Fitzroy House
This thoughtful house riffs on diverse inner-city conditions of local materials, history, and form. Located in a gritty pocket of an inner-city suburb, this house is wedged between an existing Victorian residence and a 1960s garage.
The facade wears its influences up front. Brickwork is patterned in a pixellated representation of a spray can’s sweep. A large window frame reverses the expected order of planning by exposing the activity of the kitchen theatrically to the street.
The scale and ridge line of the existing adjoining houses is reflected in the roofline, crumpled accordion-like to exaggerate the story.
Typical terrace or row house typology found in the neighbourhood is modified by pulling away on one side to co-opt some intricate party wall graffiti as a backdrop upon entry.
To avoid a light locked interior on the slender site, a generous central courtyard space is at the heart of the house and provides northern light into the living area and main bedroom. A private library over the garage is a solitary retreat overlooking the rear laneway. An open walkway through the courtyard connects the two pavilions.
- Traditional Custodians Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people
- Location Fitzroy VIC
- Procurement Private commission
- Year 2009–2012
- Sustainability 6 Star (Residential)
- Floor area 289m2
- Selected awards
- High Commendation—Small Buildings Category, Victorian ASI Awards for Excellence High Commendation—Small Buildings Category, Victorian ASI Awards for Excellence in Steel Design, 2014
Typical terrace or row house typology found in the neighbourhood is modified by pulling away on one side to co-opt some intricate party wall graffiti as a backdrop upon entry.
The original graffiti artists who had painted the boundary walls when the site was vacant were commissioned to return and reconnect their original paintings into the house itself.
Brickwork is patterned in a pixellated representation of a spray can’s sweep.
It borrows ideas of scale and texture together with a new geometry to create a building frontage and form which is different yet complementary to the existing heritage context.
The building is representative of its time, and does not attempt to mimic or replicate the surrounding Victorian cottages.
