gate was moved so that the entry to the house is now via a path which passes through the garden.